Free Advice: Could you just give me an overview of cruise ship injury law to start?

Jason Turchin: The most common types of cases that arise in cruise ship law are slip and fall cases on cruises, where people fall by a pool area or in the cafeteria, automatic doors closing on people, or trip and fall injuries on different things that are lying around. Sometimes we find there are also sexual assault cases against cruise members or even passengers. These cruise ship injuries generally fall under general maritime law and sometimes are also controlled by contract between the passenger and the cruise ship.

Free Advice: Is maritime law federal or state law?

Jason Turchin: It falls under admiralty law. There is maritime and admiralty law. A lot of it is common law. There’s some state law component to it also, but it’s mostly federal maritime with some state law component and some common law to help interpret everything.

Free Advice: So what kind of compensation can a cruise ship passenger recover for injuries sustained on a cruise ship?

Jason Turchin: Well, we have compensatory damages where the cruise ship passenger can recover economic damages. In those cases we’re looking to accommodate them for the actual out-of-pocket expenses or losses. If there’s any kind of medical treatment that they need, any future medical treatment that they need, any deductibles or co-payments from their insurance, any different devices that they had to buy like crutches or wraps or over-the-counter medication, things like that, they can recover under economic damages. Any lost wages too.

Then there are non-economic damages where the cruise ship passenger’s entitled to recover pain and suffering damages. Anything that we really can’t calculate but know was connected to some kind of loss.

Free Advice: What if the injury occurs in another country?

Jason Turchin: If the injury occurs in another country, you have to look at the passenger contract. Most major cruise ships are based in Florida or at least have a provision in their contract that requires any claim be brought in Florida. Some are starting to do Ft. Lauderdale and some require state or federal filings or just federal court. If the injury occurs in another country, it really depends on the law of that country as to whether the passenger cruise contract is enforceable. If it’s not enforceable in that country, then the passenger can pursue a claim in that country. If it is enforceable, then the passenger still has to bring the claim in south Florida.

One of the things that the person who’s injured on the cruise ship has to consider are what are the laws and what are the rights of a passenger in that country? There may be strict guidelines as to what that person can recover. It may be only a certain amount of the medical bills. They may not be entitled to all their mental anguish or pain and suffering. They may not be entitled to a jury in those countries. They really have to look and decide whether it’s to their advantage to bring it in another country or bring it here. It also depends on where they live. Are they going to have the ability to go to court in the other country? Fly back there if they have to? Same thing with Florida. A lot of times people who go on cruises come to Florida but may not live here in Florida. So, that’s another thing that they have to consider. Do they have the ability to come to Florida or do they even have to? Sometimes cases are brought in Florida and the passenger never ever has to come to the state of Florida. But, that may be different if it’s in another country.

Free Advice: What are some of the major cruise ships that list it in their contract that the case will be held in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale or some of the other places in Florida?

Jason Turchin: I know Carnival and Royal Caribbean do. I believe their subsidiaries do also. Those are the two major ones that are down here.

Free Advice: Is it more difficult to prove an injury on a cruise ship? Or is it the same as an injury that occurs on land?

Jason Turchin: It depends on the circumstances. There are cases that say that there are times where the owner of the cruise ship has a higher duty of care than a typical land owner does just by the very nature of being at sea. They have a lot more experience of being at sea than most passengers do. Because there’s a potential for rough waters, they should make the properties a bit safer for passengers. It’s a duty of reasonable care – it’s ultimately up to the jury to identify whether or not the cruise ship acted reasonably under the circumstances.

Free Advice: What should you do after you’ve been injured on a cruise ship? Are there any precautions or steps to take that can help with a future lawsuit?

Jason Turchin: What I’d recommend is to report it immediately. If there’s something that you fell on or something that you tripped over, get photographs of it. A lot of times the cruise ships are going to investigate these immediately also. They’re going to get investigators to come to the area and either take photographs or try to put signs up. What we want to try and have happen is to get photographs of what the area looked like at the time that you fell without giving the cruise ship a chance to come and correct and fix things. Maybe they’ll take their own pictures which could be misinterpreted because they put warning signs up afterwards, then took photographs after the signs were put up.

You should definitely report any injury to the cruise ship. Let them know what happened. The cruise ships are going to look at that because a lot of times you really don’t have the chance to change their story. You’re not thinking about a future lawsuit. You’re thinking, “Hey, I just fell and I really just want to put the cruise ship on notice that I fell and this area is dangerous.” If you’re injured, seek medical attention immediately. The longer the gap in treatment the more the cruise ship is likely to think that either it’s not related or it’s not that severe. Most cruise ships, if not all, have a medical facility on board and they’ll have one if not two or more doctors and nurses that are actually in an infirmary on the ship and are available almost 24 hours a day for people to go and get medical treatment. So, if possible, at least get evaluated by the cruise ship doctor and find out what the extent of the injuries are and how severe they are. Is it something that either you need to be air-lifted off the ship or taken off at the next port of call and taken to a medical facility there or is it something that you can really just wait until the cruise is over and then just see your doctor once you get off the ship?

Next thing is probably to contact a cruise ship accident lawyer and at least find out what your rights are because, with cruise ship cases, the law is a bit different because it’s based in part on contract. In most maritime cases, the victims of injuries are given up to three years to bring a claim. If somebody’s injured in the state of Florida, in a general personal injury case, they have four years to bring a claim. In most passenger contracts, a passenger has to report the claim and give what they call a statement of particulars to the cruise ship within six months of the injury happening and a lawsuit has to be filed in the correct court within one year of the incident happening, which really limits the person’s time to bring a claim. Sometimes people treat for longer than a year, so they may not be done with treatment, but they still have to file that lawsuit within a year or the claim’s going to be barred forever.

If a cruise ship passenger doesn’t know or doesn’t read the contract and file a lawsuit in, say, New York within a year and then the year goes by and the New York court throws the lawsuit out because it was brought in the wrong court, then the claim may be barred forever just because it was brought in the wrong venue.

The other really important thing is to save receipts. Any expense that you had that was a result of the injury will not be paid or considered for compensation if you don’t have the receipt for it. The plaintiff has to prove their damages. If you don’t have proof of an expense, it’s not likely to be considered as part of any settlement or jury verdict.

Free Advice: In the news recently there have been several cases of food poisoning on cruise ships. Is that treated any differently than an injury on a cruise ship?

Jason Turchin: For the most part it’s treated as the same because the people who ingest the food and get sick are most likely victims of the cruise ship’s negligence and were injured as a result of that negligence. What we look to see is could the cruise ship have prevented this? Did they know about it, but still serve people? More than likely they didn’t know about it, but they may not have conducted the proper inspections of the food. They could have had any kind of warning or complaint about the food and continued to serve it to everybody else. If they decided to go forward and take the chance and serve other people, they were negligent. Sometimes it may not be the cruise ship company’s fault. A lot of times the cruise ships don’t make the food. But, they do serve it so it depends on the chain of custody of the food and how it got on board, who handled it, were the proper handling procedures followed? If they were properly followed, then maybe negligence will also fall on the distributor of the food or the manufacturer of the food. We have to look back at the chain of custody and see what the cause of the food contamination was. Certainly the cruise may be liable.

Free Advice: In mild cases of food poisoning, is there anything that the passenger can do, or is it just a fact of life?

Jason Turchin: They should certainly report it to the cruise line. At least put them on notice of what happened. It comes down to a cost-benefit: what is the passenger looking to get out of the case and is it something that they should pursue? Is it something that the attorney thinks is worth pursuing? There’s a lot of time and a lot of cost that go into these cases, and if it’s a case in which a person had mild food poisoning or an upset stomach for a few hours and then got better and didn’t seek any kind of medical treatment, well, they have no out-of-pocket losses but they were injured. They still do have a right to pursue a personal injury case. Even though they don’t have any actual out-of-pocket losses they still did endure some kind of pain and suffering. The question is: is it worth it financially for them to pursue the case and then, conversely, is it worth it financially for the cruise line to defend the case?

It may be a case where maybe it’s not to the advantage of the sick passenger to actually pursue a civil claim against the cruise line or a civil lawsuit against them, but sometimes by letting the cruise line know what happened, the cruise lines will often give some kind of good faith offer to the passenger without ever getting attorneys involved. They may give a two for one on the next cruise or on-board credit; something that doesn’t really cost the cruise line a lot of money but that is still a good faith compensation or gesture toward the passenger.

Free Advice: When you’ve been injured on a cruise ship and you’re searching for an attorney, what sort of questions should you ask?

Jason Turchin: The most important thing is where you’re located. Because, if you have a Carnival Cruise Line case or a Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Case and your attorney’s in another state that’s not licensed to practice in Florida, we have a very short time to bring this claim in Florida so –by the time the attorney sets up the file and investigates it, you may be at nine months or ten months into the case and at that point if the cruise line decides that they’re not going to pay enough money, you may have a very difficult time trying to find an attorney who’s going to take the case in one or two months and try and file the lawsuit on your behalf.

Unfortunately, we run into a lot of cases like that where somebody might want to have a local lawyer near them even though they don’t live in Florida. And, the local lawyer tries to get the case settled – well, a lot of the cruise lines don’t pay a lot of money pre-suit unless they really feel that they’re responsible for the accident. They don’t pay a lot of money and sometimes you may accrue a significant amount of medical bills. By the time the attorney realizes they’re just not going to pay enough money to get the case resolved without filing a lawsuit, you may be way too close to the statute, and a lot of other attorneys may be reluctant to take on that case because they don’t want to miss any kind of statute of limitations either.

Aside from that, experience is important. You want an attorney who’s handled cruise ship cases. You want an attorney who’s gone after the major cruise lines before who knows really how to present a case to the cruise line and has dealt with them before. You also want somebody who’s compassionate, who understands that the case isn’t just about money. It’s not just trying to get the passenger compensated for what happened and trying to get money in their pocket and in the attorney’s pocket. You want someone who understands that these are people who didn’t ask to be in this situation. They didn’t ask to be injured. They didn’t ask to have to undergo medical treatment, or have to lose work, or have to spend money out of their pocket, or have to have their cruise ruined because of what they believe is the cruise line’s negligence. And, you want somebody that understands that and has the proper staff who can answer questions at all times and who can help them really walk them through the case because most of the time this is the first time that anything like this has ever happened to them.

You hear on television how litigious people really are in our society and how they’ll sue for anything. But, it’s not really the case. I don’t really see that very often. I don’t see habitual litigators too often who actually come back and make a lot of money off of lawsuits. In most cases it’s really the first time that this has ever happened to somebody and so you want somebody who’s going to walk you through this and explain to you what the procedures are, what’s going to happen in the case. Somebody who’s going to deal with your doctors, who knows how to make sure that the medical bills are going to be taken care of or at least considered as part of any settlement. That, once the case is resolved, somebody that knows how to get the case resolved with any health insurance that’s available, with the cruise ship, with any of the doctors, and make sure that all the bills are taken care of. So, you want somebody who really understands the business of this.