course material

1. VARIOUS CLAIMANTS v LATIMER HOTELS GROUP LIMITED Counsel is
instructed
VARIOUS CLAIMANTS v LATIMER HOTELS GROUP LIMITEDCounsel is instructed to advise
on liability in this unpleasant case of robbery at a hotel. Other offences were also committed
at a company event last December at the Latimer Grand Hotel, Manchester.Three potential
claimants have been referred to this firm by their employer Beeching Capital Ltd. They were
present at the event and suffered loss. The company will pay the legal costs for civil claims
by the three employees, subject to counsel’s advice on the prospects of success.Two of the
three employees were overnight guests at the hotel. One of these was the victim of a
robbery in his room. The second was not robbed but his property held in storage by the
hotel went missing, possibly through theft. The third employee did not stay overnight at the
hotel and attended the event by car. The car was broken into and the employee’s property
stolen. A gang of three criminals were subsequently apprehended and are in custody. None
of the stolen property has been recovered.Latimer Hotels Ltd operates the Latimer Grand
Hotel. Those instructing have told the three claimants that they may have valid claims in
negligence against Latimer Hotels Ltd for failing to ensure their safety, and the safety of
their property. Counsel’s advice on this is now requested.Counsel will see the response from
Latimer Hotels Ltd. Those instructing have not encountered the statutory protection for
hotel proprietors that the company refers to. Counsel is asked to research and advise on
whether Latimer Hotels Ltd can rely on this to defend the claims for stolen or lost
property.Counsel is asked not to advise on damages for Mr Bennett’s physical or
psychological injuries because this is being dealt with through separate advice.Counsel
should direct any queries to Zsolt Harsányi at this office who will be happy to assist.Peters
and Co78-82 Long StreetManchesterM3 PSHSolicitors for the intended Claimants15
February 2023publish WITNESS STATEMENT OF KOFI BENNETT1. I am a junior financial
adviser employed by Beeching Capital Ltd at their offices in Aviator Way, Wythenshawe,
Manchester M22 5TG. I have worked at the company for 10 months.2. On 16-18 December
2022 I attended the company’s annual “Market Power” event, which is a two-day series of
team-building exercises with invited motivational speakers. Since I joined the company the
event has been held at the Latimer Grand Hotel in Manchester. It is attended by the top
bosses who encourage a work hard / play hard culture. It is always a very intense two days,
culminating in extreme partying on the Saturday night.3. On the evening of 17 December we
had a gala dinner including an awards ceremony for employees who had done well in

2. helping the company meet its vision. This was followed by a live band and dancing. I was
secretly in a casual relationship with one of my colleagues at that time, and we had agreed
that she might meet me in my room at around 2.00am. It was room 297 on the second
floor.4. Shortly after 2.00am I could not see my colleague on the dancefloor, so I went
upstairs to my room to see if she was there.5. On entering the room all I remember was
noticing a pillow on the floor before being almost immediately knocked to the ground by
someone charging into me from the bathroom. I fell over and, while on the ground, realised
I was being kicked in the head by a very large man. Another man knelt on my neck while a
third man demanded to know where I kept my valuables. I pointed to the table by the bed
where my own personal laptop was charging and the drawer in a table where I had my
spare wallet containing about £800 cash. They put these into a large brown rucksack.
Realising that my laptop contained sensitive data about company sales, I begged them to let
me delete some files before they took it, but the larger man struck me across the face and
carried on. I had bought the laptop for about £1,500 a few months earlier.6. I think I briefly
lost consciousness, because the next thing I remember was that they had gone. I could not
see clearly out of my left eye, but I could see that the room had been ransacked. My two
Rolex watches, which I had bought with my last bonus for £6,250 and £7,487 were gone, as
were some gold cufflinks and a gold chain (combined value £600). Unfortunately I had not
locked these away in the room’s safe inside the wardrobe. I crawled along the floor to get
out into the corridor. I was determined to raise the alarm in case my attackers were in
anyone else’s room. I staggered into the corridor calling out for help. I saw various
colleagues staggering back to their rooms, loud and drunk, but none of them took any notice
(in my beaten-up state, I probably looked like just another wrecked party guest). Someone
had passed out in the lift with a leg blocking the door, so I took the stairs down to the lobby
to alert a staff member to what had happened. It took several minutes for him to listen as he
was busy breaking up a three-way argument between some of our IT staff. Unfortunately
these delays probably gave my attackers a better chance to avoid being challenged and to
escape from the building.The police were called and at about 3.30am I attempted to give
them some basic details while waiting for an ambulance in the hotel office. My head and
neck were hurting too much so they gave up. Another employee, Sabrina Kelsey, soon
appeared in the office having suffered a theft from her car. The officers were trying to
establish whether the two crimes were linked.8. At the hospital it was confirmed that I was
concussed. I was given a brain scan but no damage was revealed. Over the next 24 hours my
neck and shoulders became stiff and painful and I was given a surgical collar to wear. I went
to stay at my Mum’s for 2 weeks where I slept most of the time, wanting to hide myself
away. I have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and am on the waiting list
to begin some therapy sessions for that.Signed: Kofi BennettDated: 24 January 2023publish
WITNESS STATEMENT OF SABRINA KELSEY1. I am Deputy Head of Technical Support at
the offices of Beeching Capital Ltd, Aviator Way, Wythenshawe, Manchester M22 5TG. I have
worked for the company for 18 months.2. On 17 December 2022 I attended an awayday for
my employer which was held at the Latimer Grand Hotel in Manchester. The event had
begun on the previous day but I was not required to attend the first half of the event which
focused on sales techniques which are not part of my role. Ordinarily I would have stayed

3. overnight at the hotel on 17 December with everyone else, but my sister was due to give
birth during the weekend so I had arranged to drive to my parent’s house at the end of the
evening and sleep there, rather than at the hotel. I arrived and parked my car in the hotel
car park near the entrance at about 5.00pm. I parked as close to the front as I could so that
my car would be easy to find later when it was dark.3. I was a runner-up at the awards
ceremony and celebrated with my team by dancing for most of the evening. At about
2.45am I left and walked to the car park for the 5-mile journey to my parents’ house. Only
when sitting down behind the wheel did I see that the passenger side window had been
broken and that there were glass fragments on the floor and seats. In the passenger footwell
I had left an expensive Fomenti leather travel bag containing a necklace from Tiffany and Co
as a present for my sister which cost £1,850. The bag was missing. It also contained
presents of low value for the baby (bobble hats, balloons etc). Other loose items in the car,
such as a phone charger, Airpods and toiletries amounting in value to about £350 had also
been taken. My car was parked easily within sight of the front entrance, so I was amazed
that the culprits had not been spotted. The bag itself was quite a recent purchase costing
£570.4. My motor insurers have correctly told me that the terms of my insurance policy do
not entitle me to make an insurance claim to recover losses suffered in private car parks
unless the losses cannot be recovered from the car park proprietors. I therefore need to
explore a claim against the hotel company first. Beeching Capital Ltd have generously
agreed to pay all of the legal expenses for that investigation, which includes obtaining the
advice of counsel about the law relied upon by the hotel.Signed: Sabrina KelseyDated: 24
January 2023publish WITNESS STATEMENT OF ROB MARSHALL1. I am a senior investment
advisor at Beeching Capital Ltd, formerly a sales team leader. On 16-18 December 2022 I
attended the company’s annual event at the four-star Latimer Grand Hotel in Manchester. I
ran various training sessions to build the skills of our sales force to give them an edge over
our competitors at a challenging time in the market.2. I have attended numerous such
events over the years. They tend to be big, noisy occasions where young people get
motivated by the chance of early promotion and large potential rewards in commissions
and bonuses. Our best staff retire quite young because they have made their money and are
too burnt out to keep going. My role is to build a hunger for success in our new staff.
Consequently the evening celebrations at our events tend to be very boisterous affairs, and I
turn a blind eye to some of the more excessive behaviour. I usually go off to bed at midnight
and let them get on with it.3. I had a quiet bedroom, high up on the fifth floor and got a good
night’s rest on 17 December. When I came down to breakfast on Sunday 18 December I was
asked to confirm my name and room number. I was then asked to visit the hotel security
office as soon as I had finished breakfast. I did this and learned that two of our staff had
been victims of crime during the night. Kofi Bennett had been robbed in his room and
Sabrina Kelsey’s car had been broken into. I went off in search of them. I found that Sabrina
had left during the night and was a few miles away at her parents’ house. But I was alarmed
to learn that Kofi had been injured and was in hospital. One of the reasons for choosing a
luxury hotel is to enable our staff to be absolutely safe, so I was disgusted to learn what had
happened. At my insistence Beeching Capital is paying all legal fees to investigate making
claims against the hotel for its failure to look after our staff. At a less luxury hotel I would

4. expect occasional crimes to be committed but never at this one.4. It was about 10.30am by
the time I had finished speaking to the security man. Check out time on a Sunday at the
Latimer Grand is 11.00am so I brought my bags down from my room, paid my minibar bill
and checked out shortly before 11.00am. I had made a plan to meet an old friend for lunch
in the hotel’s restaurant before going home. I had originally intended to leave my two bags
in my car in the hotel’s car park while meeting him. But knowing what had happened to
Sabrina’s car just a few hours earlier, I was worried that the thieves might still be in the
vicinity. I therefore asked if there was a storage area where my bags might be kept until I
was ready to leave in the mid- afternoon. The guy behind the desk said the hotel often did
this and it did not matter that my bags were being stored beyond the check-out time. There
was no charge to pay. He made a note of my name on a list at the counter and also wrote it
on labels which he attached to my two bags. He wheeled them through a gap under the
counter and into a large cupboard. I strolled in the grounds for a while and then returned to
meet my friend for pre-lunch drinks in the bar as we had agreed.5. We finished lunch at
about 3.45pm. I settled the bill in the restaurant and my friend waited with me at reception
while I went to collect my bags. A different man was now on duty in the desk area. He
checked my name against the list of people who had left their bags in the cupboard. Over his
shoulder I could see that it was about half full. On looking there, he could not find my bags.
He asked what time I had left them. I pointed out to him that the time was written next to
my name on the list which was still on top of the counter. He asked whether I knew the
name of the person who had put them into the cupboard, but I did not. I got agitated and
told him to go through the whole cupboard again, checking all the labels. I told him that I
would give him five minutes to solve the problem and went back to my friend so that we
could finish taking farewell photos of each other around the foyer to show our wives. On
returning to the desk it was clear that my bags had gone. They contained my executive
wardrobe of Italian woollens, Louis Parfait shirts, Jeune Veau shoes (five pairs) and a
variety of electronic devices. My Jules Verne bags were also very expensive. These totalled
about £9,000 in value.6. I was naturally furious and made a bit of a scene, which is often
necessary in hotels. I have since made numerous phone calls asking about progress in
locating my bags but no useful information has been obtained. I assume that my bags were
stolen, possibly by the criminals who had been active the previous night. If so, it is
inexcusable that a further theft could be allowed to happen at a time when the hotel should
have been on high alert. I do not actually care whether my bags were stolen or just lost.
Either way, I do not have them. I hold the hotel responsible and expect to be compensated.
The matter is now in the hands of the company’s solicitors, who are also looking into claims
for Kofi and Sabrina.Signed: Rob MarshallDated: 24 January 2023Letter from:Peters and Co
78-82 Long Street Manchester M3 PSH 0161 983 97674 January 2023Our Ref:
ZH00045/1Dear Sirs,Robbery and thefts, Latimer Grand Hotel, 17 December 2022We act
for three employees of Beeching Capital Limited. The company held a large event atthe
Latimer Grand Hotel on 16-18 December 2022. As you are no doubt aware, the event was
marred by criminal activity in and around the premises:• Mr Kofi Bennett was robbed in
room 297 where he was booked in for the night. He returned to his room at about 2.00am
and was badly beaten up. He was lucky to escape with limited injuries but lost belongings

5. estimated to be worth in the region of £15,600. It is feared that sensitive commercial
information contained on Mr Bennett’s stolen laptop will by now have been compromised.
Mr Bennett remains in fragile mental health.• Ms Sabrina Kelsey’s car was broken into
within sight of the main entrance at some point between 5.00pm on Saturday 17 December
and 2.45am on Sunday 18 December. The nearside passenger window was smashed and
property worth approximately £2,800 was taken.• Mr Robert Marshall deposited two bags
behind the reception desk for safekeeping when he checked out of the hotel on Sunday 18
December at about 10.30am. By 3.45pm these bags had disappeared and have never been
found. Valuable items of clothing and a variety of electronic devices were in the bags. The
total value of Mr Marshall’s losses is estimated at £9,000. These bags were either stolen or
lost by the hotel.Our clients hold Latimer Hotels Ltd liable for their losses. They were
entitled to attend a lavish event at the Latimer Grand Hotel without becoming victims of
crime. Your responsibility was to guarantee their safety and their property within the hotel
and its car park. The fact that the worst of these crimes occurred in a second-floor bedroom
in the very heart of the hotel suggests a catastrophic lack of security measures. The attack
on Ms Kelsey’s car might be understandable if it had been in a far corner of your large car
park, but it was parked in an area so close to the front entrance that it was illuminated by
the lights from the lobby, in full view from the front steps.Full evidence of all our clients’
losses will be sent in due course, including medical reports regarding Mr Bennett. In the
meantime we await your confirmation that our clients can expect to be compensated
quickly and in full for their losses. Failing this, a formal letter before claim will follow and
legal action for negligence will be commenced.Yours faithfully, Peter and CoLetter from:
Latimer Hotels Group Limited 1-3 Clarendon Avenue, LeamingtonSpa CV29 4JNOur Ref:
LGH/00487.317www.latimerluxury.co.uk6 January 2023Dear Sirs,Re: Your ref
ZH00045/1Your letter dated 4 January 2023 is acknowledged. We sympathise with your
clients, and wish MrBennett a speedy recovery. We have cooperated fully with the police in
their investigation and are relieved to learn that the perpetrators of these crimes have been
apprehended.Liability is denied on this occasion. We care greatly about the safety of our
guests and the Latimer Grand Hotel is patrolled by security staff for that purpose. The
building is equipped with security devices which are regularly tested. Accordingly the
company was not negligent.Crime is always minimal at the Latimer Grand Hotel. We note
that in recent years it has risen around the time of Beeching Capital events. The general
chaos created by your staff provides alluring opportunities for criminals walking in off the
street. As in any other hotel, intruders can pose as guests and blend in, especially if well
dressed. The public bar can be entered as freely as any other in the local area, so it is
unsurprising that intruders may target your employees, knowing that they will be too busy
showing off to each other to notice. On 17th December the behaviour of your staff was, as
usual, appalling. They interfered with Christmas decorations in the foyer and were seen
taking cocaine openly in the lavatories. Several lewd incidents during the dinner were
grossly offensive to our table staff. The misfortunes of your three employees are regretted,
but criminal opportunists are bound to be drawn to people who make themselves
vulnerable when drinking takes away their self-awareness. We will vigorously defend the
allegation that the crimes were somehow our fault and will rely on the above behaviour of

6. Beeching Capital staff as contributory negligence.We note the lost property claims. As you
will be aware, hotel proprietors have statutory protection against claims by their guests for
lost property. Accordingly we are prepared to make a payment of £100 to Mr Bennett
towards the value of property taken from his room. We will not make a payment to Mr
Marshall because our records show that he had already checked out of the hotel before his
property went missing. We shall also not be making a payment to Ms Kelsey because we
have no record of her ever being a guest at the hotel. We also note that her property was
stolen from a car and is therefore excluded under the legislation.Yours faithfully, Grace
MalhotraCustomer relations manager———————————————————————
————————Structure of the Research Diary The Research Diary must trace the
research steps take to be able to give advice to the various claimants. It must identify:1. the
claimants’ problems;2. Keywords researched;3. the relevant laws (which must be in force
on the relevant dates of the instructions);4. the legal issues / potential legal issues that a
judge would have to resolve at trial in order to decide which party succeeds.Structure of the
Opinion The Opinion must be in the following stages: Opening: must acknowledge
instructions: “I am asked to advise on…”• Background facts• Summary of Advice• Body of
the opinion: give practical advice point by point, each separated from the next by
paragraphing.• Conclusion: Referring back to various earlier paragraph numbers, providing
reminders of reasoning and suggestions the best tactical approach to achieve client’s aims.
This also includes: 1) a summary of suggestions/requests (relation to further inquiries into
the facts and/or sources of evidence in the earlier body of the document) in a Next Steps
list. 2) additional evidence to consider.