A 33-year-old British man, paralysed during the Mumbai terror attack in November 2008, is suing the owners of the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, alleging they did little to provide security for guests despite several warnings an assault on the hotel was imminent.
Will Pike from North London is taking legal action against the Indian Hotels Company, a part of the Tata group.
Pike will approach the high court here on December 2 to argue against an attempt by the hotel owners to prevent his legal case against them being heard in a UK court, his lawyers said on the fifth anniversary of the terrorist assault on India's financial hub that left 166 dead.
Pike was paralysed when he fell 50 feet, breaking his back, pelvis and leg and fracturing his left wrist and right elbow, to escape the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists as they went through the hotel shooting residents and setting fire.
His London-based lawyers at Leigh Day are bringing a civil claim for damages against the Indian Hotels Company.
They argue the case be heard in the UK, where Pike lives and where the Indian Hotels Company has a substantial business presence, based around the Crowne Plaza St James Hotel and the Taj Suites, a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace.
Pike's lawyer Russell Levy said, "Pike's only real hope of justice is in a UK court. The court in Mumbai simply isn't geared up to deal with a claim of this kind. We estimate it would take up to 25 years to pursue this claim through the Indian courts than in England, where it will take two.”
"It is simply not right this billion-dollar corporate giant wants to drag our wheelchair-bound client back to India and take him through a legal system where the inequality of arms would be significant." Pike and girlfriend at that time, Kelly Doyle, also represented by Leigh Day, checked into the hotel on November 26, 2008. While escaping through a window, the knots in the bedding cloth he used as a rope came undone and Pike fell to the ground suffering injuries.
