Hurricane-Force Winds Injure Cruise Ship Passenger. What Do These Companies Owe Their Passengers?

Hurricane-Force Winds Injure Cruise Ship Passenger. What Do These Companies Owe Their Passengers?

A Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines passenger was injured after their ship was hit by forceful winds, according to USA Today. 

The ship, Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas, “experienced sudden movement” on Nov. 7 as the ship headed to Miami, Florida, from Barcelona, Spain. The incident happened as the ship sailed through Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands. The passenger is being disembarked for additional medical attention, a cruise line spokesperson told reporters. 

Passengers who were aboard the same ship reported feeling “scared” and that items like dishes slid around the cabin and shattered as the ship “tilted.” 

These passengers alleged that the ship encountered wind squalls of about 73 knots, according to USA Today reporting.

Winds estimated to be anywhere between 48 and 63 knots can range from 50 to 73 mph. Anything 48 and above can trigger a storm-force warning. Hurricane-force winds are defined as being 64 knots and greater, according to the National Weather Service. 

Responsibility of Cruise Ships

While cruise ships cannot account for sudden weather conditions, they can do their part by ensuring that guests and crew are aware of safety procedures and providing adequate warning to stay indoors or in their cabins when this type of weather occurs.

Legally, cruise ships are considered common carriers, meaning that they have an irrefutable duty to protect passengers from injury. As a common carrier, a cruise ship is held to a higher standard when entrusted with the care of their passengers. 

Statute of Limitations 

There is a shortened statute of limitations period associated with cruise line injury cases. In Florida, a person who is injured typically has two years within which they can file their claim but, oftentimes with cruise lines, the ticket contract stipulates that injured passengers must make the company aware of their claim within six months of the incident. Additionally, an injured cruise line passenger has one year from the time of the injury to file their claim in court. 

With this shortened period, it is essential that injured passengers wishing to make a claim begin searching for an attorney immediately. 

Leesfield & Partners’ Cruise Ship Cases

Leesfield & Partners has a long history of representing injured cruise ship passengers in cases of slip and falls, medical malpractice, wrongful death and even criminal activity aboard ships. Over four decades, the firm has secured over $38 million for injured clients and their families. In each case, the cruise line will attempt to skirt their responsibilities to passengers as a common carrier, but Leesfield & Partners’ aggressive litigation tactics and creative lawyering mean that our attorneys work tirelessly to achieve the best possible outcome for our clients. In the case of a mother and daughter who purchased a parasailing excursion while traveling on a cruise ship, the firm secured $7,250,000 for their family. 

In that case, the rope securing them to the boat pulling them through the air snapped due to a sudden change in wind. The two fell rapidly to the water below. The mother was killed and the daughter suffered a traumatic brain injury.   

In order to compete, these ships must have bigger and better attractions and on board amenities offered to passengers. These days, many cruises can be likened to mini cities, according to Ira Leesfield, the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner. Though passengers may feel completely safe aboard a cruise ship, enjoying their vacation and letting go of the vigilance required in bigger cities, they must remember not to let their guard down. Crimes can happen, even on cruise ships. And, despite what a cruise lines’ marketing would have passengers believe, they do. 

Leesfield & Partners previously represented a passenger in a confidential case in which a group of violent travelers attacked our client while on board a ship. 

A Canadian tourist traveling for a wedding aboard a cruise ship was brutally raped in her private cabin by a crewmember who had unfettered access to her room. Attorneys with the firm obtained a multi-million recovery for the woman.

In a case being handled by Bernardo Pimentel II, a Trial Lawyer at the firm, a crewmember was found planting hidden cameras in the private stateroom bathrooms of guests on a cruise ship.

That case is ongoing. 

With these modern day expansions and increase in passenger population comes a need to have proper onboard medical care, however, many cruise lines do not.  

Many cruise ship doctors and other medical staff are not up to par with U.S. standards. One doctor whose orders contributed to the amputation of a crew member’s right arm when he went to the infirmary feeling nauseous was searching online solutions of how to treat the patient. The doctor had ordered the maximum dose of a drug be given rapidly through the man’s IV despite a clear black box warning label explicitly outlining that this drug should be given intramuscularly over two minutes. Though the man was in immediate agony and his symptoms included immense swelling and blackened fingertips, the doctor refused to medevac him to a hospital. The man spent 17 hours from his first symptoms in pain before he was able to go to a real hospital. Days later, after a procedure to save his arm, doctors at the hospital on land were forced to amputate. 

The man was awarded $3,337,500 in that case.

Another client who needed a blood transfusion on board a ship was given blood that had not been screened or tested, resulting in the client contracting HIV. As there is no cure for HIV, the client will live the rest of their life with the virus. A multi-million award was recovered for the client in that case. 

If you were injured aboard a cruise ship and believe you may have a claim, don’t wait. Call a Leesfield & Partners lawyer today at 800-836-6400.