In a rather shocking opinion, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has found seamen who develop ailments, including heart disease, cause by work related stress have no claim against their employers under the Jones Act.
The Coast Guard reports two passengers were evacuated from the Carnival Splendor cruise ship off the coast of North Carolina. It appears the two vacationers became extremely sick aboard the ship prompting the captain to request medical assistance. The Splendor, at the Coast Guard’s request, deviated its course closer to shore so the passengers could be picked up by helicopter. Information about the passengers’ medical condition is not currently available.
Last month the Coast Guard started surprise inspections of cruise ships it has flagged as potentially hazardous to passenger safety. The Coast Guard’s reason for stepping up inspections of problem cruise ships is because the regular twice-a-year inspections of 140 cruise ships based at the various United States ports in 2013 found 351 deficiencies. The most frequently safety issues aboard these ships dealt with lifeboats and fire doors. Captain Eric Christensen, the officer in charge of oversees ship inspection policy, told the National Transportation Safety Board, “There was a population of cruise ships that had the lion’s share of deficiency. You want to focus your efforts on those vessels.” Specific ships or cruise lines, however, were not identified.
The Miami personal injury attorneys of Brais Law Firm have been retained by a college student who suffered a partially severed finger injury due to moving metal horse sculpture located at Kenneth M. Myers Bayside Park in Coconut Grove. Within the park, there are multiple kinetic steel animal sculptures created by Fredrick Prescott. What the average person does not know is the heads of these animal sculptures move. Perhaps on windy days the movement it is apparent. However, when it is not windy, the heavy steel heads do not often move creating traps for the unsuspecting. Such was the case with our client. He visited the park with his mother on a particularly non-windy day. New to Miami, neither he, nor his mother, was aware the heads of the sculptures moved. While posing for a picture with his hand resting on the horse sculpture, a puff of wind breezed over the park causing the head to move severing his finger.
We have received multiple calls from passengers who have slipped and fallen on the Carnival Sunshine cruise ship in recent months. The Sunshine was launched in 1995 under the name Destiny. The ship was in service since 1995 before being refitted, renamed and relaunched as the Sunshine in May 2013. It appears when the ship was being refitted, the coating placed on the Lido / Pool deck made the deck unreasonably slippery. The popular cruise forum “Cruise Critic” has a post reviewing the Sunshine under the title “Problem Ship”. The entry states many people were observed slipping and falling when entering the pool deck. This is remarkable given the ship was relaunched less than a year ago. This law firm has handled a multitude of passenger slip and fall cases occurring on cruise ships and have learned the main causes of these accidents are improper selection of decking materials, improper application of coatings and lack of maintenance. As the Carnival Sunshine has recently been refitted, the likely reason for the slip and falls appear to be an improper decking material selection and/or improper application.
