A couple had "just settled in" after a week of their Majorca holiday when a travel company representative told them to go home, the High Court heard yesterday.
Mrs Jeanne and Mr Anthony Delany, of Rochestown Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, brought an action for damages against Capital Holdings Ltd, trading as Sunworld, Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin.
Mr Justice Moriarty yesterday upheld a Circuit Court refusal to make an order to stop the court action. Sunworld had claimed it should have gone to arbitration.
Mr Fergus O'Hagan SC, for the Delanys, said they had booked a two-week holiday for £620 in May last year. Mrs Delany had explained to the travel agent she had a fear of flying and neither she nor her husband had ever travelled on a package holiday before.
Just after the first week a woman arrived and told them they had to go home. Sunworld had made a gross error: two families with the same name had been booked.
Mr O'Hagan said this was a personal injuries case of considerable substance. The travel company was trying to restrict the claim by asking the court to find it should go to arbitration.
His clients had been forced to prematurely end their holiday. He understood the Delanys' solicitor had indicated the matter could go to arbitration but had a change of heart when he realised the magnitude of the distress and damage caused to the couple.
Under arbitration the Delanys would be entitled to double the price of the holiday. Mr Terry O'Sullivan, for Sunworld, said Mrs Delany had signed a contract under which any dispute would be referred to arbitration.
In an affidavit, Mr Bernard Healy, managing director of the travel company, said Mrs Delany signed a booking form which constituted the terms and conditions of an agreement.
The Delanys had indicated they were prepared to go to arbitration but later issued Circuit Court proceedings. Mr Healy said they were applying, pursuant to the Arbitration Act, to stay the Circuit Court proceedings pending arbitration.
In an affidavit, Mrs Delany said that when paying for the holiday, she had asked about and signed a document which she understood to be about insurance.