Woman sues for £250,000 after being pushed into pool at boozy work party
Chloe Hewitt was an events manager for health drink brand Herbalife, who put on the party as part of a training and team-building event at a luxury hotel in Mauritius in 2022.
Chloe, now aged 26, was thrown into the swimming pool as a joke by other intoxicated attendees who had been making the most of the free bar.
But she landed on broken drinking glasses which had been dropped in the pool, cutting her foot which caused nerve damage requiring two operations and physiotherapy to treat.
Chloe, from Weybridge in Surrey, is suing the European arm of Herbalife and claiming £250,000 of damages.
Herbalife denies liability, saying the incident happened after the company's party had ended and Chloe was off the clock.
Chloe's barrister Matthew Chapman KC told the High Court: 'At around midnight on June 4, 2022, the DJ continued to play music and the free bar continued to serve drinks.
'The dance floor was located next to the resort swimming pool. Drinks were provided in glasses and there was broken glass on and around the dance floor.
'Some of the partygoers were exhibiting obvious signs of intoxication. There were no security staff on duty.
'After midnight, the claimant observed a French employee of the defendant being picked up and carried by male partygoers who appeared to be drunk. Despite his protestations, the partygoers threw him into the resort swimming pool.
'Other members of the defendant's employed staff were then pushed or thrown into the swimming pool.
'Suddenly, the claimant was pushed from behind into the swimming pool.
'As she exited the swimming pool, she asked not to be pushed again. She could hear people remonstrating with the partygoers and asking them to calm down.
'The claimant was then pushed forcefully and unexpectedly from behind and back into the swimming pool. The claimant was completely submerged under the water and the force of her entry carried her to the base of the swimming pool where she caught her foot on an object lying there and felt an immediate, sharp pain.
'The claimant had caught her foot on broken glass debris which was on the bottom of the swimming pool, having found its way there from glasses containing drinks served at the farewell party.'
Chloe's lawyers say Herbalife is responsible for her injury because it allowed its partygoing distributors to carry glasses onto the dancefloor and close to the swimming pool, and also having allowed free drinks to be served to 'clearly intoxicated' partygoers.
But Herbalife denies responsibility for anything its distributors did, pointing out that 'Herbalife members' are people who run independent businesses selling its products.
The free bar had only lasted an hour, says barrister Rory Holmes, while the entire Herbalife event was finished at midnight. More Trending
He said: 'At midnight, there was an announcement on stage for the purpose of the distributors that the event had finished and the Paradis bar was staying open where drinks could be purchased from the hotel at the expense of the distributors.'
He also claimed Chloe may not have cut her foot on a broken glass at all, suggesting she said at the time that she may have cut herself on a rounded light which had fallen into the pool.
Chloe's claim was recently filed at the High Court, but the case has not yet gone before a judge.
It will now go forward to a full trial, unless settled outside of court.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Teenager jailed for crash that killed his girlfriend on country road
MORE: Daughter of murdered pensioner saw burglar brutally kill her on Ring camera
MORE: 'Drug dealer' killed mum-of-one after knocking her off e-bike with Land Rover
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Heartache for Bayesian yacht victim Mike Lynch's family – estate faces bankruptcy after court demands it hand over £700M
IT was a tragedy that claimed the lives of a billionaire father and his daughter, drowned in a storm at sea. British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch was out celebrating his acquittal from US fraud charges when his £38million yacht Bayesian was knocked sideways by a sudden 80mph gust and started taking in water. 6 6 6 As the boat sank rapidly, his wife Angela Bacares was pulled to safety by a crew member — but Lynch, their 18-year-old daughter Hannah and five others on board never made it out. Now, as the one-year anniversary approaches next month, 58-year-old businesswoman Angela is facing a financial battle. There is the potential of court action by the families of the victims who died on the yacht — and earlier this week, the UK's High Court ruled that her husband's estate owes US tech giant Hewlett-Packard more than £700million relating to fraud claims. The case was brought six years ago by HP after they acquired his company Autonomy in 2011. The firm claimed Lynch and the former chief financial officer had fraudulently inflated its value. While Lynch was facing court action in America, HP was already chasing him through the civil courts in Britain — leading to this week's damages ruling. The High Court ruled that HP had paid a lot more than it would have done 'had Autonomy's true financial position been correctly presented' during the sale. If his estate — which goes to Angela and her remaining daughter Esme, 22 — ends up having to pay, it will almost certainly be bankrupted, leaving no inheritance for the family. It is believed Lynch shielded his wife's personal fortune from the messy court cases. She owned millions of pounds worth of shares held in her name in other family firms. I found doomed Bayesian I saw still haunts me And she made more than £15million from the sale of her shares when Autonomy was taken over. One pal told us: 'Mike wasn't perfect but he wasn't a criminal in any way, shape or form. He had asked various Cabinet ministers and Prime Ministers, including Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson, to help him. 'Rishi and Johnson were more interested in making post- Brexit trade deals than making any trouble on Mike's behalf. 'Rishi and Johnson were more interested in making post-Brexit trade deals than making any trouble on Mike's behalf. 'These cases hung over him for years and he ended up under house arrest in San Francisco unable to leave for months, facing charges that he was ultimately cleared of. 'He helped a lot of people make a lot of money but they assumed he was guilty as charged and then ran a million miles. 'He was abandoned by his peer group and by his government then, when he won his US case, everyone wanted to be his friend again. 'The irony is he had gone out on the Bayesian to celebrate the US court outcome. "It's been one tragedy after another for his family.' The latest damages ruling had been delayed until this week because of the circumstances surrounding the yachting disaster on August 19 last year. The judge expressed his 'sorrow at the devastating turn of events' at sea and offered 'sympathy and deepest condolences'. 'STILL GRIEVING' He even said that he 'admired' Lynch, despite ruling against him. Insiders have told The Sun that the family want to appeal the High Court decision. Our source said: 'It's not just about money, it's about restoring Mike's reputation. "The family are considering their next move but we all know that appealing these sorts of decisions is lengthy and costly. "They are also still grieving their loss.' Lynch created software company Autonomy, which processed people's information and data, in 1996. He sold it to Hewlett-Packard for £8.6billion in 2011. The businessman reportedly netted around £500million from the deal before going on to set up tech investment firm Invoke Capital. Just a year after the mega-bucks deal, HP wrote down Autonomy's value by £6.5billion and brought a £4billion lawsuit against Lynch and ex-finance officer Sushovan Hussain. The allegations that they inflated the value of the company were investigated by the UK Serious Fraud Office too, who found 'insufficient evidence' of wrongdoing — but some aspects of the case were then handed over to US authorities. In 2018, Lynch and Autonomy's former vice-president of finance Stephen Chamberlain were charged with fraud in the US and accused of making false and misleading statements about their company. But both were acquitted following a sensational three-month trial in San Francisco, where Lynch had been extradited to in 2023. If Lynch had been found guilty, he would have faced up to 25 years in prison. 6 He told reporters last year that given his poor health, he would have almost certainly died in jail. The pair were still celebrating their win when Chamberlain, 52, died after being hit by a car while out running near his home in Cambridgeshire. Two days later, the Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily, claiming the lives of Lynch, Hannah, the vessel's cook Recaldo Thomas, high-profile US lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda and British banking couple Jonathan and Judy Bloomer. As part of a criminal investigation by Italian authorities, the yacht was raised from the sea bed last month. That inquiry may not conclude until 2027, bringing more heartache for the Lynch family. James Healy-Pratt, a US lawyer representing the family of chef Recaldo, said they would push for compensation from Angela, the crew and yacht management company Camper & Nicholsons. As one of the country's most successful entrepreneurs, Lynch had a life of luxury, enjoying exotic holidays and a £6milliion country mansion in Suffolk, which boasts 2,500 acres. The close family are said to have loved spending time at home, breeding rare livestock, including Suffolk sheep and Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, which roamed free in the estate's woodland. But the businessman came from humble beginnings. Born to Irish parents — a firefighter father and nurse mother — Lynch won a scholarship to a private school in Essex. Mike worked hard but was very much a family man and wanted to make life as normal for his children as it could be, given the extreme wealth Andrew Kanter He went on to gain a PhD in mathematical computing from Cambridge University. A friend said: 'He really was a genius. "He was just a brilliant mathematician and his life transformed as he built companies. 'He was a very early advocate of artificial intelligence — the very field in which we need expertise in this country.' Long-time friend Andrew Kanter, who was a pallbearer at Lynch's funeral, said: 'He was never happier than when someone asked to see the pigs on his estate. 'Mike worked hard but was very much a family man and wanted to make life as normal for his children as it could be, given the extreme wealth. 'He never let his legal issues get in the way and did everything to make sure his kids grew up untroubled by whatever the world lay at his feet.' 'I truly believe that Mike would have looked at the UK ruling as a good day. "Although the numbers are crazy, even the judge has found that Hewlett-Packard had overstated its claim. 'Mike would have continued to fight this. "He always argued that a law that allows America to extradite British citizens and not have a return agreement was really flawed. 'It's been the case for 15 years and he was going to have that fight too. 'The legal issues weighed heavily on him but he never let it affect his family. 'I never saw him sitting around self-pitying. He wanted to clear his name. 'The loss of Mike is an incalculable loss for technology. 'He was utterly devoted to its growth in Britain.' 6 6
Leader Live
8 hours ago
- Leader Live
Court to decide whether former dictator Assad can be stripped of immunity
If the judges at the Cour de Cassation lift Assad's immunity, it could pave the way for his trial in absentia over the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013 and Douma in 2018, and set a precedent to allow the prosecution of other government leaders linked to atrocities, human rights activists and lawyers say. Assad has retained no lawyers for these charges and has denied he was behind the chemical attacks. A ruling against Assad would be 'a huge victory for the victims', said Mazen Darwish, president of the Syrian Centre for Media which collected evidence of war crimes. 'It's not only about Syrians, this will open the door for the victims from any country and this will be the first time that a domestic investigative judge has the right to issue an arrest warrant for a president during his rule.' He said the ruling could enable his group to legally go after regime members, like launching a money laundering case against former Syrian central bank governor and minister of economy, Adib Mayaleh, whose lawyers have argued he had immunity under international law. For over 50 years, Syria was ruled by Hafez Assad and then his son, Bashar. During the Arab Spring, rebellion broke out against their tyrannical rule in 2011 across the country of 23 million, igniting a brutal 13-year civil war that killed more than half a million people, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. Millions more fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Europe. The Assad dynasty manipulated sectarian tensions to stay in power, a legacy driving renewed violence in Syria against minority groups despite promises that the country's new leaders will carve out a political future for Syria that includes and represents all its communities. The ruling stripping Assad's immunity could set a 'significant precedent' that 'could really set the stage for potentially for other cases in national jurisdictions that strike down immunities,' said Mariana Pena, a human rights lawyer at the Open Society Justice Initiative, which helped bring the case to court. As the International Criminal Court has issued arrests warrants for leaders accused of atrocities — like Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza, and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines — the French judges' ruling could empower the legal framework to prosecute not just deposed and exiled leaders but those currently in power. The Syrian government denied in 2013 that it was behind the Ghouta attack, an accusation the opposition rejected as Assad's forces were the only side in the brutal civil war to possess sarin. The United States subsequently threatened military retaliation, but Washington settled for a deal with Moscow for Assad to give up his chemical weapons' stockpile.
Metro
9 hours ago
- Metro
Search for British tourist, 28, missing in Tenerife for two weeks
A desperate plea has been made to locate a British tourist who disappeared in Tenerife two weeks ago. The 28-year-old, who has only been named as Gerallt, arrived on the island on July 7 but did not board his flight home to Manchester on July 12. Officers have become 'increasingly concerned' for his safety as authorities in Tenerife and the British Embassy make efforts to locate him. Gerallt is described as 5ft8in tall and has short black hair. He was last seen wearing a navy blue tracksuit and black trainers. North Wales Police released two pictures of Gerallt to help in efforts to identify him. Chief Inspector Wes Williams said: 'We are becoming increasingly concerned for Gerallt's welfare, however officers are following several lines of investigation. 'We are appealing for information from anyone who knows Gerallt, or who may have been contacted by him to contact us as soon as possible. 'We're keen to hear from anybody who believes they may have any information that could help our ongoing investigation. 'Even the smallest lead could prove vital or for Gerallt himself to make contact to let us, or his family know that he is safe and well.' Gerallt has vanished on the same island where Jay Slater went missing last summer, sparking a huge search effort. More Trending Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, and friends had been to the NRG music festival at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort of Playa de las Americas on June 16 last year. He left to go to an Airbnb flat near Masca in the early hours of the next morning, before setting off on the long walk back. A coroner concluded at an inquest into his death today that the teenager died by accident after falling down a ravine. The 19-year-old was attempting a 14-hour walk back to his accommodation from a night out drinking and taking drugs, Preston Coroner's Court heard. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Jay Slater's friend reveals final panicked texts from teen lost in mountains MORE: I was Jet2 and Virgin cabin crew – here's 3 'secret' European destinations MORE: Aitana Bonmati makes England claim and reveals Spain targeted one Germany star
