James Dove recently appeared in Dove v Iberia

James Dove took a brief departure from family law when he recently appeared in Dove v Iberia, a civil case that is generating a lot of media attention.

In allowing James’s claim Deputy District Judge Case, sitting at Mayor’s and City of London County Court, accepted that Iberia could cancel the return flight, but ruled that they could not then keep the return airfare, thus overruling the terms and conditions relied upon not just by Iberia but by the airline industry as a whole.

Media interest has been aroused because the potential repercussions of this judgment are huge as the legislation that James relied upon, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, is based on a European Directive that is implemented into the national laws of all European Union member states.

During an interview on Radio 4 (see link below) the question was posed ‘Why hasn’t the Civil Aviation Authority acted on this before?’ Simon Calder, Senior Travel Editor for The Independent responded ‘Well, until that excellent lawyer came along nobody had asked the question.’

James represented himself against Max Davidson of Quadrant Chambers.

See links below for press coverage:

• http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/airlines-passengers-refund-cancel-ticket-court-rules-james-dove-iberia-lawsuit-london-madrid-a7810586.html
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/court-rules-airlines-must-refund-return-miss-flight-cancelled/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08vwn3k#play (James’s interview starts one minute in from the start of the programme)
• https://article.wn.com/view/2017/06/28/Airlines_must_refund_return_fare_when_passengers_miss_outbou/
• http://enews.shafaqna.com/EN/AL/3071054
• https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/3909170/passengers-who-miss-an-outbound-flight-can-now-claim-a-refund-if-the-airline-then-cancels-their-return-ticket/

Related areas

• Civil Law & Other Areas of Expertise