Current Litigation

B.P. Oil Spill of April 20th, 2010

Last April’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico disrupted the lives and livelihoods of residents from Florida to Texas, an area heavily dependent on the tourism industry.  In response to the disaster and in accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, BP established a $20 billion fund called the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) to review claims from businesses and individuals impacted by the spill in order to provide compensation for their losses.  Since its inception in August 2010, the GCCF has been plagued by complaints of inconsistency, lack of transparency, and intentional delay in issuing decisions on submitted claims.

Farrell & Patel is currently representing nearly 1600 hotels and tourism-related businesses in the Gulf region in their claims against BP.  With Indian-Americans comprising the majority of hotel owners in the U.S., our firm finds itself in a unique position to aid the largest coalition of minority hotel and business owners in their attempts to recover losses from BP.  Our expert team of attorneys, accountants, and consultants has been tremendously successful in working closely with top staff at the GCCF, including Kenneth Feinberg, Administrator of the organization, to ensure that claims are carefully reviewed during each phase of the claims process.  

Wyndham Hotel Group Class Action Lawsuit

Farrell & Patel, Attorneys At Law are currently representing plaintiffs in the largest class action lawsuit in the history of the hospitality industry.  Franchisees have filed the suit against Wyndham Worldwide Inc., alleging the brand has been enrolling guests in a loyalty program, often without the guests’ knowledge.  The franchisees allege they are paying up to 5% of gross room revenue in loyalty program fees without receiving the benefit of increased customer loyalty, since guests often are not aware they have been enrolled in the loyalty points program and may not take their rewards into account when booking their next hotel stay.  The franchisees claim the parent company is collecting massive fees from the hotel owners then keeping the profits when the guests’ reward points expire unused.

The lawsuit against Wyndham Worldwide Inc. was filed in Orlando, Florida, in January 2011.  Despite its best efforts, Wyndham lost its motion for a change of venue, and the case will remain in Florida.  Farrell & Patel is partnering with Farmer, Jaffe, Weissing, Edwards, Fistos & Lehrman, P.L. &  Wolfe Law Miami, P.A. as co-counsel in the lawsuit.