Resort Injury Lawyer Blog

Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL) said in the release that "The Costa Concordia tragedy is a wakeup call for the United States and international maritime organizations to carefully review and make certain we have in place all appropriate standards to ensure passengers' safety on cruise ships." He said that "The Committee will review the events of this specific incident, current safety measures and training requirements set by law and international maritime transportation agreements to ensure this mode of transportation remains as safe as possible."

Mica stated that the tragedy appeared to be preventable and the hearing is an effort to prevent such tragedies in the future. Current U.S. laws and regulations will be reviewed in relation to vessels at U.S. ports and in U.S. waters but they do not necessarily apply to Americans cruising internationally. The United Nations Agency that regulates international shipping, the International Maritime Organization, will review the details of the recent tragedy and the current international maritime safety treaty, the Safety of Life at Sea Convention.

Two U.S. law firms are filing class-action lawsuits against Costa Cruises, asking for at least $160,000 per passenger involved in last week's resort tort disaster, according to the BBC. The shipwreck left 11 people dead, hundreds injured, and 21 still missing.

Owned by Miami-based Carnival Group, Costa Cruises blamed the captain of the Costa Concordia for veering off course and crashing into a rock, causing the ship to half sink. The captain has denied the charges of suspected manslaughter, for which he remains under house arrest.

A civil claim is being filed against him in Italy while lawsuits will reportedly be filed in Miami this week against Costa Cruises, with claimants seeking compensation for "continued medical care, loss of earnings as well as the psychological impact they had suffered while trying to get off the ship," reports the BBC. Liability against the company will point to regular route deviations in the past, lack of safeguards on board, and the alarm system.

More than 100 claimants are expected to seek two to three times the minimum claim and some as much as one million Euros.

Costa Cruises is currently focused on managing the immediate urgencies of the disaster but a spokesperson stated that the company has asked passengers to detail their expenses so that they can be reimbursed. Rescue efforts for the missing continue with caution as the ship continues to sink. Fuel tanks are full and could potentially rupture, contaminating the Mediterranean Sea and shorelines.

One week following the Titanic-like cruise ship disaster in the Mediterranean, the death toll reports have risen to 11, with 21 people still unaccounted for. The search for the missing has been paused several times due to the dangers of the ship's instability atop the rock where it sits half submerged. The magnitude of the resort tort lawsuits to follow is yet to be seen.

The Coast Guard transcript of the exchange between the Guard and the ship's captain was released to the press and revealed a contradiction from the captain's original public statement following the accident. The day of the incident, the captain stated that reports of him abandoning ship before the evacuation was complete were untrue. He stated that he and his officers were the last to leave the ship.

Translations of the transcript vary. Among the pieces published by The Washington Post:

(Captain) Schettino insisted he was on a rescue boat coordinating efforts.

"Alright," Schettino said. "I'm going."

Among the pieces published by Reuters:

Captain to Coast Guard: "I am on a life boat of rescue, I am under here. I am not going anywhere. I am here."

Captain to Coast Guard: "I am going on board."

A cruise ship in the Mediterranean carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew struck an underwater rock, ran aground and capsized over the weekend, leaving six people dead, more than a dozen missing, and the ship half sunken into the Sea.

The dramatic cruise ship crash also left thousands stranded, after passengers reportedly leapt off the ship and swam for shore, recalling scenes from the Titanic cruise ship disaster now immortalized on film.

Passengers reported blackouts, crawling through dark hallways, plates and dishes crashing, desperate attempts to reach lifeboats, and general chaos. Some were evacuated by helicopter, others rescued by ferry, and many took shelter on a nearby island in schools, hotels and a church, overrunning the tiny island of 1,500 residents.

A couple from Homestead, Florida and a couple from Aventura, Florida were on board, and survived.

LIABILITY

The resort torts seem to be stacking up, with reports of delays in lowering lifeboats and lack of evacuation instructions, according to MSNBC. Liability is also looming from a reported lack of evacuation drills before the ship sailed, no head counts once in the life boats, and an "'unapproved, unauthorized' deviation in course" by the captain, according to BBC News.

The chairman and chief executive of Costa Cruises, owned by Carnival Corporation, pointed blame at human error by the ship's captain, who veered off course and sailed too close to the island. The captain denied wrongdoing according to the BBC report, saying the rock that the ship struck was not marked on his nautical chart. He also denied claims that he abandoned ship before the evacuation was complete.

CNN reported today that the captain "faces possible charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning ship while passengers were still on board."

Cruise ships are not merely large boats, they are virtual floating cities. These maritime hotels, however, 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. Additionally, antiquated laws and contractual language limiting passenger rights and remedies can put travelers in a precarious position and require aggressive litigation.

As the Act requires, Royal Caribbean recently reported an alleged rape aboard one of its ships to the FBI and BSO, and allowed both to investigate the ship and port. The ship's 'guest care team' also offered the alleged victim assistance including medical care and counseling, according to a statement from the cruise line's manager of Global Corporate Communications, as reported in the Sun Sentinel.

The Sentinel article says that a 15-year-old girl from Iowa said she was lured from a teen dance club on board to a private room, where a 15-year-old boy said there would be a party. Instead, she said, there was only another man there, and the two of them raped her.

Both males live in Brazil, are being held in Broward, and appeared in court last Wednesday. The elder, a 20-year-old, was accused of one count of committing a lewd and lascivious act, ordered not leave the tri-county area and denied access to his or a replacement passport. The younger was charged with lewd and lascivious battery and held at the Broward Juvenile Assessment Center.

The International Cruise Victims Association (ICV) represents victims of crime on cruise ships, their families and friends, and individuals concerned about the problems of victimization and disappearances on cruise ships. The organization advocates for legislative reform to protect passengers from crimes and increase the rights of victims of crimes that do occur on cruise ships, and provides support to victims of crimes occurring on cruise ships.

The National Association for Victims of Crimes and the Rape, Assault, and Incest National Network (RAINN) have joined ICV in the effort to promote reform to the Cruise Line Industry.

The National Crime Victim Bar Association is a network of attorneys and allied professionals dedicated to facilitating civil actions brought by crime victims. Crime victims may be able to file civil lawsuits against perpetrators and responsible third parties for the damages the victims suffered as a result of the crime. Personal injury attorney John Elliott Leighton serves on the Advisory Board of the National Crime Victim Bar Association.

A deadly combination of factors in a Philadelphia waterway has left two tourists dead, a father of two young children jailed for a year, and several lawsuits still pending.

On the day of the incident, the operator of a 33-foot "Ride the Ducks" sightseeing boat anchored in a shipping channel of the Delaware River after detecting smoke and suspecting an onboard fire, cited CNN International. There were 35 passengers and two crew members on board.

Video footage shown on The Today Show revealed the shocking footage of a towed 250-foot sludge barge running over and submerging the tourist boat in a matter of seconds. Amazingly, only two tourists died in the accident.

The pilot of the tugboat towing the barge has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in the incident, after teary pleading by himself and his wife in court for leniency with the potential four-year sentence. The pilot admitted he was distracted by his cell phone and laptop prior to the collision, in part due to a call from his wife regarding complications that morning during their 6-year-old's eye surgery.

Litigation is still pending with K-Sea Transportation of East Brunswick, New Jersey and Ride the Ducks of Norcross, Georgia. Both companies have asked the federal government to limit their liability in the incident, according to the CNN report.

An NTSB report showed several people involved were on cell phones or computers at the time of the accident. Driving While Distracted now carries new meaning. CNN reported that an NTSB representative said the incident was "another tragic example of the deadliness of distraction."

While this incident occurred on a waterway, cell phone distraction while driving has been an issue of increasing concern for years. As of December 2008, there were 271 million cell phones in use in the United States, representing 84% of the country's population. Drivers are increasingly distracting themselves by chatting, texting and emailing while on the road, often resulting in dangerous accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that driving while distracted contributes to one in every four car crashes. By some estimates, in as many as half of all crashes (there were six million last year), cell phone use was involved.

The widespread awareness of this problem has prompted government concern and states are now addressing the issue legislatively. Some states and municipalities have acted to ban texting while driving and/or driving with a handheld device, while six states - including Florida - have laws that prohibit local jurisdictions from enacting restrictions. In other states, localities are allowed to ban cell phone use or texting while driving. In October 2009, President Obama issued an order banning all 4.5 million federal employees from texting while driving.

Resort Torts can include a wide variety of legal 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 and leisure activities.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, new filings with the state include the following injuries reported at Orlando theme parks:

Islands of Adventure
• A man from Puerto Rico had to have an eye removed after something stuck and lacerated it while he was riding the Dragon Challenge roller coaster in Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure. According to the Sentinel, the description in the report Universal provided the state was "eye discomfort".

Walt Disney World
• An 18-year-old woman lost consciousness and experienced seizure-like symptoms in Castaway Creek.
• A woman injured an ankle on Mayday Falls.
• A woman lost consciousness after riding Mission: Space.
• A 16-year-old girl had a seizure on Star Tours.
• A woman fell and broke her leg at Haunted Mansion.
• Another woman fell and broke her leg on Prince Charming's Regal Carousel.

Wet 'n' Wild, owned by NBCUniversal
• An 8-year-old boy suffered a head injury on Storm.

Amusement Park Injury Reporting
In 2001, The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), the amusement park industry trade group, began producing its own injuries-per-ride-cycle figure for amusement rides (roller coasters, Ferris wheels, etc.) operated at fixed site locations. Their methodology is that IAAPA asks its members each year to report the number of riders they've processed through the turnstiles of their mechanical amusement rides, and the number of customers they know of who were treated by a doctor for injuries caused by any of those rides. They then come up with a number of patron rides taken each year, and an aggregated count of ride-related injuries parks reported knowing about.

This reporting system does not collect any information useful for analysis of accident patterns or development of prevention strategies. No information is collected that would identify the ride, the park, the age/size of patrons involved, the type of accident, or the injuries sustained.

With 82 million visitors each year, Florida and its many tourist attractions give rise to Resort Torts - cases of civil liability for negligent or criminal in a resort, vacation or recreational setting. Click here to contact a board certified civil trial specialist with 26 years of experience representing victims of negligence in personal injury matters.

David Sierazki, age 31, is the latest victim of the STILL unregulated parasailing industry. He died last week in the second parasailing fatality in the Tampa Bay area in a year. The engine died in the boat that was pulling him, and he plunged from 800 feet up into the water. When pulled out, he was unconscious and unresponsive, and was later pronounced dead after unsuccessful CPR attempts.

"I can't believe we haven't gotten smarter as an industry," said Mark McCulloh, chairman of the Parasail Safety County, who was quoted in a Tampa Tribune article on the incident.

McCulloh said the industry needs strict rules for parasailing, including maximum wind speed allowances, height restrictions, equipment inspection and tow lines.

Florida legislators have failed to address this continuing problem and need to pass the Amber May Law to bring some regulation to this rogue industry.

As reported by The Today Show, fifteen-year-old Amber May White died while parasailing from head trauma along with internal injuries, sustained when she crashed into a building when the parasail on which she was riding snapped, while vacationing with her family in Pompano Beach, Florida. Amber May's sister Crystal also suffered head injuries in this tragedy. John Elliott Leighton represented the family in the lawsuit against the parasail operators and the resort where Amber May was killed. Mr. Leighton has spearheaded legislative efforts to bring some regulation to this rogue industry. His efforts in Tallahassee have resulted in a bill which he and the family hope to make law this year.

Continue reading "ATTN: FL Legislators - Another Parasailing Death! " »

Be prepared for a rise in
Resort Torts ...

Florida Governor Rick Scott - "one of the least popular governors in America" - has decided that state background checks are no longer necessary for port employees.

By signing bill HB283 into law, the Governor has directly increased the vulnerability of Florida's 1,350 miles of coastline to criminal activity and terrorist attacks, not least the Port of Miami, which is recognized as the "Cargo Gateway of the Americas" and the "Cruise Capital of the World" - boasting the largest passenger cruise ship port on the planet.

Considering the millions of cruise passengers who travel through Florida's seven seaports (12.9 million between Oct. 2008 and Sept. 2009), the new bill is completely counterintuitive to The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act signed into law a year ago by President Obama. While that Act required increased safety and security measures aboard cruise ships, apparently the Governor does not have the same concern about the comings and goings at the ports.

Putting people at risk in order to cut corners and redirect a few dollars makes no sense for a state that relies on tourism as the largest sector of its economy.

The language in the bill is a virtual invitation to criminals:
• "deletes provisions relating to statewide minimum standards for seaport security"
• "deletes provisions requiring that persons seeking authorization to access secure & restricted areas of seaport execute affidavit"
• "deletes provisions requiring fingerprint-based criminal history checks

A poll last month revealed that 57% of voters disapprove of the Governor's job performance, as reported by the Miami Herald. Along with a rise in criminal activity at the Port of Miami and all along the Florida coastline, we're likely to see the Governor's disapproval rating continue to rise as well.

The Miami Beach shooting incident during Memorial Day weekend has changed the 'foreseeability' factor for resort crimes in the area.

Most negligent security cases turn on the issue of foreseeability: Was the incident reasonably foreseeable by the owner or business?

One of the tools used to analyze foreseeability is the crime grid, which has been held admissible at trial, and involves obtaining from a police agency a record of the service calls for the area around the address of an incident.

In some states, the "prior similar" rule applies where a similar act must have occurred on the premises in the past for the subject to be foreseeable crime. In Florida, the courts look at the "totality of the circumstances" and evidence of prior crimes that occurred off the premises is relevant; a prior crime on the property is not necessary to prove foreseeability.

With one tourist allegedly shot while running back into her hotel, and a total of 1 death and 7 injuries in an area chock-full of touristy hotels and restaurants, businesses on South Beach should consider how the crime grid factor might affect them, as the debate continues about ending the annual revenue-boosting Urban Beach Week.

A tour-bus driver employed by a Florida travel company struck and killed a pedestrian in Midtown Manhattan. The driver registered .083 in a subsequent breath alcohol test, reported the New York Post - more than twice the legal limit of .04 for commercial drivers.

The West Palm Beach man struck a 29-year-old Philadelphian man while driving an L&L Travel tour bus bus with 40 sightseeing tourists on board. Police reported finding an open 1.75-liter bottle of Smirnoff in the luggage compartment, and a silver travel mug nearly emptied of vodka, said the Post.

He is charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated. The victim was reportedly dragged behind the bus for nearly half a block and pronounced dead at Bellvue Hospital. A wrongful death lawsuit could potentially follow.

The driver has a history of traffic violations including three car accidents, speeding, and driving with a suspended license. One accident occurred in Fort Lauderdale when he was driving for All Together Bus Lines, now out of business.

The driver belongs to a Facebook rant group called "I Hate People Who Can't Drive for S--t."

Royal Caribbean is being sued by a 17-year old girl who was allegedly raped onboard by a 31-year-old employee of the cruise line, reports the Miami New Times. The singer bought the underage girl several drinks after his band performance, including Jägerbombs, pressuring her to drink the shots, according to the lawsuit.

After several drinks, the singer said he needed to pick up something in his room and asked the girl to go with him. Once there, he allegedly engaged in oral sex and intercourse with the girl. When she said she wanted to leave, he said no, and continued to rape her. Another man arrived later and took pornographic photos of the drunken girl.

Royal Caribbean reportedly took her written statement of the incident when she was still intoxicated, testing .101 blood alcohol content.

The lawsuit also names the bartender who served the girl alcohol and the man who allegedly took photos of the rape.

The cruise was a high school graduation gift to the girl from her mother.

Resort Torts 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, aquatic, diving and swimming incidents, foreign travel and medical emergencies, gaming and casinos, aviation (commercial and general), rental car liability, moped, bicycle and motorcycle safety, buses and tour guides, travel industry liability for crime victims, and medical care provided to vacationers.

Resort Torts 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.

As The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act is being considered for global implementation by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), more international cruise ship incidents continue to occur.

Minor Abused on Carnival Cruise Ship

Last week, it was reported in Alabama that the U.S. Attorney's office in Mobile arrested a 19-year-old for abusing a minor on the Carnival Cruise Ship Elation, in international waters. The teen was transported to a Federal Courthouse in Mobile after the FBI investigated the matter, and the U.S. Attorney's office will prosecute the matter.

Girl Missing from Disney Wonder Cruise Ship

A 24-year-old girl working as part of the youth program on the Disney Wonder cruise ship has been missing for two weeks, after departing Los Angeles for a week along the Mexican Riviera. The Disney Wonder is registered in The Bahamas, where local police reportedly said they have found no evidence suggesting foul play.

Ill Passenger on Stretcher Dropped into Icy Seas

A British woman who became seriously ill with internal bleeding while on the Ocean Princess in Norway was being taken off the ship by emergency crews when she was dropped into the icy sea. A report states that the vessels weren't latched together and suddenly moved apart as she was being transferred off the ship. This caused rescue crews to drop the stretcher into the water, which was reported to have been minus 3 degrees that day. The woman was reportedly in the water for approximately 8 minutes.

Resort Torts 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, aquatic, diving and swimming incidents, foreign travel and medical emergencies, gaming and casinos, aviation (commercial and general), rental car liability, moped, bicycle and motorcycle safety, buses and tour guides, travel industry liability for crime victims, and medical care provided to vacationers. Resort Torts 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.

Apart from the United States flagged ships or foreign flagged ships operating in an area subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, there are currently no international guidelines that explicitly address these passenger safety and security concerns.

The IMO currently has 169 Member States and three Associate Members, so moving beyond the proposal phase may prove challenging. The U.S.-based organization International Cruise Victims (ICV) sponsored the original Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act and hopes that individual countries will move forward in the meantime, as the United States has done, to mandate this protection for their citizens.

The ICV is requesting that members and supporters ask for support from legislators around the world. "All of our members are victims or families of victims of the cruise industry, and we are committed to working as hard as we can to help with the approval of this important proposal", said Kendall Carver, Chairman of ICV.

International Cruise Victims organization is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing support to victims of crimes that occur on cruise ships, and to act as an advocate for legislative reform to protect passengers from crimes and increase the rights of victims of crimes that occur on cruise ships.