A lawsuit has been filed against Carnival Corp. less than a day after the ill-fated Triumph was towed to shore and five days after an engine room fire knocked out power, stranding the ship and 4,200 passengers and crew in the Gulf of Mexico.
Texas resident Cassie Terry said in the suit that the cruise line "failed to provide a seaworthy vessel and sanitary conditions" and is suing for compensation for "physical and emotional harm, anxiety, nervousness and the 'loss of enjoyment of life,'" Reuters reports.
But Terry and other passengers considering litigation will be navigating rough waters. In the absence of physical injury or death, it's extremely difficult to successfully sue a cruise line, said Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.
Passengers sign away many of their rights by accepting the terms of the ticket (it's in the small print hardly anyone reads), and if they reject those terms, they won't be sailing anywhere.
"The law is very much on the (cruise lines') side. What is the value of a ruined vacation? It's so speculative. How can you really put a price on it? The value of the ticket is the value of the damage," he said. "So, tough luck. All you get back is the value of the vacation and Carnival has already (refunded) that."
Hey, it's the American Way ............
