Cruise Ship Law

Mark Hayes, Plaintiff-Respondent, v The City of New York, et al., Defendants, Skyline Cruise Line, Inc., Defendant-Appellant.
SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT
2006 NY Slip Op 7962; 2006 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 13114
November 2, 2006, Decided

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff passenger on a cruise boat sued defendant cruise line company, seeking damages for injuries sustained when the passenger was assaulted. The Supreme Court, Bronx County (New York), denied the cruise line's summary judgment motion. The cruise line appealed.

OVERVIEW: The passenger witnessed an altercation between other passengers during the four-hour cruise. Ten minutes after disembarking after the cruise ended, the passenger was assaulted by one of the individuals involved in the altercation aboard the boat. The appellate court found that neither the "location" nor the "connection with maritime activity" tests were satisfied such as to extend maritime jurisdiction to the injuries. The assault did not occur on navigable water, and was not caused by a vessel on navigable water. An assault on a pier was not the kind of incident that had a potentially disruptive impact on maritime commerce or a substantial relationship to traditional maritime activity. The cruise line's duty of care as a common carrier terminated upon the passenger's safe disembarkation from the vessel. There was no evidence that what transpired during the cruise should have put the cruise line on notice that there was a risk of assault to the passenger. The injuries occurred at a substantial distance and time away from the vessel in an area leased and controlled by a nonparty while the passenger was moving at his own pace and under his own control.

OUTCOME: The judgment was reversed, and the motion was granted.