A Basic Primer of Cruise Ship Injury Law by Cruise Lawyer Alex Perkins of Perkins Personal Injury Lawyers Miami, FL .

Perkins Personal Injury Lawyers is based in Miami, Florida, where the world’s major cruise lines like Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Azamara, Oceana Cruises, and MSC cruises Carnival, are headquartered or conduct operations. The majority of North American cruises depart from Florida ports and most litigation involving cruise passenger injuries and deaths are litigated in Florida as mandated in the fine print of the cruise line tickets. For this reason, my personal injury law firm handles a niche area of federal maritime law involving cruise ship injury cases. I am what they call a “Cruise Lawyer” for a lack of a better term. Many cruise injury cases arise when passengers get injured during a voyage by the negligence of the cruise line (think slip and falls on the lido deck and medical malpractice by the ship’s doctors), or the intentional acts of crew members (such as a rape or other assaults). This primer will provide a brief overview of this nuanced practice area for my potential clients and referring attorneys in understanding modern legal precedents injured passengers will encounter when bringing a cruise ship injury claim against the cruise line.

Historical Context and Evolution of Maritime Law for Cruise Ships

The Courts in cruise ship injury cases apply general maritime law and specific federal statutes. Maritime law, also known as admiralty law, has roots stretching back centuries. It evolved over time, through Roman, Byzantine, and medieval European laws. For the United States it culminated in the codification of principles under Article III, §2 of the U.S. Constitution, which extends federal judicial power to “all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction” as well as with the Judiciary Act of 1789 that essentially created the structure of the federal court system.

Since vacation cruising is a relatively new pastime, maritime law was initially intended to govern activities on the high seas among vessels of sovereign nations, in particular as to the trade shipping industry. Its evolution into the modern era was driven by the need for uniform legal standards across international waters, where no single country’s laws solely apply or could seek an advantage. As it developed, laws were shaped to help limit certain liabilities to commercial vessels and their operators, like limitation actions and the Death on the High Seas Act. The Federal Shipping Act, particularly 46 U.S.C. §30101 et seq., provides a framework for maritime liability, including the enforceability of cruise ticket contract terms.

Miami, USA – April 29, 2022: MSC Seashore cruise ship prepares for departure from Miami to a weeklong Caribbean voyage

As cruising skyrocketed in popularity, so too did the size of ships and number of passenger and crewmember injuries. The cruise line industry learned to utilize some laws to their benefit. One of them being Cruise lines’ strategic business decision to achieve efficiencies by exclusively choosing U.S. federal jurisdiction to manage injury and death claims that could arise from their global operations. The cruise industry was able to achieve uniformity and consolidate litigation by limiting the locations they could be hauled into court by complainants. They tailored their ticket contracts to specify the forum, venue and jurisdictions they could be sued. This served to keep personal injury cases against them before familiar Courts with adequate understanding of maritime matters and applicable federal laws–all while conveniently located to their nearby corporate offices. The cruise lines recognized the costs and challenges they would face if litigants could file suit in their own home jurisdictions, sometimes thousands of miles away. So too did the Courts.

This choice to limit the forum, venue and jurisdiction vis a vis the ticket contract was legally affirmed in cases like Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. v. Shute, 499 U.S. 585 (1991), where the U.S. Supreme Court upheld forum selection clauses in cruise tickets, establishing a precedent for cruise line contracts dictating where disputes must be litigated. The Federal Shipping Act, particularly 46 U.S.C. §30101 et seq., provides a framework for maritime liability in negligence claims, including the enforceability of cruise ticket contract terms.

The Shute case involved a dispute over the enforceability of a forum selection clause in a passenger’s cruise ticket contract. Ms. Shute, a Washington resident, purchased a ticket for a cruise from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on a Carnival Cruise Lines ship. The ticket contained a clause stating that any legal action related to the cruise must be filed in Florida, where Carnival was headquartered. Shute was injured during the cruise and subsequently sued Carnival in Washington state court. Carnival sought to dismiss the case based on the forum selection clause, arguing the case should be heard in Florida.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, upheld the validity of the forum selection clause reasoning that forum selection clauses are not inherently unfair or unreasonable. They serve legitimate interests by reducing litigation costs and providing predictability for businesses like cruise lines. The Court noted that Shute had notice of the clause, as it was included in the ticket she received, and there was no evidence she would have foregone the cruise had she known of the clause beforehand. The justices also considered that Florida was not so inconvenient for Shute that it would deprive her of her day in court, given the availability of air travel. This decision has been significant in moving forward in all types contracts that involve forum selection clauses affirming their enforceability even in “contracts of adhesion”, where one party does not have significant bargaining power.

Most ticket contracts for major cruise operators now specifically state in the terms and conditions linked to their ticket contracts, that personal injury lawsuits must be filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida located in Miami, Florida USA. Not too long ago some of the tickets allowed for suit to be brough in state court in Miami-Dade County, FL. But now, the main cruise lines have opted to require suit exclusively be brought in federal court. This includes Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Azamara, Oceana Cruises, and MSC cruises. Each of those are either headquartered or have significant operations in Miami. Of course, Disney Cruise Lines operates from Orlando.

Given that most cruise-related cases are adjudicated here, Florida’s federal case law heavily influences the jurisprudence of cruise ship law. Other jurisdictions include California, and Washington, where Cunard and Holland America reside and stipulate cases must be brought. These clauses mandating federal court have been consistently upheld by the Courts.

Notice Letter and Statute of Limitations

Your cruise ticket is more than a boarding pass. It’s a binding contract that outlines the legal relationship between you and the cruise line pertaining to the voyage. In addition to mandating the forum and venue (mostly federal court in Miami) the ticket terms also address the time frame in which the cruise lines must be put on notice of the claim and sued or be foreve barred from pursuing the matter.

The cruise tickets for all the majors require a 6-month notice letter outlining the particulars of a claim before a lawsuit can be filed. This used to be reference as a “bill of particulars”. While there has been a reported case that circumvented the failure to provide such a 6-month notice letter under a certain factual scenario where the cruise line had actual knowledge of the incident (Rutledge v. NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., 2010 WL 4116473 (S.D. Fla. 2010), its best to not toi have to have that fight. Therefore, best attorney practice is to always timely serve the notice letter.

Once the 6-month notice letter is provided, one can file suit against a cruise line. However, the lawsuit must be filed with one year of the incident. Otherwise, it will be time barred. And no matter how bad the injury was, or how negligent the cruise line was, your case cannot go forward. It would be dismissed by the judge if you tried. This short one-year statute of limitations is problematic on several levels. First, when dealing with serious injury cases, treatment for the injury may be ongoing a year later which means the future damages can still be uncertain making it difficult to put a monetary value on a claim. One also may be more focused on convalescing rather than engaging in the stress of litigation.

A second issue with the short, one year statute of limitations is that many lawyers who do not practice in the cruise ship accident field may be surprised that it is only one year. Most state laws allow for 2-4 years for land-based accidents. In Florida, the state statute of limitations is 2 years, having recently been reduce from 4 years for negligence cases. General maritime law typically allows for a 3-year statute of limitation for boating accidents. But because the statute is unusually short, unfamiliar practitioners may be lulled into missing the one-year deadline, especially if they are in active negotiations with the cruise line. Just because 6-month notice letter was given and negotiations were ongoing with the cruise line, the cruise line will not be estopped from asserting the statute of limitations was missed. In other words, once the one-year deadline passes, the ability to file suit is lost forever.

Common Types of Cruise Ship Injury Claims

Cruise ship accidents and injuries can run the gamut each with its own legal considerations.

Slip and Fall & Trip and Fall

The most common cases we see are slip and falls and trip and falls. Perkins Personal Injury Lawyers has handled numerous slip and falls on the “lido deck” where the outdoor pools, hot tubs and lounge chairs are set up. In particular, stairs are often problematic that may have inadequate slip resistance or nosing. Even though one might expect slippery decks around water features, there are so many falls there that the ships are just not doing enough to prevent them by way of adequate maintenance and warnings. Even providing warning may be insufficient to prevent injury from a dangerously slippery condition.

Beside the lido deck slip and falls, another area of the ship that tends to produce falls are gangways or gangplanks when passengers ingress and egress the ship. I have previously written about the dangers of gangways in an article entitled “Can I sue if I trip and fall on a gangway?”.

Some ramps are made of metal, which becomes extra slippery when wet. Combing inclines or declines with boat movement and exposure to the elements with overcrowded lines of people is a recipe for falls, especially with older and infirm people.

Slip and falls and trip and falls also tend to occur when there is a flooring material transition or threshold. Uneven or unlevel surfaces can cause footwear to catch an edge throwing a person forward to the ground or into other objects.

Medical Malpractice

Medical Negligence by the ships medical staff like nurses and doctors is also actionable. The quality of the medical care on board and decisions made with respect to emergency diagnosis of conditions can lead to greater injuries and death than has the medical emergency happened on land. The quality of care is not going to be what is provided in a regular hospital even though the ship should have a medical doctor on board. Typically, such on board medical staff do not have the pedigree and are not US licensed doctors.

The courts have established that cruise lines have a duty to provide reasonable medical care, which includes both diagnosis and treatment or, if necessary, evacuation. Even if the cruise line claims the ships medical staff are not employees of the cruise line but rather independent contractors. In Franza v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., 772 F.3d 1225 (11th Cir. 2014), the Court held such that when a passenger suffered a fall and blow to the head that went untreated and timely assessed by the onboard doctor and staff, leading to the passenger’s death. This case abrogated the “ Barbetta rule” which used to immunize a shipowner from respondeat superior (vicarious) liability whenever a ship’s employees render negligent medical care to its passengers no matter how clear the shipowner’s control over its medical staff was or how egregious the claimed acts of negligence were. As the Barbetta court saw it, the evolution of legal norms, the rise of a complex cruise industry, and the progression of modern technology erased whatever utility the Barbetta rule once may have had. Barbetta v. S/S Bermuda Star, 848 F.2d 1364 (5th Cir.1988).

Rape and Sexual Assault

An underreported and stark reality of cruising is the prevalence of rape and sexual assaults that occur during voyages. Since the advent of the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010 CVSSA, we have gotten a little bit better glimpse into the frequency of such horrible crimes due to the fact the cruise lines are now required by law to track and report incidents to the FBI. Self-reporting is still a flawed method because there is no financial incentive to do so for the industry. Rather they are opening themselves up to more liability up stream to lawsuits, in particular when the rape or sex assault is committed by a crewmember on a passenger or another crew member. The cruise line can be held strictly liable for intentional acts of crewmembers, so these cases can be challenging for the cruise line to defend due to the heightened duty owed. A cruise line is a common carrier which means in certain scenarios they have a higher duty of care to get their passengers to their destination safety which forms the legal rationale behind cruise lines being strictly responsible for the sexual crimes and harms caused by crewmembers whether the cruise line knew of the perpetrator’s dangerous propensities or not.

A seminal case cementing this strict liabilityof cruise lines for sexual assault by crew members isDoe v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc., 394 F.3d 891 (11th Cir. 2004). The Court affirmed a common carrier, owes a duty of protection and safe transport to its passengers, and thus is strictly liable for crew member assaults on passengers. In this case the passenger was raped by the crew member while the ship was in port and the crew member was off duty. This was of no moment to the Court which reasoned. “Although some temptation exists to draw a bright line between a crew member assault of a passenger that occurs on the ship versus in a port-of-call, “the situation presented here has a more genuinely salty flavor than that.” Kossick v. United Fruit Co., 365 U.S. 731, 742, 81 S.Ct. 886, 894, 6 L.Ed.2d 56 (1961). Furthermore, the Supreme Court recently has taken an expansive view of admiralty jurisdiction and stated that in modern maritime commerce “the shore is now an artificial place to draw a line.” Norfolk, 125 S.Ct. at 388.

Further the Court noted “the ship’s stop in was a scheduled port-of-call, and was an integral part of the on-going cruise or maritime activity in this case. Ports-of-call not only add to the enjoyment of a cruise but form an essential function of the cruise experience.” As to the rape occurring off the ship near the dock, the Court stated, “The sexual battery occurred very close to the docked ship, and neither the victim passenger nor the crew member left the port-of-call or traveled any real distance from the ship. See generally, Duluth Superior Excursions, Inc. v. Makela, 623 F.2d 1251, 1253 n. 5 (8th Cir. 1980) (“Although it might be argued that Makela’s injury is remote from the wrongful act, the accident occurred some six minutes after the S.S. FLAMINGO docked, on a street that adjoins the dock.”)…More importantly, the purpose behind the exercise of this Court’s admiralty jurisdiction is to provide for the uniform application of general maritime law. Plainly, the standard of care that governs when a cruise line’s crew member assaults a passenger should be uniform and not vary from port to port on a single cruise. Jane Doe was no less a cruise passenger the moment she stepped off the ship at the port-of-call than she was the moment before she stepped off the ship.”

Excursion Injuries

Severe injuries and deaths unfortunately happen when passengers partake in off board activities coordinated by the cruise line such as such as zip lining, parasailing, horseback riding, biking, jet skiing, hiking and other tours. Even transferring from ship to shore or through ports of calls can lead to injury or death caused in whole or in part by negligence of the cruise lines or their apparent agents and contractors. Lawsuits can be brought against the cruise lines for injuries and wrongful deaths that occur during off ship excursions under specific factual scenarios. Sometimes the ships foreign contracted excursion operator can also be subject to the Courts federal jurisdiction.

One persuasive federal case supporting the theory of liability against the cruise lines and their off shore excursion operators is Lienemann v. Cruise Ship Excursions, Inc., 2018 WL 6039993 (S.D. Fla. Nov. 15, 2018) which relies mostly on another similar case from a year earlier calledSteffan v. Carnival Corp., No. 16-cv-25295, 2017 WL 4182203, at *4-7 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 1, 2017). The plaintiff in Lienemann was injured during a catamaran excursion promoted by Carnival, alleging the cruise line’s assurances of safety and reliability. The court allowed claims against Carnival to move forward, suggesting that by promoting and vetting these excursions, cruise lines could expose themselves to liability notwithstanding mere warnings or conclusory disclaimers of responsibility for contractors. Further, it also allowed the action to proceed against the foreign excursion operator under third-party beneficiary theory based on the contract terms between the cruise line and the excursion vendor that agreed to jurisdiction in Florida for lawsuits between them, thereby extending this consent to cases involving Carnival’s passengers. However, since the above decisions, other cases have factually distinguished themselves lending to an expectation any excursion case will be strongly so hard fought challenged.

Wrongful Death – Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA)

Deaths that occur on ships or later upon return home due to an indent during a voyage caused by the actions or inactions of the cruise line are generally viable. However, some deaths may by governed by a draconian law called the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA). This is a federal statute enacted in 1920 that applies to deaths occurring on the “high seas,” which are generally considered to be waters further than three nautical miles from the U.S. coastline. There was an extension to territorial waters from three to twelve nautical miles by international law, but DOHSA’s jurisdiction has not been updated to reflect this change. The act was established to provide a uniform legal framework for wrongful death claims resulting from incidents like maritime accidents, commercial shipping disasters, or aviation crashes over water. Under DOHSA, recovery is very limited for survivors, as it only allows for pecuniary losses to be recovered and no non-economic damages like pain and suffering and mental anguish. This means compensation can only be awarded for financial losses, such as loss of support, services, or contributions to dependents. Only certain individuals can recover under DOHSA, primarily those who were financially dependent on the deceased, like spouses, children, or parents.

Perkins Personal Injury Lawyers Best Practices

Our approach as cruise lawyers is to jump on our clients’ cases right away without letting time elapse that could adversely affect negotiations due to the time constraints of the short statute of limitations of one year. The first thing we do is to check the ticket contract to confirm the forum and venue. We also ask the client to provide whatever other communications they may have had with the cruise line and tell them not to speak to anyone about their case, in particular no more communications with the cruise line.

We always caution clients that the ships have CCTV footage just about everywhere but inside the cabins, so they need to be as transparent as possible with us about circumstances regarding on board mishaps. We inform clients of the attorney client privilege and that it is better for us to know everything we need to know now, so we can strategize early how to deal with any bad facts rather than be surprised by it later. For example, we always ask our clients in fall down cases if alcohol was involved which could bar recovery. For this reason, we also like to corroborate that with room charges on the folio for their cabin. Some cruise companies allow clients to request their own room folios or medical records through the company’s online portal which is something we can ask the client to do if they did not receive it by email already.

Another cruise lawyer best practice is to tell our clients to preserve their own evidence too. For example, in fall down cases, the cruise lines always ask what type of footwear our client was wearing. For some reason, the cruise lines like to claim flip flops are dangerous even though the most of the passengers on a Caribbean cruise are wearing flip flops or sandals at some point. We once had a case against Disney Cruise Lines where they blamed my client’s choice of flip flop footwear as dangerous. When I asked my client to send me photos of the flip flops there was Minnie Mouse’s cute face all over them. I asked where my client purchased them, and– voila! She had bought them on the ship. Likewise, photos of the scene of accidents and injuries are integral. We always push our clients to look through their phones and cameras, and tha of their friends and family they traveled with for helpful pictures.

Once we are retained on our standard Florida Bar contingency fee agreement for which there are no upfront fees or costs, we immediately send the 6-month notice letter via registered mail return receipt requested. Our letter not only serves as the required notice under the ticket contract, it also requests the passenger’s ship board medical records with a HIPPA compliant medical authorization signed by the client. We also request any statements they may have made to the cruise line. We also include a demand for preservation of all potential evidence such as CCTV footage in the letter. Video can make or break a case, but the footage does not have to be shared by the cruise line until we are in suit.

There will be times when we send demands or file suit while the client is still treating and damages may be less definite. By sending out the 6-month notice letter as quickly as possible, we hope to provide ourselves sufficient time to collect evidence and develop our theory of liability.

Contact us

For expert legal assistance, reach out to Perkins Law Offices:

Why Choose Us? Being based in Miami gives Perkins Personal Injury Lawyers an inherent advantage in cruise ship accident a cases. We’re familiar with the local federal courts, understand the nuances of dealing with these cruise line giants, and have been recognized in legal publications and among our peers for our work in this niche area as rated among the best personal injury lawyers in Miami.

My main office is conveniently located at 1728 Coral Way, Suite 702 Miami, FL. This is within 10 minutes of the federal courthouse where most cruise line cases must be filed. It is also down the road from Port Miami where many of the ships pass through at some point. In the event the ship requires an inspection with experts at some point, we are right there. We also have an office in Boca Raton, FL at 6560 W. Rogers Circle, Suite 15 Boca Raton, FL 33487.

Our sign-up process is seamless with electronic document signing through email. We offer free video conferencing through Zoom, Google, Teams or Facetime. And if you want to meet your lawyer face to face, you are welcome. I do not charge anything for a private and confidential consultations and we charge no upfront fees or costs. We only get paid if we get you paid. If we do not make a recovery for you, you owe us nothing. Call, text or email me today and get the justice you deserve. You may reach me at 305-741-5297 via call or text, or you can reach us through email at perkins@perkinslawoffices.com or through our website Perkinslawoffices.com or through our social media.