Widow wins right to sue Egyptian hotel

A woman who fought the Four Seasons hotel chain over her husband's death subsequently won a Supreme Court case. Consequently lawyers have said that British tourists injured abroad will also be able to sue through UK courts.

Lady Brownlie began legal action after her husband, 77-year-old Sir Ian Brownlie QC and his daughter, Rebecca, died in a road accident during a safari excursion in Egypt in 2010. The family had booked the chauffeur-driven tour via the Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo, where they were staying. Lady Brownlie and Sir Ian's two grandchildren were also injured in the crash.

The widow sued Four Seasons Holding Incorporated in 2012 but there followed years of legal strife and tussles, partly prolonged because the wrong company in the hotel chain's group was initially named as a defendant. Finally, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the actual hotel operator, FS Cairo, which had argued that Britain's High Court did not have jurisdiction to hear her legal claim because the crash happened in Egypt.

Lady Brownlie's case can now be heard in the UK because the court accepted that the damage suffered by Lady Brownlie continued to affect her once she returned home. Lawyers for Lady Brownlie said the case had, "significant implications for English nationals injured or killed whilst travelling overseas."

Following the ruling Lady Brownlie's solicitor, Terrence Donovan said: "The general principle now is if you are a UK national, you go abroad, you are injured while on holiday or killed and your losses – financial and physical – occur in this country, then the jurisdictional gateway is now open for you. Whereas before you weren't sure if it was open or closed – now it is much more firmly open."

Mr Donovan said of Lady Brownlie: "She is delighted. She is astonishingly courageous, she has spent a great deal of money on this but she has never given up. She's a very dignified, private person who brought this on an important point of principle, in her husband's memory."

Mandy Peters Solicitors 

Lewisham