Last week advocate general Bot released an opinion in respect of a referral made by the national Czech Republic courts for a preliminary ruling on whether a bird strike should be considered an extraordinary circumstance (C-315/15 - Marcela Pešková, Jiří Peška -v- Travel Service as). Whilst advisory in nature, the opinion has concluded that bird strikes do not fall within the extraordinary circumstances defence currently available to carriers since, in his opinion, they are inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of a carrier.

The implications for the travel industry

An important judgment was handed down today in the High Court confirming that NHS England has the power to commission for preventative purposes under the NHS Act 2006 and the Act also confers upon it (NHS England) a broad discretion as to how it exercises its powers to achieve its target duties.

In a recent judgment, the court has confirmed that, in circumstances where a prisoner’s death is clearly due to natural causes, the procedural obligation under Article 2 ECHR is not engaged.

The recent case of Timothy Taylor Limited -v- Mayfair House Corporation and Another looks at the relationship between a landlord’s reserved right to build and a tenant’s right to enjoy the demised premises pursuant to the landlord’s covenant for quiet enjoyment. Although the action takes place in London, the principles are relevant wherever landlords undertake building works.

The Government has announced changes to Tier 2, the main immigration route for non-EEA nationals to apply to work in the UK. The Government says that these changes are to ensure that employers are incentivised to upscale and train resident workers whilst making sure they can continue to access migrant workers when needed. The changes to this immigration route will come into effect in two stages, autumn 2016 and April 2017, to ensure that businesses have sufficient time to prepare. The main changes are:

This is the final post of a series of quarterly blog posts on alliance contracting and it looks at the extent to which alliancing has been adopted in particular sectors in the UK. It considers some of the key differences between traditional contracts, partnering agreements and 'pure' alliancing contracts, and whether the perceived benefits of alliancing can be realised within a traditional contracting mind-set.

The Pensions Regulator (tPR) has issued a guidance statement to pension trustees following the UK’s vote to leave the EU, as market volatility has led to uncertainty about scheme funding plans and investments.

Last week saw CEDR Services Limited and Consumer Dispute Resolution Limited written into the legislation as designated ADR bodies for consumer complaints arising out of potential infringements of EC Regulation 261/2004 and EC Regulation 1107/2006.

Last week’s announcement of Lowcostholidays’ administration has brought a stark reminder to consumers and the wider industry that travel service providers based outside of the UK do not feature the financial protection offered to UK based consumers under the CAA’s ATOL scheme. Consumers who booked via the Lowcostholidays Group are now faced with the dilemma of holidays being curtailed in resorts, having to pay for accommodation and/or flights home again and cancelled summer holidays at the last minute. From an industry perspective, any OTA’s or tour operators using Lowcostholidays’ group inventory are having to deal with the fact that they may have to find alternatives for customers (in accordance with Flight Plus scheme rules), the inevitable credit card chargebacks that arise in these situations and the administrative nightmare of dealing with it all just as the summer holiday season begins. In some cases supplier failure insurance may be an option but this may also depend on whether consumers purchased adequate cover and indeed whether insurers will cover the failure of Lowcostholidays at all; in the past businesses that are deemed to have been at risk of failure have been excluded from such policies.

International law firm Hill Dickinson has advised innovative motor retailer Rockar on an investment from private equity houses Maven Capital Partners and NVM Private Equity LLP.

International law firm Hill Dickinson continues to strengthen its growing commodities team with the return of partner Andrew Buchmann.