If you were injured on a cruise ship (a slip and fall accident, sexual harassment at the 
hands of a crew member, improper medical treatment, etc.) you may be wondering if the cruise line or its employees were negligent in their duty to keep you or other passengers safe.
Understanding Negligence on a Cruise Ship
As it relates to the cruise lines, negligence law states that a person (crew or staff) or an organization (the cruise line itself) is generally liable when they negligently injure others.
Negligence occurs when an injured party (a passenger) can prove that the responsible party (the cruise line or their crew) failed to exercise care that a reasonable party (guidelines or policies set by the cruise line) would have.
If an injured party has suffered due to negligent behavior, she has the right to be compensated for physical or emotional injury, harm to her property and/or financial status. That means you can sue for medical bills, lost time at work and other ‘injuries’.
Examples of negligence on a cruise ship could be:
- Not enforcing safety policies
- Not warning passengers of slippery decks or other dangerous conditions
- Not taking proper food safety precautions
- Failing to properly evaluate injured passengers’s medical conditions
Definition of Negligence
Failure to exercise the care toward others that a reasonable or prudent person would use in the same circumstances, or taking action that such a reasonable person would not, resulting in unintentional harm to another.
Negligence forms a common basis for civil litigation, with plaintiffs suing for damages based on a variety of injuries, from physical or property damage to business errors and miscalculations.
The injured party (plaintiff) must prove:
1) that the allegedly negligent defendant had a duty to the injured party or to the general public,
2) that the defendant’s action (or failure to act) was not what a reasonably prudent person would have done, and
3) that the damages were directly (“proximately”) caused by the negligence. An added factor in the formula for determining negligence is whether the damages were “reasonably foreseeable” at the time of the alleged carelessness.
Read more about negligence, the law and how it applies to you at Cornell Law (click here).
Help for Injured Cruise Passengers – Waks and Barnett / Miami
Waks and Barnett, P.A. attorneys have been helping injured and confused cruise ship passengers for more than 2 decades. If you believe negligence played a roll in your injury (whether on the cruise or on an excursion), please contact our office. We’d be happy to talk with you and answer questions you may have. Our consultation is free of charge.
Please call at (800) 905-2891 / Miami: 305-271-8282. Or email: waksbar@aol.com
