Resort Injury Lawyer Blog

A lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit court Tuesday against Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines Inc. and its Costa subsidiary seeks $528 million in damages resulting from the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster.

The lawsuit names 39 plaintiffs who experienced the shipwreck in the Mediterranean last month in which 17 people have been confirmed dead and 15 are still missing. The damages sought include $78 million in compensatory damages and $450 in punitive damages, reports the Miami Herald.

On the same day, Costa announced that it would compensate passengers 11,000 euros plus reimbursement for cruise ticket costs and extra travel expenses. The deadline for passengers to accept the offer was extended to March 31. Costa released a statement regarding those who suffered the greatest losses:

"The families of deceased and missing victims and guests who were injured will be covered under a separate proposal based on their individual circumstances."

There is a question as to whether the half-billion dollar lawsuit will hold in Florida, given that the cruise tickets Costa issues require legal action to be filed in Italy. The counterargument is that Carnival Corp., a Miami-based company, and Costa are the same entity. More lawsuit filings in Florida are expected for passengers aboard the fated Costa cruise ship.

Cruise ships are virtual floating cities and prime locations for resort torts. As maritime hotels, they can lack fundamental safety policies, protocols, and procedures to protect passengers from harm. They generally fly foreign flags, so they do not have to comply with United States laws. Antiquated laws and contractual language limiting passenger rights and remedies can put travelers in a precarious position and require aggressive litigation. To learn more about Resort Torts, visit Leighton Law.

Illness has struck an additional 173 passengers and crew members on the same ship - Princess Cruise Line's Crown Princess - that contaminated nearly 400 people just days ago.

The Miami Herald reports that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed widespread outbreaks of the illness onboard. After the first outbreak, the ship was to be 'given special cleanings upon their return to their Fort Lauderdale homeport," delaying the next cruise, according to an MSNBC report. These specialized cleanings were apparently not enough to eliminate the illness.

Princess Cruise Lines released this statement:

"The enhanced disinfection of the ship in Fort Lauderdale will include bringing aboard additional cleaning crew to assist with a thorough sanitization of all public spaces and surfaces including soft furnishing and carpets, railings, door handles and the like. The staterooms will be sanitized multiple times before making up the rooms with fresh linens and towels on Saturday morning, just prior to passenger embarkation."

The company claims that the Crown Princess' next cruise will depart as scheduled on February 11.

According to the CDC, "norovirus illness can be serious in young children, the elderly, and people with other health conditions; it can lead to severe dehydration, hospitalization and even death."

ResortTorts are cases of civil liability for negligent or criminal acts that arise out of a resort, vacation or recreational setting. These can involve aspects of hotel and motel safety, cruise ship litigation, pleasure boating and jet ski incidents, amusement and theme park liability, aquatic, diving and swimming incidents, foreign travel and medical emergencies, gaming and casinos, aviation (commercial and general), transportation injuries, travel industry liability for crime victims, and medical care provided to vacationers.

ResortTorts can encompass a vast array of types of cases but they all have one thing in common: tourists, business travelers and locals alike are all exposed to risk while traveling, vacationing or engaging in resort or pleasure activities.

Resort torts could follow from the more than 450 passengers and 40 crew members aboard the Ruby Princess and Crown Princess cruise ships who came down with norovirus this week, a highly contagious gastrointestinal virus. Fort Lauderdale is the homeport for both ships.

A rash of the virus also broke out this week on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas. The severity of the illness and symptoms experienced in these outbreaks has not been revealed but hours of sanitizing the ships were expected to delay the embarkation of passengers for the cruises scheduled to follow.

According to the CDC, "norovirus illness can be serious in young children, the elderly, and people with other health conditions; it can lead to severe dehydration, hospitalization and even death."

The virus is found in the vomit and stool of infected people and transmitted by consuming contaminated food or liquids, touching contaminated surfaces, or having direct contact with an infected person.

There is no vaccine to prevent infection nor a drug to treat those infected with it. The CDC cites cruise ships as one of the crowded, closed places where norovirus can quickly spread. Contagion can last three days or more after a person is recovered from the illness.