Cruise Ship Law

JESSICA BAILEY, et al., Plaintiff, v. CARNIVAL CORPORATION, Defendant.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA, MIAMI DIVISION
CASE NO. 06-21915-CIV-COOKE/BROWN
Filed December 21, 2007

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff passenger aboard Defendant’s vessel filed suit alleging negligence based upon personal injuries sustained as a result of an accident onboard the ship. Defendant Carnival moved for Summary Judgment regarding the issue of notice.

OVERVIEW: Plaintiff, a passenger aboard Defendant’s cruise ship, was injured when she was struck in her right eye by a golf ball while she was sitting on a bench near the miniature golf course on the sun deck of the ship. The golf ball that struck Ms. Bailey was hit by a young boy, who was playing with the golf equipment in a baseball manner with a group of unsupervised young boys, with one pitching the ball and the other hitting it with a putter. The young boys were using the putters and balls that were laying on the miniature golf course. Carnival Corporation did not have any rules prohibiting the unsupervised boys from using the miniature golf equipment. Carnival argued that the plaintiff could not prove that Carnival had actual or constructive notice of the boys’ misbehavior in the short period before the accident, or during the entire cruise. In analyzing the motion to dismiss, the court cited to the traditional rule that, to prove that Carnival did not use reasonable care, Ms. Bailey would have to show that the cruise ship operator had actual or constructive notice of a dangerous condition. However, a shipowner can also fail to exercise reasonable care when it creates a foreseeable hazardous situation, and in such instances, a plaintiff does not have to show that the shipowner had notice of the hazard. Furthermore, the court held that to require a plaintiff to also establish notice in a case where the defendant’s own activities created a foreseeable and unreasonable risk of harm would be inappropriate. Such a requirement would have the absurd result that negligence actions could only be brought after a dangerous condition or practice created by a defendant claimed a previous victim, whose own recovery would be barred by the absence of notice. A genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether Carnival created a dangerous and hazardous situation with the operation of the miniature golf course sufficient to constitute a breach of its duty of reasonable care.

OUTCOME: Carnival’s Motion for Summary Judgment is denied.