Loss Of Consortium Claim For Passenger's Spouse Not Available In Admiralty
IRIS FRANGO and JOSEPH FRANGO, Appellants, v. ROYALCARIBBEAN CRUISES, LTD., Appellee.
CASE NO. 3D03-3261
COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA, THIRD DISTRICT
891 So. 2d 1208; 2005 Fla. App. LEXIS 954; 2005 AMC 804; 30Fla. L. Weekly D 320
February 2, 2005, Opinion Filed
DISPOSITION: Affirmed in part; reversed in part and remanded.
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Appellants, a wife and a husband, brought suit against defendant cruise company to recover for injuries sustained by the wife on one of the company's ships and for loss of consortium. Appellants sought review of the judgment of the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County (Florida), which granted the company's motion for summary judgment on both of the claims.
OVERVIEW: While appellants were passengers on one of the company's ships, the automatic sliding doors that led into the ship's lounge closed on the wife's face and caused her injuries. The incident occurred as the wife entered the lounge and turned her head around to find her husband, who was walking behind her. In appellants' suit against the company, the trial court granted summary judgment against appellants on both the wife's negligence claim and the husband's claim for loss of consortium. On appeal, the court found that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment against the wife on her negligence claim because the court could not agree that by briefly stopping to look back at her husband, the wife was entirely responsible for the accident. However, the court determined that the trial court properly granted summary judgment against the husband on his loss of consortium claim because maritime law did not recognize a claim for loss of consortium to non-seamen.
OUTCOME: The court reversed the judgment granting summary judgment for the company on the wife's claim for injuries but affirmed the judgment granting summary judgment for the company on the husband's claim for loss of consortium. The court remanded the cause to the trial court.
