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How To Sue A Cruise Line
Yes – You May be Able to Sue A Cruise Line After An Accident or Injury
If you were the victim of a cruise ship accident, excursion accident or even medical negligence, you may be able to sue the cruise line that was responsible. Unfortunately, thousands of passengers are severely injured each year on cruise vacations, often through no fault of their own. It’s important to know that hurt passengers can file injury claims and lawsuits against the cruise line that they sailed with.
With more than 35 years of experience litigating cruise ship accident and injury cases, the law firm of Waks and Barnett, P.A. has found that passengers and their family are often frustrated and confused about what to do after an accident – especially as it relates to their legal options and ability to hold the cruise lines accountable.
Our Attorneys Help Victims of Cruise Ship Accidents Sue the Cruise Lines
Our lawyers have considerable professional experience in all areas of maritime law and cruise ship injury law. We’re here to help you with the legal advice and representation you deserve. If your injuries require a claim to be made or a lawsuit filed, we can sue for compensation.
Waks and Barnett, P.A., also known as CruiseLawyers.com, is a well-respected Miami, Florida law firm focused on representing passengers and crew members injured on cruise ships and other vessels.
Questions we’re asked about cruise ship lawsuits are:
Can I sue a cruise line after an accident?
Our attorneys bring more than 70 years of combined experience in maritime law and cruise ship injury claims. That experience matters because cruise ship cases are different from typical personal injury cases . The applicable law may be federal maritime law, the passenger’s ticket contract may contain important restrictions, and the cruise line may have specific requirements concerning where and when a lawsuit must be filed.
Over the years, Waks and Barnett has represented thousands of injured passengers and crew members against all of the major cruise lines, including:
- Azamara Cruise Lines
- Carnival Cruise Lines
- Celebrity Cruises
- Costa Cruises
- Crystal Cruises
- Cunard Line
- Disney Cruise Line
- Holland America Line
- Margaritaville at Sea
- MSC Cruises USA
- Norwegian Cruise Line
- Oceania Cruises
- Princess Cruises
- Regent Seven Seas Cruises
- Royal Caribbean
- International
- Seabourn Cruise Line
- Silversea Cruises
- Island Queen Cruises
- Pullmantur Cruises
- P&O Cruises
- Virgin Voyages
- Windstar Cruises
Need to Sue a Cruise Line or File a Cruise Injury Lawsuit After an Accident?
Many passengers don’t even realize that the cruise line might be liable for injuries sustained while on the cruise. You may also not know that by filing a claim (assuming it can be proven the cruise line or its employees were negligent in their actions or policies) you may be able to get a settlement or verdict against a cruise line that will help pay for medical bills, missed time at work and other compensatory and punitive damages. If you believe you have a claim against a cruise line – or even if you’re unsure about your options – you should speak with an attorney who sues cruise lines and who has experience working with a variety of cruise ship injury cases and complicated lawsuits.
Quite frankly, most people don’t know what to do if they’ve been involved in an accident. At first, most people focus their attention on getting proper medical treatment and going through rehab and recovery for their injuries. And you should. It’s generally only when the medical bills start to pile up that passengers think about filing an injury claim or begin to seek the help of an attorney.
This is when it’s time to contact a lawyer. We can help you file a claim (or take over if you’ve been frustrated with the process of filing an injury claim against the cruise line yourself or a ‘home-town’ attorney who does not understand how cruise ship accident cases are substantially different than traditional personal injury cases like car wrecks or grocery store slip and fall cases).
We help passengers sue cruise lines so they can be compensated for:
- Pain and suffering associated with their injuries
- Hospital, doctor and medical bills
- Lost pay, wages and salary
- Loss of future earnings
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Long-term or lifelong disability
- Other costs, credit card bills or debt associated related to their cruise ship injury
Our attorneys can also provide answers to common questions including do I have a case, do I really need a lawyer, how much will it cost to file a lawsuit and what is my case worth?
Other frequently asked questions related to cruise ship lawsuits include:
- Can I sue the cruise line if their doctor was guilty of medical negligence or even malpractice?
- Can I sue a cruise line because I slipped and fell on a wet floor?
- Can I sue the cruise line because I broke my leg on one of their tender boats?
- Is a cruise line liable for an accident that happened while I was on an excursion?
- Can you sue a cruise line because I was sexually assaulted on their ship?
Call Waks and Barnett, P.A. at 1-305-271-8282 for a free consultation. We can help with the frustration and confusion you and your family may be experiencing.
How Do I File a Cruise Ship Lawsuit – And Where?
It’s important to know that cruise ship lawsuits begin with filing an injury claim against the cruise line.
But who files those injury claims and where do you file those cruise lawsuits? The cruise line actually tell you exactly how to do that in the Ticket Contract that you signed before going on your cruise. However, most passengers never even read this contract.
The Ticket Contract tells you how, when and where lawsuits against the cruise line can be filed. They can be scary to read if you’re not an attorney and include phrases like “legal notice” and “legally binding contract” and “read carefully.”
For example, passengers who were injured on Carnival Cruise Line must agree to the Terms and Conditions outlined in their Ticket Contract Terms. You can read that here.
Before you set foot on a Carnival cruise, you’re potentially giving up rights to sue the cruise company. Carnival’s terms include forum selection, choice of law, time limitations of filing a claim or bringing a lawsuit, how arbitration works, waiving rights to class actions and much more.
Carnival Cruise’s ticket contract says that if you’re hurt on their ship, you must provide:
- Details of the accident must be in writing and delivered within 185 days of the injury or death
- The lawsuit must be filed within one year of the accident
- Cases must be filed in The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami-Dade County.
As most cruise ship injury lawyers will tell you, the terms and conditions are written by cruise ship company lawyers with one main purpose – to protect the cruise line from lawsuits. They make it really difficult to sue them. Cruise lines are very good at getting you to spend money with them and are just as good at minimizing their responsibility to pay hurt passengers after an accident.
If you or an attorney you’ve hired to manage your case does not abide by the terms and conditions of the cruise line, your case could be dismissed and you risk not being able collect much-needed compensation for injuries related to your accident.
“Don’t let that happen. Please call us at this number, 1-305-271-8282 so we can help you.
What Can You Expect From Lawyers Who Sue Cruise Lines?
If you’ve been injured on a cruise vacation you want someone to fight for you against the cruise line attorneys, the insurance companies and other parties.
That is what we do for you – that is what you can expect from our firm and our attorneys. And while we can not guarantee results in the courtroom – no attorney can – we do guarantee that we will work diligently to achieve the best possible result for you.
We will thoroughly review your potential case, investigate the facts surrounding your accident and create a plan of action for pursuing compensation for your injuries.
If you choose to have us represent you, we’ll send a retainer package. From there, we’ll represent you and work toward resolution, either through a settlement with the cruise line or through a decision made by the court.
Remember, there is no fee charged to you for our services. We work on a ‘contingency fee‘ basis which means there is no charge for our services unless you receive compensation from the cruise line.
Our clients need help! It’s why they turn to us investigate their injury claims and file lawsuits on their behalf against the cruise lines for slip and fall accidents, swimming pool accidents, cases of medical negligence, rape and sexual assault and crew member injury claims.
How Long Will it Take to Sue the Cruise Line?
This is a common question – hurt passengers want to know how long a cruise ship lawsuit will take, what involved in suing a cruise and what kind of compensation they might be awarded if they win their case.
How long will a lawsuit against the cruise company take? The length of a lawsuit depends on a lot of factors. From the first phone call to our office until a check is delivered to an injured passenger can take a month or two – or longer – a year or more. It often depends on the severity of the injuries suffered. If a passenger has to go through a series of surgeries and extended rehabilitation, it can impact how how quickly a case can proceed. Our attorneys however, are efficient at moving the process along where we can, especially as it relates to doing our work and managing the response of the cruise line attorneys and others affiliated with the case.
What is involved in a cruise ship injury case – and what do you have to do? Once you’ve hired an attorney to represent you in your lawsuit against the cruise line, the attorneys and their staff will do most of the work. Your focus is to get better and recover from your injuries. You will be asked to answer questions about the accident (a deposition) and provide paperwork related to hospital and doctor visits.
Injured passengers also want to know what kind of settlement or money they can expect from the cruise line after a case is over (assuming they won the case or were provided a settlement). Note: not every injury claim will result in a lawsuit. And those that do may not always results in a successful settlement or verdict against the cruise line.
This is why it’s so important to contact an experienced cruise ship injury lawyer. Their background with maritime law and cruise ship injury cases will ensure you have the most successful change fighting the cruise lines.
Remember, cruise ship lawsuits must be filed at the right time (within the statute of limitations), in the correct way (based on the terms and conditions in your cruise ticket contract that you signed) and in the right location (the correct venue…most often in Miami, Florida courts).
What is an average cruise ship lawsuit settlement? While there is no average settlement amount, most cases will payout between $75,000 to $500,000. More severe cases can easily result in the cruise line companies paying millions of dollars. Note: each case is unique and will depend on the specific facts related to the case. You can review our firms cruise ship lawsuit results here.
What would a cruise ship lawsuit settlement cover? The goal of a lawsuit against the cruise line is to ensure compensation is recovered for:
- permanent bodily injury, pain and disability
- loss of the ability to enjoy life
- mental suffering
- all medical expenses
- aggravation of pre-existing condition
- loss of the ability to earn money
- loss of the pleasure of the complete cruise
- any and all other damages
If you or your family have questions about a cruise injury, accident or medical issue, please call us at this toll-free number, 1-305-271-8282.
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Can the cruise lines be held accountable for Your Injuries?
We Help Passengers Sue Cruise Lines So They Can Be Compensated For:
- Hospital and doctor bills
- Lost pay and wages
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of future earnings
- Long-term or lifelong disability
- Any and all costs related to passenger’s injuries
Call today for a free injury claim assessment at 1-305-271-8282.
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