A Celebrity cruise ship deck burns a passenger’s feet so badly that the 66-year-old man suffered from neuropathy of his feet. Neuropathy is the dysfunction of one or more peripheral nerves, typically causing numbness or weakness. Once afflicted, the disease can last a lifetime.
Cruise Ship Negligence
Some accidents are just that, accidental, and no one is to blame. However, there are some accidents that happen due to the negligence of the cruise line or its agents, employees and/or crew. When a passenger has suffered an injury due to the negligence of the cruise line, the cruise line becomes liable for the passenger’s injury and can be held accountable for the passenger’s medical bills, pain, and suffering, lost wages from missed work, future earning capacity and even future medical treatment.
There are important factors to consider when examining factors associated with a head injury. These include where, how and when did the injury happen, did an employee do something or nothing that led to the cruise injury. It is also important to provide medical records related to the injury.
Cruise Ship Deck Burns
The passenger was sailing aboard the Celebrity Silhouette, and the cruise ship had docked in Greece. The man decided that it was too hot and wanted to spend time in the pool. Therefore, he parked his scooter near the pool and walked barefoot to the pool about 10-12 feet away. The scalding heat of the pool deck surface burned his feet so badly that from toe to heel, the skin was just hanging off. His feet later became infected, and doctors had to amputate his toes.
Celebrity cruise had a duty to warn the passenger of the extreme temperatures on the deck. The same thing occurred in 1998. A child suffered second-degree burns on the soles of his feet after stepping on the hot surface deck of the Carnival Destiny. Then again in 2012 when an Orlando resident sustained severe burns on his feet caused by a hot surface of the Lido pool deck on a Carnival cruise ship. Roasting deck surface can lead to nasty burns, as well as serious and permanent scarring, disfigurement, and embarrassment.
Duty of Care
Pursuant to general maritime law, The Supreme Court in Kermarec v. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, 358 U.S. 625 (1959), held that shipowners owe a duty to exercise reasonable care for the safety of its passengers. Cruise lines must exercise reasonable care under the circumstances. These accidents can happen anywhere on the ship, from your initial steps onto the ship during embarkation, and even leaving the ship once you return to the port.
Accidents can occur near the pool, dining rooms, bathrooms, public walkways, and any other areas where passengers have access. (Cruise lines may even be held negligent if a passenger slips and falls during a shore excursion).
Often times, passengers don’t know how to bring a lawsuit after they have been injured on a cruise. Cruise lines can mandate that claims are brought within one year of the accident. This time frame is rather short. As a complex litigation injury firm, we press upon our clients that they need to immediately speak with an attorney to discuss their slip and fall case.