Contributors

Charles R. Lipcon
Charles R. Lipcon is the firm's founding attorney and has been handling injury, cruise line sexual assault and wrongful death claims for over 40 years. Read More »
Jason R. Margulies
Jason R. Margulies is an experienced maritime lawyer and an active trial attorney handling personal injury, cruise line sexual assault and wrongful death claims. Read More »
Ricardo V. Alsina
Ricardo V. Alsina is an active trial attorney, handling personal injury, cruise line sexual assault and wrongful death claims. Read More »
Michael A. Winkleman
Mr. Winkleman is an active trial and appellate attorney handling all personal injury, cruise line sexual assault and wrongful death claims, as well as complex business disputes. Read More »

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Cruise lines have gained a reputation of underreporting  crimes and accidents by registering their ships in foreign ports and handing over investigative jurisdiction to those countries, which often fail to properly follow through with cases. And while cruise lines are required by maritime law to report crimes to the FBI, many have failed to do so, whether purposefully or negligently, allowing criminals to get away and avoid any liability for their actions.

But following a recent revelation that Disney Cruise Line  allowed a crew member child molester to get away with his heinous deed, even though the crime took place while the vessel in question, the Disney Dream, was docked at Port Canaveral, police officials in Brevard County have put their foot down.

Brevard State Attorney Phil Archer is sick and tired of cruise ships getting away with crimes, and said he is willing to exercise the State of Florida’s jurisdiction to crimes that occur on ships when they are in waters beyond Florida’s three-mile limit.

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Millions of people around the world have been waiting to hear what will become of the cruise ship captain who was responsible for the deaths of 32 people onboard the Costa Concordia when it capsized last year. Although they may not have been on the ship when tragedy struck, people from around the world have banded together to offer condolences to the victims and their loved ones and have united to show their support. Now, they can at least breath a small sigh of relief, as the captain has been scheduled to go to court in July.

The grounding of the Costa Concordia on January 13, 2012 is just one of those cruise ship accidents that will never be forgotten. Partly because the accident was 100 percent preventable and was the direct result of the captain’s last minute decision to alter the ship’s course.

The former captain, Francesco Schettino, decided he wanted to show off and made the call to bring the Concordia closer to shore but the move caused the vessel to crash into a giant rock in Giglio, Italy and partially sink, leading to the deaths of the 32 individuals and countless other injuries.

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Although cruise ship sexual assault is the number one crime on the high seas, what we have just discovered has shocked us beyond measure. One of the world’s most respected, family-friendly cruise lines has failed to act quickly following reports of a cruise passenger sexual assault, and the victim was only 11 years old.

According to the latest news reports, a Disney Cruise Line crewmember was seen molesting the young victim in an elevator onboard the Disney Dream on a ship surveillance video. The incident took place onboard a liner that is well-known for its attention to passengers and low incidence of maritime accidents and crimes. This indicates  that these days, just about any kind of crime is likely to occur on any cruise ship.

Disney Cruise Line has long claimed that it reports criminal incidents as soon as they become known, a practice that must be adhered to by all cruise lines. It has been reported, however, that the company did not do so in this instance.

An Orlando Local 6 investigation reveals the incident was not reported to the FBI until the next day, long after the Dream had sailed out of the Port Canaveral right here in Florida, allowing the 33-year-old sexual assault suspect to evade responsibility for his actions.

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It has only been a few months since reports surrounded the mysterious accident involving a dinner cruise in New Hampshire, yet, the vessel is back in operation, leaving many to wonder if this isn’t a little too soon for the damaged ship to be sailing again.

The accident occurred four months ago on Lake Sunapee Harbor in New Hampshire. The vessel in question, a dinner ship called the MV Kearsarge, was discovered partially submerged at the Sunapee Town Dock after what authorities determined to be a miniscule tear on the vessel.

According to investigators, the Kearsarge sank while birthed at the dock because of an “eraser sized hole” in the coupling from a sea valve to the port engine that caused the vessel to take on water. If a ship can sink because of an itty-bitty hole no bigger than an eraser, who knows what a hole the size of a pencil will do?!

That, of course is just a joke, but given the absurd number of cruise line accidents that have taken place already this year, companies are coming up with all sorts of farfetched stories to keep the blame for incidents away from  them and onto anyone or anything else.

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To no one’s surprise, Carnival Cruise Line is in the media once again, but at least this time, the incident in question was not the fault of any crew member’s negligence or faulty equipment. This time, the incident involved a life or death situation in which a sick passenger had to be evacuated from a Carnival vessel and ship authorities acted quickly to try and save the passenger’s life.

The Coast Guard came to the rescue of a cruise ship passenger who was in dire need of medical assistance. CG responders medevaced a 50-year-old passenger from the Carnival Splendor on Saturday while the ship was roughly 150 miles east of Cape Lookout, N.C.

A medical representative aboard the Splendor contacted Coast Guard watchstanders at around 8 p.m. reporting a male passenger had suffered a heart attack and was in need of superior medical attention. Once the Coast Guard was informed, a team from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., dispatched a rescue crew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and an HC-130 Hercules aircraft to assist the passenger in need.

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Memories of the ill-fated Costa Concordia have been dredged up just hours ago as a small cruise liner ran aground in the waters of Oban Bay on the west coast of Scotland while carrying 112 people onboard.

At around 6:30 p.m. local time, Stornoway Coastguard reported that the MS Serenissima had run aground on sand and gravel. Luckily, no injuries have been reported, but due to the fact that the cruise accident is still under investigation, it may be several more hours or even days before an injury may come to light.

Emergency workers are attempting to re-float the vessel but strong winds have rendered their attempts futile. Crews will try to re-float the vessel again at high tide later tonight.

“The vessel is currently aground at the bow but still afloat at the stern,” said an RNLI spokesman. “The initial attempt at refloating the ship used its own engine with the lifeboat providing assistance by pulling at the stern. Unfortunately this attempt was hampered by a strong wind blowing the ship towards the shore, and was unsuccessful. The lifeboat is now working with the crew of the ship to refloat it at a higher state of tide.”

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Lonnie Kocontes claims the last time he saw his ex-wife, she had plans to get a cup of tea. The couple had been on a Mediterranean cruise ship getaway aboard the Island Escape when Micki Kanesaki left the stateroom she and Kocontes were sharing to get her beverage late at night.

What happened next still remains a mystery to this day.

According to Kocontes, he fell asleep sometime between midnight and 1 a.m. on May 26, 2006, during which time his wife had gone to get her tea. He admits to having consumed a glass of wine and sleeping pill, causing him to knock out until about 4:30 a.m., when he noticed Kanesaki was not in the room. At this point, Kocontes alerted the ship’s crew, which began an investigation into the cruise ship passenger disappearance.  The next day Italian police boarded the vessel, obtained surveillance footage from the ship and took statements of the crew. Shortly after, Kanesaki’s body washed ashore the coast of Paola, Italy.

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The clock was ticking for the Philippines, but the nation decided to issue a public apology over the shooting death of a Taiwanese fisherman. Taiwan’s foreign ministry gave the Philippines a 72-hour deadline, effective on Tuesday, to publicly apologize publicly for an incident that took place last week in the Luzon Strait, which separates two major fishing areas. According to the Taiwanese government, Philippine Coast Guards fired on a boat that was sailing in overlapping ocean economic zones, killing a 65-year-old local fisherman. As a result, Taiwan threatened sanctions against the Philippines.

The victim, fisherman Hung Shih-cheng, was shot dead last Thursday. The Filipino government has offered condolences to the victim’s family, but at first refused to issue a public apology until an investigation into the incident was concluded, despite what Taiwan threatened.

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Cruise vacations can be a lot of fun, but as time has frequently proven, they can be extremely dangerous as well. Cruise passenger crimes have been increasing, and travelers have to constantly be on the lookout for pickpockets, rapists, drug smugglers, and other criminals while out in foreign waters and ports. Criminals target tourists, whom they know are likely to carry cash and other valuables, and  know they can  make a quick getaway since travelers are less inclined to press for an investigation.

There have been many unsolved cruise crimes throughout the years, and while nothing can truly undo the pain and suffering felt by victims and their loved ones, the family of one cruise passenger who was murdered three years ago can finally have due justice after her assailant pled guilty in court.

Nina Elizabeth Nilssen was vacationing in Antigua with her family in January 2010 onboard the Royal Clipper, a tall masted ship operated by Miami based Star Clippers, when the unthinkable happened. Nilssen, 30 at the time, was murdered while she was ashore with her family on the island’s famed Pigeon Point Beach to celebrate the wedding of her sister, Liv Nilssen.

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A few months ago our cruise ship lawyers reported on a major concern that has been surrounding the cruise line industry for many years – wastewater – and subsequent bills that have been introduced to provide leniency for the cruise industry when it comes to their sewage and waste emissions. Although media sources have been focusing on the number of accidents that have befallen the industry as of late, including the Carnival Triumph fire and most recently, the tragic incident in Australia involving two passengers who went overboard from the Carnival Spirit, wastewater has always been a problem for the industry, but one environmental leader in Alaska seems to believe cruise lines are finally cleaning up their act – literally.

According to the state official in charge of water quality, cruise lines have been taking the necessary steps to limit the impact their vessels have on the environment and have made considerable changes in the last fifteen years to reduce toxins in wastewater emissions.

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