LEGAL
By Lee Hills, Partner, Mayo Wynne Baxter LLP
HOTELIERS’ RESPONSIBILITY FOR GUESTS A Post Lockdown Reminder The hospitality sector has been badly hit during the pandemic with many businesses, if not all, unable to open for extended periods of time and forced to mothball entire operations. As society reopens and hotels begin to welcome the return of guests, it is important to ensure that during these extended periods of closure, the fabric and infrastructure of premises has not deteriorated and robust systems for inspecting health and safety have been maintained. A reminder of this comes in the form of a decision by the Court of Appeal in January 2021 and the case of White Lion Hotel v James. This involved a claim brought by the widow of Mr James who suffered fatal injuries falling from a window at
50
the White Lion Hotel, Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire. The hotel in question originated from the 16th Century, was Grade 2 listed, and as a result, the window in question which was sash in design (although
defective) and of a lower height from the floor of most modern buildings, could not be altered. Whilst sitting on the sill and holding the window open to smoke Mr James fell two floors suffering fatal injuries. Although the hotel and its insurers asserted what they believed to be the legal principle, that an individual who chooses to take an obvious risk cannot then claim that another had permitted them to run that risk or failed to prevent them from doing so, this defence failed, both in the first instance and in the Court of Appeal. Of importance was the fact that Mr James was a guest at the hotel rather than a visitor to, for example, open-air premises, and as such, a hotelier should assume greater responsibility for his safety than other types of occupier.
