Can I sue the cruise line if I was injured on a cruise ship?

Can I Sue the Cruise Line If I Was Injured on a Cruise Ship?

If you’ve been seriously injured during a cruise vacation and just returned from a cruise vacation or are still on the ship—you’re likely asking the question: “Can I sue the cruise line if I was injured on a cruise ship?” At Perkins Law Offices in Miami, suing the cruise line for passnger injuires is what we do. We help clients who have been hurt while at sea. So the answer to the question is Yes, if you are injured on a cruise you can sue the cruise lines. But the process isn’t always straightforward. There are many factors that will determine the viability of your cruise ship injury claim. There are some important determinative issues that must be resolved by a Cruise Injury lawyer to ensure you have a successful claim.

First and foremost, is jurisdiction. When it comes to cruise ship cases, alot of the accidents and injuries occur in international waters. This is a problem that can be overcome in most cases. Jurisdiction may vary, depending on whether the cruise voyage touched a US port, the nationality of the passenger, the location of the injury or death, the activity involved and the other provisions of the ticket contract terms and conditions. This all requires legal analysis form a cruise lawyer.

Generally, the majority of cruise ship injury cases where the injury happens out at sea in international waters, you can still sue the cruise line for injuries in the United States. In particular in Miami, Florida in federal court if the cruise touched a US port all during the voyage. Most of the big cruise lines like Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Disney Cruises, MSC Cruises, and Celebrity Cruises are based in Miami, Florida and their cruise ticket contracts require all lawsuits to be brought in federal court in Miami, Florida. This holds true for most ticket contracts where the cruise touched a US port. Otherwise if the cruise did not touch a US port, some of the cruise lines may apply a different jurisdiction and different governing law.

Most cruise ship cases involving United States port will be governed by general maritime law, and if it is within three nautical miles of the United States, it may be a blend of general maritime law and the closest particular states personal injury laws. When an injury happens during a tour or excursion, it may complicate things further, and the cruise line may likely be able to avoid some or all liability for the independent tour operator. This will also affect the jurisdiction of the case. However, here at Perkins Law Offices we have legal strategies in place to pursue actions against excursion operators that are chosen by the cruise line were offered or advertise by the cruise line.

Alex Perkins has a wide array of experience in maritime and boating matters, including litigating in the federal courts and will discuss with clients the different potential egal pathways available to injured passengers, the complexities of maritime law, and what it really takes to hold a cruise line accountable.

Understanding Your Rights After a Cruise Ship Injury

Cruise ships are legally obligated to provide a reasonably safe environment for passengers. When that duty is breached—through negligence, unsafe conditions, or failure to act—you may be eligible to file a cruise ship injury lawsuit.

Cruise lines like Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, Princess Cruises, Holland America and Norwegian Cruise Line carry extensive legal protections in their ticket contracts, but these do not mean they are immune from liability. The key is haveing a cruise injury lawyer who understands when, where, and how to take action.

Common Types of Cruise Ship Accidents That Lead to Lawsuits

From slippery pool decks to poorly maintained staircases, cruise ship injuries can happen in countless ways. Among the most frequently reported cases:

Slip and fall accidents (especially on wet decks, ganways or stairs)
Assaults by crew members or other passengers
Food poisoning outbreaks
Excursion-related injuries
Medical negligence in ship infirmaries
Sexual Assault by a crew member
FlowRider accidents
Gangway collapses
Celing collapses
Falling objects
Norovirus outbreak leasding to serious injury
Scuba accidents
Snorkeling accidents
Drownings
Overboard cases
Failure to transfer
Tender accidents
Pier accidents
Burns
Head Injuries
Contests gone wrong

Each of these can lead to a cruise ship accident lawsuit if it can be shown that the cruise line failed in its duty of care.

Maritime Law & Liability

Maritime law, also known as admiralty law, governs most cruise ship injury cases. Unlike standard personal injury claims, maritime cases involve unique rules, strict deadlines, and jurisdictional challenges. One major concern for many of our clients is learning that the jurisdiction of the lawsuit most likely will be in Miami Florida. Clients always ask, “will have to travel to Florida to bring a cruise claim claim?”. The good news is that injured passengers do not always have to come to Florida in order to file a lawsuit here. The only time an injured passenger might need to come to Florida is if the case cannot be settled, and it has to go to trial.

However, most cases do settle well short of a trial. Sometimes depending on the type of case and the circumstances involved, you may have to travel for a medical exam, deposition, or mediation, but it’s very easy to get to Miami, Florida. There are many cheap flights and hotels. And of course we will try to recover any such costs in the lawsuit. Alex Perkins is very selective about the cruise cases that he takes on against the cruise lines. And since the injured passenger is essentially a partner in the case with the law firm because we only get paid if we get the passenger paid, the likelihood of success is very high.

At Perkins Law Offices we make the process of signing up with our firm very easy from start to finish. We hold your hand all along the way. The initial meetings and sign up with our firm on a contingency cost the client nothing. Everything could be done by video conferencing, phone calls and email. Even our sign-up kits are sent electronically so you do not have to print any paperwork. There’s literally is no cost to hire a cruise ship injury lawyer like Alex Perkins.

Many cruise lines specify in their fine print that lawsuits must be filed in Miami, Florida, regardless of where the incident occurred. This is actually a good thing because we have a decent court system here and uniformity of outcomes and laws. My law firm is located right near the courthouse and right near the port where the ships are located. We are also near headquarters for many cruise lines. We have the convenience and familiarity of the judges and court system, therefore it’s very beneficial that cruise line injury cases can be brought here.

How do you know if you have a cruise injury case?

Under maritime law, you may have a valid claim if you can show:

The cruise line knew or should have known about the hazardous condition
The cruise line failed to correct or warn about it
Your injury was a direct result of this negligence

Real-Life Example: Slipping Through the Cracks

Take the case of a woman from New York who slipped on a wet stairwell aboard a Carnival cruise. Despite Carnival knowing the hazard that its floors become very slippery when wet, no action was taken to ensure the floor was dry and anti-skid tape or materials were utilized. She fractured her hip, underwent surgery, and was left with permanent mobility issues. Our team at Perkins Law Offices helped her pursue a cruise ship personal injury claim and recover significant compensation for her pain, suffering, and lost wages. This scenario happens repeatedly whether it’s on gangways, stairways, hot tub stairs, or on the Lido deck.

Trip and falls and slip and falls involving gangways or ramps to the ship or tenders are quite common. Gangway accidents can lead to bad injuires like broken hips and broken legs. The cruise line is usually negligent for not adequately assisting passengers ingress or egress on steep, moving or slippery metal ramps. Sometimes the crew fails to secure the the gangway to the tender, pier or ship. Passngers slip and fall and trip and fall on gangways when they move, become wet, have loose handrails or are not fully extended. Slip and falls with broken ankles and broken wrists happney with frequncy. We also see a lot of tripping falls over thresholds, uneven surfaces, and kicked up mats and other objects.

What Damages Can You Recover?

A successful cruise ship injury claim can lead to compensation for:

Medical expenses (both current and future)
Lost income or loss of earning capacity
Pain and suffering
Emotional distress
Permanent disability or disfigurement

When a cruise injury happens aboard a ship or during an excursion that involved a cruise voyage that stopped at a US port, the majority of time you will be entitled to similar damages as you would be under most state laws, even though we are applying general maritime law. However, it is different for cases of death. If the Death case occured more than three nautical miles from the US, it will be governed by a draconian law, called the Death on the High Seas Act. This limits statutory survivors to pecuniary losses and does not allow for pain and suffering damages to the survivors.

Why You Need a Maritime Injury Lawyer

Filing a cruise ship injury lawsuit without legal support is like navigating open waters in a rowboat during a storm. You need a seasoned maritime injury lawyer who understands the ins and outs of cruise line litigation. At Perkins Law Offices, we focus on holding major cruise lines accountable and maximizing compensation for injured passengers resulting from gangway accidents and ramp collapses, and transferring from to a tender or transfering from a tender.
Our experience extends to high-profile cases, including clients who sought to sue Carnival Cruise Line and sue Royal Caribbean for serious onboard injuries.

Don’t Blow the Deadline!

Most cruise line tickets contain a “forum selection clause” and a one-year statute of limitations to file a lawsuit. This is far shorter than most personal injury deadlines. Most also require that you notify the cruise line in writing within 180 days of the injury before you can bring a lawsuit. Missing these deadlines can permanently bar your claim. Cases do not get better with age so you should contact a cruise ship injury lawyer right away.

Challenging the Cruise Line’s Defenses

Cruise lines often argue that the injured party was to blame or that the condition was “open and obvious” especially in cases of trip and falls or slip and falls. For example, in a slip and fall, they will try take a breathalyzer test or blood test to see how much you have been drinking. They will interrogate you like you are the accused and have committed a crime. They will even try to convince you to blame yourself for the incident. In fact, when you fill out an incident report on a cruise ship, they ask the question “who do you blame for the accident?”. They only have two boxes to check– either “yourself” or “other”. They don’t even give you the option to blame the cruise ship.

In cases of trip and falls and slip and falls, the cruise line loves to blame the shoes you were wearing. They will take pictures of your footwear and will assert a defense of flip-flops being dangerous even though you were on a Caribbean cruise to visit beaches and go to the pool. In one instance, we had a case against Disney cruise line and they questioned the footwear of my client. I had my client send me pictures of the flip-flops she was wearing and they had a picture of Minnie mouse on them. I asked her where she bought them. She had gotten the flip-flops with Minnie mouse on the Disney cruise ship gift shop. That was not a good defense by the cruise line.

They may also claim that liability waivers in the ticket or excursion package protects them. However, some courts have found that certain waivers don’t apply depending on the language of the waiver and the activity involved, as well as potentially in cases of gross negligence of the cruise line.

When the Injury Happens on an Excursion

Many cruise passengers are injured not onboard, but during excursions. While cruise lines attempt to shift liability to third-party operators, they can still be held accountable if they failed to vet the operators or falsely represented the safety of the activity. We also have a method to keep the cruise line in the claim or action when we proceed against the a tour operator.

What to Do If You Were Injured on a Cruise Ship

Report the injury to ship staff and obtain a written incident report
Document the scene with photos or videos and get witness contact info
Get medical treatment onboard and at home
Keep all receipts and records related to the injury
Consult a cruise injury lawyer in Miami as soon as possible

Perkins Personal Injury Lawyers – Cruise Injury Lawyers

Located in Miami—the heart of the cruise industry—Perkins Law Offices has years of experience representing cruise injury victims from around the world. We understand the legal tactics cruise lines use and know how to fight back. If you were injured on a cruise, we offer free consultations and work on a contingency basis, meaning you don’t pay unless we win.

FAQs: Cruise Ship Injury Lawsuits

1. Can I sue a cruise line for food poisoning? Yes. If the foodborne illness was caused by negligent food handling or unsanitary kitchen conditions, you may have a claim if it can be shown the food was contaminated. Also you need to be injured from the food poison more than just a stomach ache or throwing up.

2. What if I signed a liability waiver before my cruise? You typically would not sign such a waiver in order to take a cruise but peraps an excursion. However, the cruise ticket contract is indeed a binding contract that contains many terms and conditions of your travel. The ticket does contain liability waivers and disclaimers of a certain type that may pertain to your particular case but it is not a general waiver of being able to sue the cruise line for personal injury or wrongful death. It depends on the waiver language and the activity. Some waivers don’t hold up in court. Cruise lines can’t always contract their way out of all responsibility. Let us review the waiver for free as part of the free consultation.

3. Can I still sue if the accident happened in international waters? Yes. General Maritime law applies as well as certain international treaties depending on the ports visited and the nationality of the passenger. Most lawsuits must be filed in the venue and jurisdiction listed on your cruise ticket, often federal court in Miami, FL where the big cruise lines are located and require suit be brought per the ticket terms. The fact that you can sue in Miami in federal court is actually a good thing because Perkins Law Offices is familiar with the courts and the judges.

4. How long do I have to file a cruise injury claim? Usually just one year from the date of injury to file the lawsuit. Before that, most cruise lines also require written notice within 180 days before you can file that lawsuit. If you do not meet the statute of limitations, your case will be forever bar, no matter how hurt you were or how egregious the conduct of the cruise line was.

5. Will I have to travel to Miami to file my lawsuit? In most cases, no. Most cruise contracts require legal action to be filed in Miami, FL, where our firm is based. However, a passenger may not have to come to Florida unless the case goes to trial or the Court requires it for some other proceeding like your depostion. But the truth is that most cases settle without court and we do our best to resolve your case without lawsuits if we can.

If you were injured on a cruise, don’t wait. Contact Perkins Law Offices today and speak with an experienced cruise ship accident attorney. We’re here to help you navigate your claim and fight for the compensation you deserve.