Cruise Lines Sued in Texas Woman's Death

The one year anniversary of a tragic death involving a thirty-nine year old Texas woman on the Carnival Conquest serves as a stark reminder of the responsibility that cruise lines have in ensuring that their passengers are imbibing safely. Family members of the deceased woman have hired a wrongful death attorney to sue Carnival Cruise Lines for negligence. Central to the case is the woman's consumption of alcohol in the casino.

In May of last year, while traveling the Caribbean aboard the Carnival Conquest, the victim consumed several alcoholic beverages. Later, while in her cabin, she slipped on a water glass and severed an artery in her arm. The plaintiff's attorney claims that the ship's crew was slow in transporting the gravely injured passenger to the infirmary.

The attorney was quoted as follows: "It took more than an hour to get the woman to the emergency infirmary. If you've got a cut artery, you don't have an hour."

Although the case will focus largely on these delays in transporting the injured passenger to the medical facility—she fell out of a wheel chair and a sea rescue canoe was brought to the room, but it was too large to avoid the ship's bulkheads—the amount of alcohol that was consumed will be something upon which her family's attorney will focus.

The passenger by all accounts was not a heavy drinker. However, on the night of her death, she had consumed several drinks in the casino. At one point, her mother had suggested that she stop drinking. However, the pit boss and the dealer both told the mother that she seemed as though she could handle the alcohol and that her mother should "let her have some fun." After she had consumed four drinks, the passenger retired to the cabin where the accident later occurred.

Much like dram shop liability on dry land, cruise ships have the responsibility to ensure that their passengers aren't drinking to the point where it is unsafe. The number of drinks served is often less important than the way in which the passenger is behaving or appears to be reacting. That's because the passenger could show up to the bar already intoxicated, could be consuming a medication that reacts with alcohol, or may just not be much of a drinker-as was the case with the victim. The family's attorney is likely to argue that the ship's crew knew or should have known that the Texas woman was not handling the alcohol well—particularly after hearing the warning from her mother. Regardless of whether the plaintiff's attorney is ultimately successful in the suit, this aspect of the case has the potential to affect cruise ship serving policies throughout the industry.