Bermuda Case Opens Door To Cruise Lawsuits

A U.S. federal appeals court case has overturned a century-old exemption made for medical malpractice lawsuits against cruise lines, with the court ruling that the exemption should no longer apply when reviewing the case of Pasquale Vaglio, who was injured while on a cruise to Bermuda.

Mr. Vaglio fell and hit his head not long after disembarking from Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas.

After sustaining a brain injury in the fall, the man was told by a ship’s nurse that he should rest in his cabin. He was taken to hospital on the island after his health began failing, before being airlifted to New York, where he later died.

A story in USA Today says, “For more than 100 years, people such as Vaglio’s survivors couldn’t win medical malpractice lawsuits against cruise lines because of exemptions created through a series of court decisions.

“The most recent is a 1988 ruling known as “Barbetta” that cruise companies such as Royal Caribbean and Carnival regularly relied upon to get malpractice lawsuits thrown out before trial.

“Courts said passengers should not expect the same level of medical care on a ship as on land, and ships’ doctors and nurses were private contractors beyond the cruise lines’ direct control.

“Now, a federal appeals court considering the Vaglio case has ruled the exemption should no longer apply.

“A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — which has jurisdiction over the major Florida-based cruise lines — recently decided Barbetta is outdated law.

“Still, Royal Caribbean said it is unfair, for purposes of a lawsuit, to compare cruise ships to an onshore medical center with numerous specialists and access to lab work and test equipment.

“Cruise ships are still not floating hospitals,” their lawyers wrote.

#BermudaCruises #InjuredInFall

Category: All