Recently, your South Carolina personal injury lawyers learned of three lawsuits being filed against the Carnival Corporation, owners and operators of the Carnival Cruise Line. Earlier this summer, we posted a blog regarding Carnival Cruise Lines, wherein we discussed a handsome sum that was awarded by a jury to the victim of a slip and fall accident, as well as a serious watercraft accident that killed one jet ski rider and injured another. As was mentioned, there are new suits being filed against the cruise line, all of which deal with injuries relating to falls onboard vessels owned and operated by the Carnival Corporation.
The first incident occurred in August of 2010 aboard the Carnival vessel know as the Dream. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff suffered a fractured leg that required extensive surgery after a slip and fall from a set of stairs on the deck of the vessel. Allegedly, said stairs served a duel purpose, they were used as means for children and young adults to get to the ship’s water slide from the pool as well as allow older passengers to make their way up to the Serenity lounge deck. As one can imagine, those leaving the pool to make their way to the top of the water slide are wet, thus leaving a trail of pool water in their wake as they climb the stairs. According to the lawsuit, it is the trail of water left behind by those wet passengers on the stairs that created the unsafe conditions for the Plaintiff, and ultimately resulted in a “violent” fall down the stairs onto the hard deck surface. The suit seeks damages in excess of $15,000 for the accident.
The second incident happened back in October of 2010 when the Plaintiff slipped and fell in the sauna onboard the vessel Paradise. According to the suit, Carnival failed to properly maintain the sauna in which the Plaintiff fell, as well as not provide any material safety measures such as handrails, warning signs, or skid-proof flooring surfaces. Furthermore, the Plaintiff claims that as a fare-paying passenger, Carnival Cruise Line owed a duty to him to exercise reasonable care by maintaining its ship for his safety, as well as the safety for all the passengers onboard at the time of the slip and fall accident. But, because of the conditions of the sauna, Carnival Cruise Line breached that duty and was negligent. The suit does not mention the specific injuries suffered by the Plaintiff; instead it prefers the overarching term of “serious” and seeks damages in excess of $75,000 (exclusive of interest, cost, and attorney’s fees) for those serious injuries.
The third and final accident to be discussed happened in November of 2010 on the Carnival vessel Legend. However, unlike the first two falls, the Plaintiff’s injuries were not the result of water and moisture, instead this suit concerns the lighting in Satchmo’s, a lounge aboard the Legend. According to the lawsuit, the Plaintiff was on his way toward an onboard golf clinic when he tripped and fell over a table. The suit alleges that the lighting in Satchmo’s was inadequate and created the conditions for the fall to occur. As a result of the trip and fall, the Plaintiff fractured his right leg. Because of the serious personal injury, the Plaintiff required surgery. Because of the physical and mental injuries suffered by the Plaintiff, this suit, a maritime personal injury suit, seeks $75,000. This lawsuit also explicitly states that it also seeks compensatory damages in excess of $1,000,000 (including prejudgment and post judgment interests and costs).
