Maritime and Corporate Law Make It Difficult To Sue Cruise Lines Over COVID Deaths

The cruise line industry is facing lawsuits from both passengers and family members claiming that they or their loved ones contracted COVID19 and resulted in either severe illness or death. However, maritime and corporate law complicate the process for both passengers and family members.

Even when COVID19 outbreaks resulted in multiple lawsuits, top cruise lines faced little threat according to a legal expert.

Ross Klein who works as a sociology professor and cruise industry expert at St. John’s College at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, believes that the large players from the cruise industry are not worried about the potential financial effects of these lawsuits. And even if they end up losing from these cases, Klein said that “It’s part of the price of doing business”. Klein added that “From their perspective, it isn’t serious”.

The pandemic has shown legal constraints and jurisdictional issues that favor the cruise industry. For Mark Chalos, a managing partner for the law firm that represents Lucio Gonzales, a passenger who died of COVID19 on a Princess Cruise last year, “The system is rigged in favor of the billion-dollar corporations that own these cruise ships”. Carnival Corp. owns Princess Cruise.

Maritime and Corporate Law That Can Discourage Lawsuits

Death on the High Seas Act governs death that occurs on a ship. This is a law from 1920. Unfortunately, this law limits the amount of money that can be collected by family members of passengers. Family members can’t collect damages for pain and suffering.

What this means is that the maritime law can only collect funeral and burial costs. Aside from the maritime law, there’s also the corporate law that will make it tough for plaintiffs. Judges have been requiring plaintiffs who sued cruise ships to detail how they contracted the virus and how was the ship’s management negligent. James Walker, a Miami lawyer who helped file numerous cruise line lawsuits said that judges have dismissed cases. On the other hand, other complainants settled for less than $10,000.

Judges have argued that COVID19 lawsuits shouldn’t hold a stricter standard for the cruise industry. It shouldn’t be any different to a land-based business such as hotels or restaurants.

Another corporate law that stops complainants is the ticket contract. This document governs the relationship between passengers and cruise lines. Most contracts prevent passengers from filing or being part of a class-action lawsuit against the cruise line. Chalos said that “Ordinary families can’t band together collectively to fight with better resources”.

On top of that, these contracts will also dictate which specific federal courthouses passengers can file cases. This means that passengers living far from the courthouses might think twice before filing.

Klein said that “This means that if you live in Omaha, Nebraska, you can’t sue them in Omaha”.