SHIPOWNER GRANTED SUMMARY JUDGMENT WHERE PLAINTIFFS FAIL TO HAVE AFFIDAVIT OF EXPERT ON CAUSATION OF RESPIRATORY DISEASE FOR NUMEROUS PASSENGERS IN SPITE OF STATISTICALLY LARGE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS THAT CAME DOWN WITH THE DISEASE.
D'ARTGNAN MCGLOTHEN, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant.
Case Number: C-00-1052-SC
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3190
March 21, 2001, Decided
OVERVIEW:According to the Galaxy's medical logs, during the Holiday Cruise -- from 2 p.m. on December 20 through 2 p.m. on December 27 -- a total of 64 passengers, including members of the Petitt and Hirschhorn Groups, and a total of 14 crew members visited the ship's medical facility and were diagnosed by ship doctors with cold or URTI symptoms. The 64 passengers represent 3.3 percent of[*22] the 1,934 passengers on the Holiday Cruise. The 14 crew members represent 1.6 percent of the approximately 880 crew members on the Holiday Cruise.
For the purposes of the summary judgment motion only, Celebrity concedes the first two elements of the test, namely that it failed to clean and/or sanitize its passenger cabins adequately and permitted certain of its crew members to remain on active duty despite being sick with URTIs, without isolating them or requiring that[*35] they visit a doctor. (Memorandum of Law in Support of Celebrity's Motion for Summary Judgment ("Def. Mem.") at 2-3.) Celebrity then argues that plaintiffs' negligence claim must be dismissed as a matter of law because plaintiffs are unable to establish that their injuries were caused by Celebrity's misconduct. (Id. at 24, 12-16.) Plaintiffs acknowledge that they "cannot prove that Celebrity's negligence was the only potential cause of [their] illnesses." (Plaintiffs' Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Celebrity's Motion for Summary Judgment ("Pl. Mem.") at 19.) However, they nevertheless assert that "on the balance of probabilities it seems a reasonable inference that Celebrity's negligence was the proximate cause." (Id. at 24.)
OUTCOME:The Court disagrees. The Court finds, as Dr. Gwaltney concludes, that based on the record, a reasonable jury could not conclude that Celebrity's alleged misconduct was the proximate cause of plaintiffs' illnesses.
