Lawyer in the news

Who? Mark Milkovics, 38-year-old sole practitioner specialising in travel and holiday claims at Ipswich-based Milkovics & Co.

Why is he in the news? Represented Janet Keppel-Palmer, who was awarded 25,000 last week because her 88,000 holiday in a Barbados villa was ruined because of the villa's leaky roof, smelly drains and 'buffoon-like' butler.

Ms Keppel-Palmer, who had paid for her family to take a 32-day holiday in the villa, claimed that the stay was 'ruined' because Villa Frangipani, which was billed as the 'ultimate in luxury, style and comfort' was in fact nothing of the sort.

The judge ruled that the holiday company should pay 25% of the villa rental cost in damages, but no more because Ms Keppel-Palmer was 'clearly used to some of the more expensive things in life'.

Background: LLB at University of East Anglia 1983-86, followed by Law Society finals at Lancaster Gate College of Law in London in 1987.

He qualified with Norwich-based Overbury Steward Eaton & Woolsey in 1990, moving to (now dissolved) Northampton-based Ironside Ray & Weils in 1991, and Prettys in Ipswich in 1993.

He stayed there until 2001, when he set up in business alone.

Route to the case: 'Ms Keppel-Palmer was recommended to me by a previous client.'

Thoughts on the case: 'I was a little surprised that my client was awarded just 3,000 for loss of enjoyment of the holiday, because part of the reason they booked the holiday was to recover from a difficult year.

However, the judge ruled that because they were fairly wealthy, having one spoilt holiday would not affect them as much as it would a family who had saved up for a long time.

This shows that each case is dealt with purely on its own merits, and damages are awarded accordingly.'

Dealing with the media: 'It's not often that someone spends 88,000 on a four-week villa holiday, which explains why the media had such an interest in the case.

There is also a trend at the moment for television programmes about "holidays from hell".

My client was surprised by the level of attention, and found much of it intrusive, so it was important for me to manage a careful balancing act.'

Victoria MacCallum