Introduction
It is widely known that most cruise liners provide food on the cruise ship as part of the package the consumer buys when purchasing a cruise line ticket. Food-borne illnesses can be anything from E-coli[1] to Salmonella[2]. When something as serious as a bacterial or fungal disease results from eating the food you received on a cruise ship, you may be entitled to compensation.
What to do if you’ve experienced food poisoning
The first step that you should do if you have felt like you received food poisoning through eating food from a cruise ship[3] is first to preserve the evidence. If there was some undercooked chicken, or if the meal tasted funny after the first bite, you should keep the evidence by storing it in a baggie, taking a photograph, or requesting that the cruise liner put it in a safe location so that it can be stored as evidence. Secondly, you should contact a medical healthcare professional immediately and notify them that you may have eaten food that could potentially have been exposed to either viral or bacterial infection. Third, you must get in touch with a personal injury lawyer, such as the Michael Brady Lynch Firm, so they may guide you on your rights as a passenger because the time in which you have to bring a claim differs depending upon where the cruise ship leaves out of port.
Cruise Ship Food Poisoning Lawsuits
Victims of cruise ship food poisoning injuries can sometimes suffer hospitalization, severe medical expenses, and even rehabilitation costs. These damages could be compensable if the cruise ship were negligent in preparing or serving the food with the bacterial or viral infectious disease. Negligent injuries by the cruise liner are compensable because the plaintiff has suffered a loss of the quality of life for some time, namely in the case of cruise ships, a period in which they were supposed to be on vacation.
Other types of injuries include economic damages, which could be the loss of wages, future earnings, and any sort of future medical or rehabilitative care that one might have to have to treat viral or bacterial infection. These types of damages are meant to compensate the consumer of the cruise ship package to attempt to restore them to the position they would have been in had they not gotten the viral or bacterial infection. Finally, the type of non-economic damages that can be recovered by the food poisoning of a cruise ship include pain and suffering, PTSD, and anxiety disorders.
Often, when something traumatic such as a viral or bacterial infection, occurs because of food poisoning, the liability is strictly on the preparer of the food. In these cases, on cruise ships, the food is stored for long periods of time while at sea and therefore cannot be freshly gathered on the day of preparation for the meals of its passengers. Typically, the cruise liner will be held liable for the damages that result to its passengers depending on where the cruise ship is ported and the distributor of the food to the cruise liner.
The Michael Brady Lynch Firm
If you or a loved one have been injured by food poisoning on a cruise ship, you should contact the Michael Brady Lynch Firm to know your rights as a passenger that was injured on the voyage. Our number is 888-585-5970, and alternatively, you can contact brandon@mblynchfirm.com for consultation on your case to determine whether you have a viable claim against the cruise liner.
Date: June 17, 2022
Author: Brandon Salter, Esq.
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6370005/
[2] https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2019/06/salmonella-cases-in-uk-from-food-on-cruise-ships-confirmed-with-wgs/#:~:text=The%20United%20Kingdom%20has%20reported%2024%20cases%20of,was%20detected%20through%20whole%20genome%20sequencing%20%28WGS%29%20analysis.
[3] https://www.webmd.com/women/features/sailing-into-sickness#:~:text=In%20a%20recent%20cluster%20of%20gastrointestinal%20illnesses%20on,sanitation%20measures%20in%20the%20ship%27s%20kitchen%2C%20says%20Freedman.
