A woman injured after being pushed into a pool at a work party says her former bosses didn’t do enough to keep her safe.
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.
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.
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