Cruise Ship Law

According to reports a woman that was drugged and raped on a cruise that left from Miami on February 1st has now filed suit against the Carnival Cruise Line.

It is reported that the woman identified as Morgan Black a mother and piano teacher from Jacksonville who went on the Sixthman Music Cruise on the ship Carnival Victory.

Morgan’s suit claims she was drugged and raped by a fellow passenger the last night of the cruise, which was February 4th.

In her suit that is being presented by her attorneys Charles Lipcon of Miami, a cruise ship litigation attorney and Gloria Allred the attorney from California who has taken part in victims rights cases. The Carnival Cruise Line is being held responsible for neglecting to have security cameras in all of the common areas of the ship.

Lipcon, Morgan’s attorney has a published book that discusses these type of incidences that he states happens often and he estimated that he files approximately one suit a week for victims of cruise ships. [The books is called Unsafe on the High Seas and can be purchased here].

It is reported that the cruise line has made a statement that they would not comment on this case, as they have not seen the suit, however their priority is to keep passengers and the crew safe on their ships. They have security officers who are not in uniform on their cruises and many are retired police officers and other law professionals on board their ships.

This case was filed in the U.S. District Court in Miami on Thursday June 19th as a U.S. Senate subcommittee in Washington D.C. was hearing evidence as to the safety for passengers aboard cruise ships. Among those who testified was Kendall Carver whose daughter disappeared approximately three years ago from a cruise ship and is the president of International Cruise Victims.

While Carver stated he was pleased with the way this committee meeting went, part of the reason that these meetings are necessary are because of what advocates say is a non-existence of government involvement, vague jurisdictions and their corporate policies.

This was the first hearing held to discuss the safety of American passengers on cruise ships although there have been meetings on this issue by House Committee.

by Otto Smyth
cruiseshiplawsuits.blogspot.com

Maritime attorney Charles R. Lipcon has been named Super Lawyer for the second year in a row. Only 5% of South Florida attorneys have been named to the list. Mr. Lipcon was selected through an extensive process of balloting, blue ribbon panel review and independent research.

Charles R. Lipcon

Seriously Outstanding

only 5% selected each year

visit superlawyers.com

Video clip from WSVN 7 Ten O'Clock News

View Clip [Windows Media]

Airdate: June 3, 2008
Subject: Cruise Lines And Medical Care
Program: WSVN 7 Ten O'Clock News

Five years after the deadliest cruise industry accident in more than a decade, Norwegian Cruise Line has agreed to plead guilty to criminal negligence in the SS Norway explosion.

Federal prosecutors on Friday charged Norwegian Cruise Line with gross negligence almost five years after a boiler explosion on the historic SS Norway killed eight crew members and seriously injured 10 others in the Port of Miami.

The U.S. attorney's office said Norwegian agreed to plead guilty to the criminal charge, which alleges the cruise line operated the vessel in a ``grossly negligent manner that endangered the lives, limbs and property of the persons on board.''

Norwegian is liable for at least $500,000 in criminal penalties for the deadliest accident on a U.S.-based ocean liner in more than a decade. The cruise line also has agreed to carry out safety inspections of its vessels with an independent consultant.

Coast Guard Rear Admiral Robert Branham called the May 25, 2003, explosion a ``preventable tragedy.''

''Hopefully, this case will send a message to the maritime industry that marine safety should be the paramount consideration in maintaining their vessels,'' he said in a statement.

The cruise line said Friday evening that it has cooperated with federal authorities since the explosion and will continue to do so. ''The safety and security of our passengers and crew has been and always will be of the utmost importance,'' Norwegian's statement said.

A National Transportation Safety Board report on the accident, quietly completed in November, showed NCL engineers had expressed concerns since the late 1990s about the condition of the four boilers that powered the elegant ship. The massive high-pressure boilers, each holding 20 tons of 528-degree water, had a history of cracks, leaks, corrosion and repairs.

''We must realize that we have reached a point where the operation of the vessel is not safe,'' one unnamed NCL port engineer wrote in a 1998 e-mail to the company's vice president of ship operations, the NTSB report said. The engineer cited ''numerous boiler tube failures'' that were subsequently repaired.

PATCH JOBS

The NTSB found the primary cause of the explosion was the fracture of a weld on a seam of a high-pressure drum. The scalding water flashed into steam, swept through the engine spaces and some adjacent crew berthing areas and killed eight crew members while injuring nearly a dozen others. No passengers were hurt.

Investigators also found questionable welds and crack-repair efforts; inconsistent water chemistry that led to corrosion; inadequate inspections from both NCL and Bureau Veritas, an international inspection agency, and an operating schedule that exposed the aging boilers to extreme thermal stresses.

In January and July 2002, a year before the boiler burst, NCL port engineers e-mailed NCL management with concerns that the ship's routes and busy schedules forced crew to fire up and cool down the boilers more rapidly than the operating manual called for.

The report was also critical of NCL's handling of persistent cracks in the boilers, which first appeared in original welds in the 1970s. Cracks were ground down until boiler walls reached a minimum allowable thickness then built back up with weld repairs. The length and width of the welds, the NTSB found, probably accelerated pitting and cracking.

At some point, copper -- an unacceptable metal for repairs -- also appeared to have been deliberately applied to cracks on the boiler that exploded.

''The only explanation for the presence of the copper is that it was introduced to mask the crack, impede inspection and avoid necessary repairs,'' the report said.

Investigators also found a lengthy gap in formal inspections, ``even though it was known that they were susceptible to cracking and were in fact cracked in 1996.''

The report found that the header, the part of boiler No. 23 that failed, had not had a material test or appropriate visual inspection since 1990.

The cruise line was charged in an ''information,'' not a criminal complaint or indictment. That means Norwegian executives and prosecutors negotiated the misdemeanor charge.

''Charges such as those today are necessary to show that companies operating and managing ships have a duty to take reasonable measures to assure the safety of all onboard -- passengers and crew,'' said U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta.

In addition, the NTSB noted that NCL had agreed to improve its fleet emergency response, safety measures and maintenance records. Though few ships, aside from Naval vessels, still rely on large high-pressure boilers for primary power, smaller low-pressure ones are routinely used to heat water or for other shipboard systems.

FAMILIES CAN'T SUE

Miami attorney Charles Lipcon, who represented many of the victims and is the author of the new book, Unsafe on the High Seas, praised the criminal charge.

''I'm pleased to see that the U.S. attorney stepped up to the plate and got involved,'' he said. But he called it ''unfortunate'' that the crew members and their families were not able to press civil lawsuits against Norwegian in federal court in Miami.

The dead and injured seamen were mostly Filipino. Their contracts with Norwegian called for settling claims in arbitration, so their lawsuits were dismissed from federal court in Miami. The cruise line negotiated settlements afterward.

A cruise industry representative called the criminal case a strong signal.

''We take safety very seriously as an industry, and we hope this gets resolved and look forward to a resolution,'' said Michael Crye, executive vice president of the Cruise Lines International Association, a trade group.

The SS Norway had a storied past. It was launched as the SS France in 1960. At 1,035 feet, it was the longest passenger ship afloat and could carry more than 2,000. It was too long and too wide for the Panama Canal.

Deemed unprofitable in 1974, the ocean-liner was mothballed in France. In 1979, Norwegian Cruise Line bought it for $18 million -- its value in scrap metal -- and revamped it at a cost of $120 million. After a ''farewell cruise'' to Europe in 2001, the SS Norway returned to Miami for seven-day cruises in the eastern Caribbean. It was among the last ocean-liners powered by high-pressure steam boilers.

It has been out of commission since the boiler explosion five years ago. The company has since sold it for scrap.

The Miami Herald
By JAY WEAVER AND CURTIS MORGAN

Cruise lines are more focused on making a profit than protecting passengers, says a veteran maritime attorney, who says vacationers must take steps to protect themselves from the crimes and tragedies that could befall them at sea.

"More than 12 million people a year take cruises. What they don't know is that the cruise lines only focus on their own bottom line, not on keeping passengers safe," says Charles Lipcon, author of "Unsafe on the High Seas -- Your Guide to a Safer Cruise," available in bookstores and online at http://www.unsafeonthehighseas.com ($14.95).

"This book reveals all of the dirty secrets the cruise lines don't want you to know about," says Lipcon, a leading expert in maritime law for over 30 years.

Lipcon explains the cruise lines make a profit of over $1 billion per year, but do not pay a dime of federal income tax due to the "flags of convenience" they fly. He says because their vessels are not registered in the United States, cruise lines can avoid being subject to U.S. labor and tax laws.

According to Lipcon, out of the 206 crimes aboard cruise ships that were actually reported from 2003 to 2006, 86 percent were [cruise ship] sexual assaults. Lipcon says children as young as 12 have been lured into the bowels of the ship and sexually assaulted by crew members.

Lipcon advises passengers to stay in public areas, set rules for their children, use all locks on the cabin door and only drink beverages they have witnessed being prepared.

If passengers do become a victim of a cruise ship crime, Lipcon recommends taking pictures of the crime scene and the victim, demand that gloves and booties be worn by anyone entering the crime scene, and to immediately contact the FBI.

Above is a copy of our press release that was listed on hundreds of web sites on March 19, 2008.

By SIOBHAN MORRISSEY
TIME.com, in partnership with CNN

No one goes on an adventure tour with the thought that he won't make it back alive. The whole point is to push the envelope and live to tell the tale. It's unclear what Markus Groh thought when he signed up for a late February dive that could put him face-to-face with killer sharks spanning 18 feet in length — without a cage to separate him from the man-eaters. He surely didn't expect to end up dead. But the 49-year-old attorney from Austria, died on Feb. 24 after being bitten in the leg while swimming with the sharks in the Bahamas.

Every year hundreds of people die while living life to the fullest — battling white-water rapids, climbing the world's tallest mountain peak, descending to the depths of the ocean. These extreme sports are inherently dangerous and you take your chances. Or do you? "One of the things about these high-risk activities is that if you're going to participate in them you assume a certain kind of risk," says Prof. Lyrissa Lidsky, who teaches tort law at the University of Florida. In the case of Groh, the question is whether the tour operator failed to use reasonable care when he took a group of tourists diving for sharks without using cages. "Is the thing that killed him something that you normally associate with shark watching?" Lidsky asks, "Or, is it something that could have been avoided had the company used reasonable care?"

There are other factors to consider. "It's the first fatality that we have reported involving a dive where the host is specifically bringing in the animal by chumming [feeding the sharks with chopped up fish]," says George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida. "Putting people in the water with these large animals is a risk. It's not a matter of whether an attack like this was going to happen, it was when."

Diving with dangerous sharks without a cage appeals to the thrill seeker, Burgess says, adding, "It is taking further and further steps farther and farther toward danger." The tour, provided by Scuba Adventures of Riviera Beach, Fla., promoted its dives as great hammerhead and tiger shark expeditions. Although the company issued a blanket "no comment" when contacted by TIME, its literature made clear the divers would be in the water without any cages while the sharks were being fed — a practice banned in Florida.

"To insure the best results we will be 'chumming' the water with fish and fish parts," the Scuba Adventures website stated. "Consequently, there will be food in the water at the same time as the divers. Please be aware that these are not 'caged' dives, they are open water experiences. We will have crew members in the water at all times to insure diver safety."

Rodney Barreto, chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, maintains there's no way the crew could ensure the safety of the divers. "That's not a controlled environment," Barreto says. "There's no way you know whether a three-foot shark or a 13-foot shark is coming." In 2001, the commission outlawed the practice of fish feeding off the coast of Florida. Because the tour operator could not legally attract sharks with chum in the state where he is based, he went to the Bahamas, Barreto says. "We're not discouraging people to go diving," Barreto adds. "We're telling them to be responsible and obey the law. One of the reasons they went to the Bahamas is they were doing something outside the law."

Jason Margulies, a prominent maritime attorney in Miami, agrees with Barreto. "It seems to me, that this guy was trying to sidestep the Florida ban on shark feeding by proceeding to Bahamian waters," Margulies says. "He knew the dangers. He was going the extra mile to do this." A statement from the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism said in part, "Shark feeding excursions are legal in the Bahamas."

Whether Groh's family could prevail if they took the case to civil court depends a lot upon what law applies — Florida law or federal admiralty law. According to Margulies, admiralty law would apply if the vessel transported passengers between a port in the United States and a foreign country. The federal law would allow a negligence claim; Florida law would bar such a claim. Florida holds that waivers signed by a person participating in high-risk activity such as skydiving or shark watching are valid because they are knowingly engaging in risky activity, Margulies says.

If Florida law prevails, all recourse may not be lost for Groh's family. Lidsky explains that a lot depends upon the wording of the waiver. Sometimes a court will void the contract as a matter of public policy because the contract fails to spell out the risk, she says.

Still, she says, the best bet is to avoid risky behavior in the first place. But if the thrill seeker in you won't allow for that, at a minimum check out the tour operator's safety record and whether the company adheres to proper safety standards. This particularly applies when traveling abroad. Don't take for granted that a tour operator in a foreign country is going to apply the same safety standards as regulated in the United States, she says. Lastly, you may win your lawsuit but collect nothing because the tour operator either has no assets or is uninsured, she adds. Then again, if you want to see a shark close up, you just might want to visit an aquarium.

Settlement from Francisco v. NGC Will Support Education

The American Numismatic Association has received a $447,095
donation to support educational programs and produce a much-needed
consumer awareness booklet with helpful information on coin
collecting.

The donation is from the settlement of a class action lawsuit,
Francisco v. Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, concerning First
Strikes designation. While admitting no wrongdoing or liability,
NGC settled the case and discontinued the use of First Strikes,
believing that controversy from the lawsuit would not be in the
best interests of the hobby.

The parties, with the court's approval, agreed that the lion's
share of the proceeds go to the ANA to further support its mission
of collector education.

"This donation allows the ANA to implement new strategies as well
as enhance its delivery of numismatic education to a vastly larger
audience," said ANA President Barry Stuppler. "We are obviously
greatly appreciative of NGC's commitment to best practices in our
hobby, and to its efforts to support education, which is a
fundamental value of our Association."

"The ANA is the hobby's premiere organization, and no one is better
at developing and delivering educational programs," said NGC Chief
Executive Officer Steve Eichenbaum. "Coin collecting is a very
complex hobby and everyone benefits when collectors are
knowledgeable and well educated."

Stuppler said the ANA would soon begin work on an educational
consumer awareness booklet that will include consumer tips as well
as basic information on grading, authentication and conservation.
The booklet also will discuss the minting process and what
constitutes a "first-strike" coin, plus feature a rich frequently-
asked-questions section as well as a comprehensive listing of
helpful resources for collectors.

The booklet will be distributed for free to all ANA convention
attendees, ANA dealers and their customers, attendees of all ANA
club coins shows and events and to all new Association members. Its
contents will be featured and updated regularly on www.money.org.

"We have wanted to produce a consumer booklet like this for years,
but finances were always a concern," Stuppler said. "Everyone in
the hobby as well as those with only a casual interest in coin
collecting will benefit greatly by having easy access to this
information."

Stuppler said the ANA also will include information on "First
Strikes" as part of its curriculum for Summer Seminar grading
classes.

The lawsuit, filed by Thomas Francisco on Nov. 7, 2006 in U.S.
District Court Southern District of Florida, alleged that he and
other similarly situated purchasers of 'First Strikes' coins
nationwide were under the impression that U.S. bullion coins NGC
designated as 'First Strikes' were among the first coins struck by
the U.S. Mint and were, therefore, worth more than the same type
and grade U.S. bullion coins that were not designated as 'First
Strikes.' The plaintiff, who was represented by Miami lawyer and
coin collector Charles Lipcon as well as co-counsel Tucker Ronzetti
and David Pollack, sought injunction relief, restitution, damages
and attorneys' fees.

NGC denied liability and asserted that a clear definition of 'First
Strikes' was contained on its website, that there were a lack of
complaints regarding any confusion over NGC's definition of 'First
Strikes,' and that NGC competitors had previously used the term to
signify coins that were released by the U.S. Mint within 30 days of
issuance.

The parties agreed to mediate the case, which was heard on June 21,
2007, and presented a settlement to the court on July 16. As a
result of that settlement, NGC agreed "to cease designating coins
as 'First Strikes' unless they were certified to be one of the
first coins struck as part of a ceremonial striking by the U.S.
Mint on the first day of minting and to establish a $650,000
settlement fund to be distributed, net of attorneys' fees and
expenses plus the class representation award, to the American
Numismatic Association, for the purpose of educating the public
about coins and terminology."

A check for $447,095.26 was received by the ANA on Feb. 13.

"These funds will enable the ANA to provide invaluable consumer
awareness information to tens of thousands of Americans interested
in collecting coins," Stuppler said. "Our Congressional Charter
states that the ANA shall advance the knowledge of numismatics and
charges the Association to acquire and disseminate trustworthy
information. We take this responsibility very seriously."

The American Numismatic Association is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect
money and related items. The ANA helps its 32,000 members and the
public discover and explore the world of money through its vast
array of programs including its education and outreach programs,
museum, library, publications, conventions and seminars. For more
information, call 719-632-2646 or visit www.money.org.

BY DONNA BALANCIA
FLORIDA TODAY

Attorneys for Reshma Harilal, a crew member who has filed a lawsuit against Carnival Corp., alleging she is being held against her will on the ship, are hoping she will be removed from the Carnival Glory today, when the cruise ship docks in the Bahamas.

Her attorney, Tonya Meister, an associate with Miami-based Lipcon Margulies & Alsina, said Harilal is working aboard the Port Canaveral-based Glory, which left last Saturday for a Caribbean cruise and is due to return this Saturday to its home port. It was expected to make a port-of-call stop today in the Bahamas.

Harilal this week filed a lawsuit against Carnival in federal court, accusing the Miami-based cruise line company of "forced labor, slavery and/or human trafficking" of her and other crew members aboard Carnival ships. She contends she was hired to work as a stateroom stewardess, but was told she had to take a lower-paying position after she boarded the ship last Saturday.

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, attorneys for Harilal, a 33-year-old citizen of South Africa, ask that she be removed from the Glory and be paid wages that she agreed to work under.

In a statement, Carnival said: "The allegations contained within the suit are patently false, and the company looks forward to vigorously defending itself."

In the meantime, Carnival issued another statement Thursday that updated its earlier position that Harilal is working as a stateroom stewardess on the Glory. The current statement says, in part: "In early February 2008, she was assigned to the Carnival Glory. A stateroom stewardess position was not immediately open on the ship. However, she was advised that, within a maximum of two weeks, she would be placed in a stewardess position. In the interim, she was given a temporary, alternate assignment."

Contact Balancia at 242-3647 or dbalancia@floridatoday.com.

A female crew member working on a Port Canaveral-based cruise ship filed a lawsuit today in federal court against Carnival Cruise Lines, accusing the Miami-based cruise line of forced labor, slavery and human trafficking.

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District in Florida, attorneys for Reshma Harilal, a 33-year-old resident of South Africa, ask that she is removed from the Carnival Glory cruise ship, where she is currently working. The suit also asks that her passport is returned to her, and that she be paid wages that she agreed to work under.

“Based on what our client has told us, there are other crew members who are also working in lower positions and at a lower pay than they agreed when they boarded the vessel,” said Tonya Meister, an associate at the Miami-based law firm Lipcon Margulies & Alsina. “This case stands for more than money. Human beings should not be treated this way. They should not be forced to work under conditions they did not agree upon, and that’s what this case is about.”

Carnival officials could not immediately be reached for comment today.

With Harilal aboard, the Carnival Glory left Port Canaveral on Saturday.

Court documents claim that Harilal traveled from South Africa to take a position as a cabin steward on the Glory, after signing a contract indicating that would be her position. While already aboard the ship, Harilal was told to work as an assistant cabin steward instead, the suit claims. The cabin steward job pays $1,500 every two weeks, and the assistant job pays $250 to $300 every two weeks, the suit claims.

The Glory was in Belize on Tuesday, was expected to dock in Bahamas on Friday, and was scheduled to return to Port Canaveral on Saturday.

Attorneys have faxed the complaint to the ship, and are hopeful that Harilal will be removed from the ship Thursday or Friday, when the ship is in the Bahamas, and then will be brought back to Miami.

Harilal holds a tourist visa, and would stay with her daughter, who lives in Florida, attorney Meister said.

Read a copy of the lawsuit (PDF).

BY DONNA BALANCIA
FLORIDA TODAY

Florida Today

A crew member has accused Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines of forced labor, slavery and human trafficking for allegedly violating her contract by putting her in a lower-paying job, Florida Today reports.

Attorneys for 33-year-old Reshma Harilal, a resident of South Africa with a U.S. tourist visa, filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District in Florida.

They want her taken off the Carnival Glory and returned to Miami. The suit also wants her passport returned, and seeks the wages agreed to under the contract she signed.

Read the entire lawsuit (pdf).

"Based on what our client has told us, there are other crew members who are also working in lower positions and at a lower pay than they agreed when they boarded the vessel," Tonya Meister of the Miami law firm Lipcon Margulies & Alsina told Florida Today. (Like USA TODAY it is owned by Gannett.)

No response yet from Carnival.

The suit alleges that Harilal traveled from South Africa and signed a contract to work as a cabin steward. Once aboard, however, she was told to work as an assistant cabin steward instead, the suit claims. Cabin stewards are paid $1,500 every two weeks, while the assistant earns $250 to $300 biweekly.

The complaint has been faxed to the Glory, which is in Belize today. It's expected to arrive in the Bahamas by Friday, and Harilal's attorneys hope she'll then be returned to Miami. The ship is due back at Port Canaveral on Saturday.

Update at 7:25 a.m. ET: Carnival Cruise Lines is denying the allegations. Here's an excerpt from the statement they released last night:

Reshma Harilal has worked for Carnival since 2000. She joined the company in the position of stateroom stewardess and is presently employed as a stateroom stewardess. Over the past seven years, she has returned for multiple contracts with the cruise line. The allegations contained within the suit are not only completely false, but baffling, and the company looks forward to vigorously defending itself.

Florida Today

In a case that left us all breathless, a courageous young woman stood up against Carnival Cruise Line today, when she contacted an attorney in Miami, Florida while allegedly being held against her will aboard Carnival Glory, forced into labor, used as slave labor, and alleges Carnival Cruise Lines is trafficking in slave labor, with other crew members also being held against their will.

Reshma Harilal, age 33, says she is being held against her will aboard the cruise ship still at sea, her passport was taken away from her, and that the cruise line lured her from her native home in South Africa with the promise of a cabin stewardess job earning $3000 a month, but instead she got the old bait and switch. She says that she has a signed contract for the better job description and pay, and wants the money that's coming to her per her contract.

Once she arrived in Florida and boarded the ship, with little money to care for herself, she says the cruise line told her she could not work in the promised job description and instead placed her in a position as an assistant to a cabin steward making only $500-600 a month.

When she refused to work in the lower paying position, and requested to be sent home, she says her request was refused, she was held aboard against her will, and has asked a Florida court to force the cruise line to release her from the cruise ship Carnival Glory where she alleges she is being forced to work as slave labor.

Carnival Glory was in Port Canaveral on Saturday February 9th, and that is when Harilal requested her passport so she could leave the ship and go back home. Instead, she says officers refused to give her back her passport, holding her aboard and then left port with her aboard.

The passport Reshma holds is not the usual C1/D1 work visa other employees have, she is on a tourist visa. Holding her against her will is wrong on numerous levels. She has a daughter in Florida, and wanted to get off the ship while it was in port there to be with her daughter.

In addition, her petition alleges when she became ill suffering from a rash, they refused her medical care and told her if she insisted on getting medical care, she would be terminated.

Other crew members on cruise ships have told the public, that if the cruise lines decide you are not medically fit for work, it means being dumped in the nearest port, without money or any means to get home. Since Glory is cruising the Bahamas at this point in time, it would be a long way home for Reshma.

Then, Reshma alleges when she became desperate to get medical care and requested to be removed from the ship, officers prevented her from exiting the ship. She alleges in her complaint the the cruise line has enslaved crew members including herself and that the line is trafficking in human slavery.

Ms. Harilal alleges she is not the only slave aboard Glory, that other crew members are suffering the same horrible conditions, being held against their will and being paid wages way below what they were promised in signed contracts.

Reshma's complaint outlines the damages she seeks, and that includes the seizure of the vessel used to commit the crime of forced labor, slavery and human trafficking, a penalty that is allowed by U.S. Law.

Carnival denies the allegations.

Cruise Bruise is asking other crew members who have worked for, are working for Carnival Cruise Lines, to come forward if you were held on the ship against you will, the ship's officers refused to get back your passport, you signed contracts for one pay description and grade but were paid for lower pay grades, were refused medical treatment or were forced off ships in foreign ports because you were deemed medically unfit to work. Tell us your story.

Another incident also took place on Saturday February 9, 2008. The bomb squad was called to Terminal 10 at Port Canaveral where Carnival Glory was docked. A suspicious package shut down operatiions at the port until the package was identified and the owner was located. Passenger were beginning to board Carnival Glory for this same cruise, when the incident took place.

Less than two weeks ago, on February 1, 2008, another crew member mysteriously disappeared off of Carnival Glory in the middle of the night. That crew member was never found. The case is here

A copy of the official court petition is - here

by CruiseBruise.com

Unsafe On The High Seas is available now at Amazon.com. I had the opportunity to read the book recently, and found it to be the most beneficial information for the cruising public, outside of Cruise Bruise.

Maritime attorney and author Charles Lipcon, outlines a checklist of safe at sea passenger practices, and goes beyond to bring public attention to cases not readily available anywhere else, including on Cruise Bruise.

He gives good, sound legal advice, and explains the rights passengers have as well as the rights the industry has, when it comes to U.S. law.

Lipcon goes behind the cruise industry scene as well, to outline sweetheart deals the industry has made with U.S. government that many citizens might not be aware of which include secret meetings to protect their tax-free status in the U.S. while the government awarded one cruise line a government contract that rented cabins at twice the posted rate on travel sites, without putting the contract up for bids.

He touches on the hot topic of passenger travel documents and the changing date of passport deadlines that have come, gone, and been changed at the urging of the cruise industry. You will learn just how influential the industry is, and why passengers rights are not an important issue with legislators.

Other issues covered include the industry ticket language that protects the cruise lines from their own pricing errors, even after you have booked and paid for a cruise, you can be subject to additional fees to cover their own pricing errors. In one major case, this additional amount was over $500 per person, according to Lipcon's book. This is an area of the book, you will definitely want to pay close attention to.

The one case that touched me the most was the case Lipcon presents of a cruiser dumped in a foreign land half way around the world from his home, where English was not spoken, because the ship's doctor incorrectly thought he had a contagious disease. He had travel insurance, but in did not cover this particular problem. The details of that case are shocking and because the case is similar to thousands of other cases each year, you really need to be informed about how this all went terribly wrong.

Some important areas of the book cover the provisions of that all-inclusive voyage, that is anything but all-inclusive. What is covered and not covered is outlined on the pages of this book and it is a long list.

But, more importantly, Lipcon outlines for the passenger how the cruise line will charge passengers for things not included in the all-inclusive cruise, such as beverages, even when the passenger never used nor received the item and how the cruise line gets away with it.

One really surprising note in the book is on the topic of disabled passengers. You would think that a disabled passenger who had made special arrangements to accommodate his disability when he booked his ticket, could at least count on those accommodations when he arrived on the ship. Not so says Lipcon, who outlines a sad case of bait of switch.

With all the sexual assaults we are hearing about, many within the passenger cabin, Lipcon gives the one piece of advice that will protect a woman from an intruder in any cabin on any ship. You won't want to miss that important piece of advice found on page 63.

Real cases are sprinkled throughout the book, including a case of a famous athlete who was severely injured including a fractured spine and a stroke from the head injury when the ship's tender took off as he was still exiting the boat. The athlete later died and never saw justice. This case tragically depicts how negligent the cruise line can be, and how seriously that negligence can affect the passenger. That case is on page 89.

While I could on and on about the many great benefits of reading this book, it would take another book to do it. Simply put, the book is a tremendous insider's look at the industry, and is a must read.

The book is on sale now at Amazon.com - click here

The Collection celebrates the release of "Unsafe on the High Seas: Your Guide to a Safer Cruise" written by Maritime attorney Charles R. Lipcon. Guests will receive a complimentary autographed copy of "Unsafe on the High Seas" and will have the opportunity to enter a free raffle to win a weekend with the new Maserati Quattroporte. The launch party takes place on Thursday, Jan. 31, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

This eye-opening book will help the public discover the reality the cruise industry does not want them to know about: sexual assaults, shipboard disappearances, a pattern of cover-ups, noroviruses, unaccredited doctors, inadequate security and the binding ticket contract. The ultimate guide to making any cruise voyage safer, "Unsafe on the High Seas" will teach passengers how to protect themselves and their loved ones from becoming victims. Space is limited

By Jacki Donaldson
General Health

If you believe relaxation contributes to good health and you believe cruises lead to relaxation, then sailing the oceans blue might be just what you need. But if you believe there will be dependable medical care on board should your health take a detour, then you'd possibly be wrong and therefore, a cruise may not be just what you need.

Nearly 10 million Americans will set sail this year. What these 10 million may not know is that cruise lines claim no responsibility for doctors' actions. Cruise lines hire doctors, and they assign them as part of the crew -- but the buck stops there. The doctor merely has to claim to be competent. If he or she is not, cruise lines disavow any responsibility whatsoever.

This fact can be found in the fine print on tickets, Web sites, and brochures. But most of us don't read every detail and for some, discovering this hidden wording occurs too late. If cruise lines are not responsible, then the doctors must be, right? In theory, perhaps. But many doctors are foreigners who and are tough to track down in legal scenarios.

In the book Unsafe on the High Seas, Miami attorney Charles Lipcon offers advice for protecting yourself : Get travel insurance if yours doesn't have an evacuation provision, he says. And bring copies of your medical records, and tell the cruise line about pre-existing conditions. And most important: If you have a serious medical problem, maybe a cruise is not right for you.

Ten Tips From Author And Maritime Attorney Charles Lipcon

Jan. 22, 2008

Taking a cruise can be relaxing and fun, as long as you're prepared.

Charles Lipcon investigates the cruise ship industry in "Unsafe on the High Seas," examining sexual assaults, shipboard disappearances, cover-ups, noroviruses, unaccredited doctors, inadequate security and ticket contracts. Read some of his most salient tips below, and find out how to ensure that your dream cruise doesn't end in a nightmare.

1. Get shots for contagious diseases, such as flu, measles, mumps and rubella.

2. And before you step out your door, make sure someone is picking up your mail and newspapers so you won't leave any telltale signs that might attract burglars

3. Bring an extra pair of eyeglasses and your own first-aid kit, and know how to use it in case of an emergency.

4. Watch your step. To avoid bumps on the head on middle-of-the-night bathroom trips (especially if you've bought an inside stateroom), and bring a night light. Outside your cabin, and with all the serving stations on decks, spills are frequent, and slippery floors cause accidents. So you need to take care when you walk -- no head up in the clouds!

5. Check your insurance coverage. Most policies and Medicare do not cover medical treatment on cruise ships. Consider buying supplemental health insurance.

6. Notify the cruise line of any pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes, a heart problem or pregnancy. It will be better able to assist you in case of an emergency.

7. If you have serious medical problems, it is a good idea to discuss with your family doctor whether you should go on a cruise. There is a good chance that any immediate care that you might need won't be available when you need it.

8. Bring copies of your medical records noting your current medications and dosages, blood type, allergies and immunizations. Tuck extra prescriptions and over-the-counter medications in your suitcase, as well as your doctor's contact information and your next of kin's.

9. Inquire about the onboard medical personnel before you sign up for a cruise. If an agent tries to brush you off, keep calling until you're satisfied with the answers to your questions. Oh, and try to get those answers in writing.

10. Urge Congress to pass legislation to protect passengers in medical emergencies, and to require that cruise lines adopt stricter hiring rules for all medical personnel. (Cruise ships currently use doctors who work as independent contractors, so you have no recourse to the cruise line if something goes wrong.)

If You Receive Inadequate Health Care While Traveling, Who is Liable?

By Deboarah Roberts and Nola Safro
ABC NEWS

Who hasn't dreamed of a relaxing cruise? It sounds like the ultimate getaway.

"When people think of a cruise, they think all-inclusive floating vacation: sun, surf, sand, fun, maybe a little romance -- that's what they want," said Chris Elliot, a writer for National Geographic Traveler magazine. "I think 'The Love Boat' really started everything."

"The Love Boat," with its schmoozy crew, including good old Doc Bricker, put cruising on the map. Nearly 10 million Americans will set sail this year. And it could be good for your health as long as you don't need medical attention onboard.

Who's Responsible?
"The doctor is part of the crew, but the cruise lines claim no responsibility for the doctors' actions," said Miami attorney Charles Lipcon.

Bizarre as it may sound, he said the cruise lines are "not responsible for your overall medical care at all."

"The cruise line's responsibility in their mind ends at the point that they've hired a doctor who they claim is competent," Lipcon said. "And then if the doctor doesn't take proper care of that person, the cruise lines disavow any responsibility whatsoever."

Mike and Janice Sullivan went on a Royal Caribbean cruise that ended in disaster when, they said, Janice slipped on liquid near the buffet and was knocked unconscious.

Mike said it took 30 minutes to get help and an hour before Janice saw the doctor.

"I didn't know if she was dead or what," he said.

Janice remembers the cruise line sat her down in a chair and put ice on her head. All the while she was "hurting really bad."

According to Mike, the ship's crew never suggested that they leave the ship for additional medical treatment.

"I trusted that they would recognize a problem if it was serious," he said.

Emergency Surgery
Janice spent the rest of the trip in bed and a few days after they got home, but she soon had the scare of her life, discovering that she was paralyzed on her left side.

"When we got to the hospital, the doctor there had the CAT scan and found out there was a blood clot in her skull the size of my hand," Mike said.

The doctors scheduled an emergency surgery, and Mike said his wife almost died.

"I was angry," Mike said. "We were told by our family doctor ... that ... evidently when she fell, she had broken a blood vessel ... and that it had been bleeding for 10 days."

The Fine Print
Even worse, the Sullivans made a discovery that they couldn't believe -- the cruise line was not responsible for care provided by the medical staff.

"We didn't learn that until much later when we were trying to hold the cruise line responsible for her injuries," Mike said. "We were told by the cruise line that the doctors were independent contractors."

It's all in the fine print: on tickets, Web sites and brochures. That includes Disney Cruises, owned by the parent company of ABC News. It's information even seasoned travelers like the Sullivans often don't read until it's too late.

"I was very angry, because any profession that you're in, you have to be accountable to someone," Janice said.

From a Dream Cruise to a Calamity
Iris Cruz and her family are determined to find justice after her grandmother's dream cruise ended in tragedy.

Caridad Cruz, 70, fractured a bone in her arm while onboard.

"She would tell me, 'I am going through a lot of pain,'" said Iris. "My grandfather would tell me, 'Listen, she's not acting like herself, something's wrong.'"

Despite frantic phone calls from Iris' grandfather onboard, Iris said the medical staff played it down.

"I mean they would talk to me so calm. 'Oh, it's gonna be OK, everything's gonna be fine,' Iris said. "You kind of relax and you say, 'Ok, you know, these are nurses, these are doctors talking to you.'"

After Caridad had a second fall, the ship's doctor recommended an air evacuation … but before that could happen, she died. An autopsy blamed an embolism brought on by the fracture. Lipcon is their attorney.

"If her grandmother had gotten off the ship in Mexico and flown home on travel insurance, there's a good chance she'd be alive today," said Lipcon.

Royal Caribbean Cruises disputes the allegations in these cases and defends the actions of the onboard doctors. But remember -- they're not legally responsible anyway. Plus, Lipcon said, doctors are often foreigners, who quickly move on to the next job.

"They tell us, 'Well go ahead and sue the doctor.' Well sure, find the doctor, you know, we've tried to do that, you can't find them to sue them," said Lipcon.

In his new book, "Unsafe on the High Seas," Lipcon offers advice to keep yourself safe: Get travel insurance if yours doesn't have an evacuation provision, bring copies of your medical records and tell the cruise line about pre-existing conditions, and if you have a serious medical problem, maybe a cruise is not right for you.

As for Iris' family and the Sullivans, they're continuing to pursue their cases in court.

"I mean, we're captive aboard ship. If we can't depend on medical personnel there, who can we depend on? Somebody's gotta be responsible," Mike said. "Somebody's gotta be accountable."

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ABC has a great discussion thread about this article going. Add your comments here, there or both places!

And we will be posting the video from 20/20 in the next few days so be sure to check back for it.

Look for the release of "Unsafe on the High Seas" by Charles R. Lipcon of Lipcon, Margulies and Alsina P.A.

This eye opening book will help the public discover the reality the cruise industry doesn't want them to know about: Sexual Assaults, Shipboard Disappearances, A Pattern of Cover-ups, Noroviruses, Unaccredited Doctors, Inadequate Security and the Binding Ticket Contract. The ultimate guide to making any cruise voyage safer, "Unsafe on the High Seas" will teach passengers how to protect themselves and their loved ones from becoming victims.

Pre order Unsafe on the High Seas through Amazon.com now!

More than 40 medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed against Florida cruise ship companies over the last decade, but nearly all have floundered in court or been dismissed, the WSJ’s Stephanie Chen reports.

In the suits, passengers claim they were hurt as a result of poor medical care or that ship doctors made injuries worse. But the companies haven’t been found liable because on-board care givers are independent contractors; and malpractice cases involving treatment outside the U.S. boundaries generally must be filed in the courts of the physician’s country of origin.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in a medical injury lawsuit that had been in various courts for nearly a decade. In the case, a teenage girl’s abdominal pains were misdiagnosed as the flu during a trip on Carnival Cruise Lines’ Ecstasy. Doctors at an emergency room later found that her appendix ruptured, an injury that rendered her sterile. Carnival said the physician wasn’t its employee and that the company bore no responsibility.

Many of the physicians on the ships are foreign born and filing a lawsuit in their home country can be complex and expensive. Further, when a malpractice case crops up the doctors usually disappear and the cruise companies don’t offer much help in locating them, Chen reports.
The Italian doctor who treated the girl with the ruptured appendix was initially named as a defendant in her suit but later dropped because nobody, even a private eye, could locate him. Carnival declined to comment to WSJ.

The legal situation “leaves the passenger who goes on a cruise and gets bad medical care with virtually no remedy,” says Jason Margulies, a maritime lawyer.

October 24, 2007
Posted by Joe Mantone
The Wall Street Journal Online

More than 40 medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed against Florida cruise ship companies over the last decade, but nearly all have floundered in court or been dismissed, the WSJ's Stephanie Chen reports.

In the suits, passengers claim they were hurt as a result of poor medical care or that ship doctors made injuries worse. But the companies haven't been found liable because on-board care givers are independent contractors; and malpractice cases involving treatment outside the U.S. boundaries generally must be filed in the courts of the physician's country of origin.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in a medical injury lawsuit that had been in various courts for nearly a decade. In the case, a teenage girl's abdominal pains were misdiagnosed as the flu during a trip on Carnival Cruise Lines' Ecstasy. Doctors at an emergency room later found that her appendix ruptured, an injury that rendered her sterile. Carnival said the physician wasn't its employee and that the company bore no responsibility.

Many of the physicians on the ships are foreign born and filing a lawsuit in their home country can be complex and expensive. Further, when a malpractice case crops up the doctors usually disappear and the cruise companies don't offer much help in locating them, Chen reports.

The Italian doctor who treated the girl with the ruptured appendix was initially named as a defendant in her suit but later dropped because nobody, even a private eye, could locate him. Carnival declined to comment to WSJ.

The legal situation "leaves the passenger who goes on a cruise and gets bad medical care with virtually no remedy," says Jason Margulies, a lawyer.

Colin Farrell's Personal Dresser For Film Settles Claims Over Injuries

(AP) Actor Colin Farrell apparently wasn't the only one partaking in all of the action scenes during the filming of the "Miami Vice."

Farrell's personal dresser on the "Miami Vice" set has settled a lawsuit against the movie's production company two years after she fractured her jaw during filming.

Joulles Wright's attorney, Charles Lipcon, and the defendants' attorney, Bob McIntosh, confirmed Thursday that the lawsuit has been settled, but terms were not disclosed.

Wright, of Atlanta, was riding on a speedboat when an improperly secured bumper broke off and struck her in the face, according to the lawsuit filed in June 2006 in Miami-Dade County.

Wright, who had been hired as Farrell's dresser during the filming of the movie in Miami, allegedly needed surgery and had to have her jaw wired after the August 2005 incident.

The lawsuit claimed the speedboat was unsafe and the defendants did not give Wright adequate medical care, which aggravated her injuries and caused additional pain, mental anguish and lost wages.

The defendants involved in the settlement were MV Film Productions L.L.C. and Entertainment Partners Inc., McIntosh said.

"Miami Vice," starring Farrell and Academy-Award winner Jamie Foxx, is an update of the TV police series that helped define '80s pop culture.

In late 2006, Florida area coin collector Thomas Francisco hired attorneys Tucker Ronzetti and Chuck Lipcon to file a class action lawsuit relating to the misleading grading service designation First Strikes. In what turns out to have been separate actions, both PCGS and NGC were sued under consumer protection statutes for engaging in this misleading practice. (For the uninitiated, the designation First Strikes has nothing to do with when the coin was struck. The practice of designating coins as First Strikes is an embarrassment to many honest coin dealers, who refuse to handle them.)

The terms of the settlement between NGC and the class represented by Francisco are as follows:
NGC will pay $650,000 into a Settlement Fund, from which Francisco's attorneys will receive fees of 30% ($195,000) and Francisco will receive $7,500. The remaining $447,500 will be donated to the American Numismatic Association (ANA), pending court approval.

NGC agrees to stop using the First Strikes designation for any coin, unless it can be proven that the coins were struck from a new pair of dies.

NGC will provide informational cards, about the same size as its coin holder, free of charge to all dealers it can identify as having NGC First Strikes designated coins for sale. The cards will clearly state what the First Strikes designation really means, and are intended to be included with any First Strike coins which are sold in the future. The cards will also be available free of charge to NGC First Strikes end buyers, and to anybody else who requests one, for at least a two year period.

NGC will undertake, at its own expense, to inform interested parties about the settlement, including mailing (via U.S. Mail) a copy of the Settlement Agreement to its First Strikes customers. This notice requests that they pass the information along to their own customers. NGC will also purchase advertising in coin collecting publications to make collectors aware of the Settlement Agreement, and will make the long version of the Settlement Agreement available on the Web. If NGC's costs for these various forms of announcement exceed $25,000, the extra monies can be taken out of the Settlement Fund.

Parties who wish to remove themselves from this class, protest the settlement, or comment upon it must file by November 13, 2007. The Final Hearing for this matter is scheduled for December 13, 2007. Additional information is available on the FirstStrikesSettlement.com Web site.

First Strikes Lawsuit Background
Shortly after the First Strikes litigation was filed against both major grading services, NGC announced that it was abandoning the First Strikes designation, and would begin using the more honest term Early Releases instead. A couple of months later, word came down that PCGS had quietly settled the First Strikes litigation out of court, in a secret settlement. Rumors swirled around what the terms of the secret settlement might be, with leading theories including such notions as that PCGS would quietly back away from First Strikes at the end of the 2007 coin year, taking the extra time both to fulfill existing contracts and to save face. Less charitable rumors claimed that Francisco and his lawyers had been "bought off" by PCGS. The fact is that nobody involved will disclose the details, and PCGS recently expanded its deceitful First Strikes program to include Proof Presidential Dollars, so the rumors are apparently wrong. Suffice to say that PCGS isn't listening to the collective clamor of the coin collecting community as a whole, instead preferring to pander to a privileged pantheon of pernicious parties.

NGC, on the other hand, voluntarily scrapped the First Strikes designation long before any kind of legal injunction or agreement had required them to do so. Multiple sources, (including the legal filings themselves,) have indicated that the leaders at NGC had never been real thrilled with the whole First Strikes concept, and that NGC only went along with the game as the result of competitive pressure from PCGS. Disclosures which were made as part of the NGC First Strikes lawsuit settlement state that NGC's incremental revenue from the First Strikes program was less than $90,000!

First Strikes Litigation Reveals Interesting Facts
Some interesting details emerged during the various legal maneuvers that were part of this lawsuit. Some interesting claims were made by NGC in the various court filings, some of which seem contradictory:

NGC received approximately $88,950 in additional fees to add the First Strikes designation to their slab inserts.

291,302 Silver Eagles dated 2005 and 2006 were designated as First Strikes (apparently by all grading services; NGC's population report only totals 79,251.)

NGC charged between $2.50 and $5.00 per coin to add the First Strikes designation to a coin.

A bullion coin dealer gave away 96,740 free First Strikes Silver Eagles (apparently designated by multiple grading services) dated 2005 and 2006 as part of a promotion.

The First Strikes designation has been applied to as much as 50% of the production run of some bullion coin issues! (This includes coins certified by all grading services, not just NGC.)

NGC CEO Steven Eichenbaum claims under oath that NGC had never received any complaints that the First Strikes program was confusing to consumers. (This claim is astonishing since I personally complained to NGC personnel on several occasions and have witnessed others do so. In addition, I know of an organized campaign to register complaints about the First Strikes deception with both PCGS and NGC, where dozens of members of an online coins discussion forum agreed to take part. Eichenbaum's claim about this isn't really material to the settlement terms, but it's an interesting bit of dissembling.)

Performing some mathematical computations on the above figures leads to numbers that don't match up. According to NGC's population reports for both Proof and Circulated coins, it has issued the First Strikes designation to 94,916 Silver Eagles, 108,159 Gold Eagles, and 5,215 Platinum Eagles. The total is 208,290 coins that have been given the NGC First Strikes designation. If NGC has only ever "received" $88,950 for granting First Strikes, that means each coin brought 42.7 cents. The reason I emphasize "received" here is because this is the term explicitly used by Eichenbaum, and also used elsewhere in the legal filings. I believe an unqualified "received," even in the legal sense, means just that. This is not a "net earnings" figure, but just what it says, "received." Anyway, it's one more curiosity in a legal proceeding that has been loaded with them. (For the benefit of those who aren't familiar with how grading services handle this designation, it is an add-on service to the standard grading and encapsulation, where the service makes the bulk of its fee. Such add-ons typically cost only a few dollars extra, and are sometimes free. Judging by the above numbers, it seems NGC gave away a lot of free First Strikes designations. Hopefully.) ;)

My Conclusions Regarding the NGC First Strikes Lawsuit
All in all, my investigation into this matter has left me two big impressions. The first is that NGC reluctantly began using the First Strikes designation in the first place, and wasn't really comfortable with it at any point. NGC quickly backed away from First Strikes when the lawsuit was filed, but I honestly believe their claim that they had planned to do so anyway. Had they not, they could have held out until the judge issued the injunction. Although there are some curious claims and interesting mathematics present here, all in all I think NGC was more of a victim than a perpetrator when it's all said and done. After all, it cost them $650,000 plus legal fees, compliance expenses, and internal costs to "receive" that $88,950.

Secondly, it seems that NGC has bought itself some protection. In this class action lawsuit, once the judge finalizes the settlement, anybody who has purchased an NGC First Strikes coin is losing their right to ever sue NGC in the future regarding this designation unless they have explicitly removed themselves from the class. The compensation you are receiving for giving up your rights is the fact that the ANA will get a $447,500 donation. I'm not a lawyer, but I have taken some law classes and I have great "street smarts." It seems to me that NGC might have invested in some future problem avoidance here. By settling this class action suit, NGC is ensuring that all those folks who are stuck with NGC First Strikes coins have all been stripped of their rights to sue NGC over it in the future. Many coin market analysts feel that all of those naive buyers who are sitting on most of the First Strikes coins, (along with a number of other "perceived value" designations,) will rise up and scream once the economy takes a downturn and people need to cash in their coin "investments." The perceived value will evaporate overnight in a flooded market, and in the fine tradition of litigious 21st century America, people will turn to the lawyers. Will this settlement keep NGC safe?

From Susan Headley,
Your Guide to Coins.

BY DONNA BALANCIA
FLORIDA TODAY

Orlando International Airport could be one of many airports across the nation to use a new covert system implemented by the Transportation Security Administration to deter terrorist activities.

A new security program called Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques or SPOT -- in which uniformed Transportation Security Administration officers are dispatched across the country to observe passenger behavior -- has been deployed at more than a dozen airports deemed "high-risk," TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz said.

She would not disclose whether Orlando International is on that list. Boston Logan was the pilot program for SPOT, started in June 2003.

"The program has already been rolled out to more than a dozen airports, but we're not going to comment on which airports they are, for security reasons," Koshetz said. "We believe in a multilayered approach to security so those who want to do us harm won't be able to game the system."

In many cases, the TSA officers trained in observation techniques will watch for passengers who may not exhibit typical traveler behaviors. The end of 2008 is the target date to complete the rollout, Koshetz said.

However, for some, the program may indicate an opportunity to detain people unnecessarily.

Attorney Tonya Meister of Lipcon, Margulies and Alsina said the new program raises concerns.

"I would be concerned that they not target people based on appearance, meaning profiling," Meister said. "I wouldn't want people to get targeted by race or socioeconomic factors."

Charles R. Lipcon is recognized by Super Lawyers as one of the Top Attorneys in Florida!

Only 5 percent of the total lawyers in the state are selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers.

Congratulations Charles!

By Sheila Marikar

Continue reading "Wading in Murky Waters" »

By Kimi Yoshino
Times Staff Writer

The handling of a rape allegation reflects lines' laxness and the FBI's limits, critics say.

After Laurie Dishman reported to Royal Caribbean crew members that she had been raped by a security guard, she recalled, the purser and the head security officer sat on her bed - the alleged crime scene - and suggested that she learn to "control her drinking."

The ship's doctor, she said, handed her two gray garbage bags and told her to "collect the evidence" in her cabin herself. [Learn what our maritime firm recommends you do if you have been raped on a cruise ship].

"In no way while I was on the ship did I feel like they were taking care of what happened," Dishman said in an interview, recounting that night 13 months ago as Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas cruised the Pacific en route to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. "Nothing was professional."

The 36-year-old Sacramento resident - who is suing Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., alleging negligence - is expected to be one of the key witnesses Tuesday in Washington before a House subcommittee examining crimes on cruise ships.

Accounts such as hers have put cruise operators and the FBI on the defensive.

Royal Caribbean, which disputes Dishman's contentions, says millions of Americans vacation on cruises without incident each year, giving the industry an enviable safety record. And the FBI, which investigates some crimes involving Americans on cruise ships, cites insufficient evidence or resources as impediments to pursuing certain cases.

But passenger safety advocates, led by the group International Cruise Victims and by Dishman's congresswoman, Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento), say her case highlights concerns that the $32-billion industry takes a lax approach to crime.

Critics accuse the industry of having downplayed the number of sexual assaults in testimony at a previous congressional hearing. Further, they say that investigations can be shoddy or incomplete and that few crimes aboard cruise ships lead to arrest or prosecution.

"It's a very low priority," Charles Lipcon, a Miami-based maritime attorney who represents plaintiffs in lawsuits against the cruise industry, said of the FBI's approach to cruise crimes. "I call them 'pretend investigations.' They pretend to investigate and nothing happens."

FBI officials declined to comment in detail until after Tuesday's hearing, the first called by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

But they reiterated the bureau's commitment to "addressing piracy and serious criminal acts of violence" and working with the cruise industry and other law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute crimes.

Representatives of Miami-based Royal Caribbean told The Times that evidence collection in Dishman's case was "inconsistent" with company policy.

They said Royal Caribbean cooperated with the FBI and later terminated the suspect, who told authorities it was a case of consensual sex.

Sex crimes - regardless of where they take place - are difficult to prosecute. Cases often rest on one person's word against the other's. Witnesses are rare.

On cruise ships, alcohol frequently plays a role. In addition, foreign crew members can be difficult to locate for questioning if they are terminated for violating company policies or reach the end of their contracts before inquiries are completed.

Even when cases might have sufficient evidence, the FBI and federal prosecutors are more likely to devote resources to fighting terrorism, bank robberies and political corruption.

"You have limited resources and you put those in your highest priority," said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor.

"If you're in California, at the top of the list is going to be immigration, terrorism, political corruption and narcotics... Sometimes there's also the mentality that the victim can sue in civil court. It doesn't leave the victim without remedies," Levenson said.

Lawrence Kaye, an attorney who represents the cruise industry, said the companies "very much" wanted the FBI involved in investigating crimes because employees lack expertise in forensic investigation.

In Dishman's case, a cruise security guard - who she said had harassed her in the ship's bar that night and asked for her cabin number - allegedly forced his way into her room after she answered the door on the first night of the cruise, pushed her back onto her bed and raped her. Dishman said she told him no and tried to push him away.

Dishman said she had five drinks over several hours, including a glass of wine at dinner, but did not believe she was drunk. When she woke up the next morning, her pants were off and she had bruise marks around her neck, she said.

The suspect, who told his employer and law enforcement authorities that the sex was consensual, was fired for violating the company's policy on fraternizing with guests. He continued to do his job for a week after the incident.

Dishman and her attorney say authorities failed to devote sufficient time to investigating her claims.

The FBI interviewed the accused crew member Feb. 26, 2006, the day the ship returned to port in San Pedro. A letter from the bureau to Dishman indicates that the U.S. attorney's office decided not to prosecute the case the same day FBI agents boarded the ship. An FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles cited insufficient evidence in the case.

The bureau did decide to give the suspect a lie detector test a few days later, but by then he had been fired and sent home to Trinidad and Tobago, according to court records.

Dishman said she met, at her request, with officials at the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office to try to persuade them to file charges. They advised her to write to members of Congress and to pursue civil action against the cruise line.

"I know we have terrorism and we have all these things going on in the world," Dishman said. "But I'm the victim here and I'm an American, and they're telling me there is nothing they can do for me. I don't understand."

By Nicky Willemse
Weekend Post

A PORT Elizabeth woman's dream job working on a cruise liner in the Caribbean was transformed into a nightmare experience when she was allegedly raped by a fellow crew member.

And 18 months later, she is still haunted by the experience and waiting for some semblance of justice to be done.

After having been repeatedly fobbed off by the company which had contracted her to work in the liner's spa, she now fears the matter has been "swept under the carpet".

From the outset her case was dealt with with scepticism by both Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and Steiner Transocean, which operated the spa on the liner Explorer of the Seas.

Days after reports of the incident came to light, Taryn, 26, (who asked that her surname be withheld) was told by the ship's management that, because she had had a few drinks on the night of the attack, her side of the story was "not as believable" as her alleged assailant's Ð and she had "no right to accuse him (of rape)".

She was then told to get off the ship and sent back to South Africa and to this day the company refuses to tell her if any action was ever taken against her assailant Ð who hails from East London Ð saying the matter is "confidential".

But Taryn's story is not unusual and each year thousands of young South Africans apply for jobs on international cruise ships. Cruise Alternatives, one of several SA recruitment agencies specialising in cruise ship jobs, places up to 500 South Africans on luxury ships a year.

However, the jobs are not always as attractive as the recruitment marketing portrays them.

US-based maritime law firm Lipcon Margulies and Alsina, which specialises in cases against cruise lines, says it has obtained a list of sexual assaults from Royal Caribbean amounting to 173 over three-and-a-half years. Of these, not one person has been prosecuted.

"Sexual assault on cruise ships is common," lawyer Charles Lipcon told Weekend Post this week.

"In my opinion, they (cruise ships) go out of their way to cover up these crimes to avoid bad publicity or their own liability."

Taryn, a beauty therapist, worked in the slimming and detox section of the liner's spa, while her alleged rapist, a fitness instructor, worked in the ship's fitness centre.

"We were friends. The ship community is very close-knit Ð everyone becomes like family."

The night of the assault, in August 2005, Taryn was in the crew bar when the fitness instructor laughingly removed from her jeans' back pocket the key-card to open her room.

"I got up to go and get it, but he ran away. I didn't think much of it Ð I thought I'd just spend the night in a friend's room."

But, checking her own room later that night, she saw her door was unlocked. "I thought it was my room mate, but then I saw he was sleeping in my bed."

She lay down on the bed next to him and fell asleep. "I know I shouldn't have walked into the room, but I trusted him because we were like family."

Speaking through tears, she said: "I woke up in the early hours of the morning . . . he was on top of me. He got aggro when I told him to stop, and I started shouting. I was too scared to move Ð I just lay there."

She stayed in her room for the whole of the next day, trying to make sense of what had happened. She even phoned him to talk about it, but he brushed her off. It was only later that night, speaking to her room mate, that she admitted to herself that she had been raped.

After that, she ignored him, but wasn't sure how to handle the matter. "I felt scared and guilty."

A month later, the deep change in her countenance was picked up by her spa manager, who had just returned after a holiday. After some probing questions, she asked Taryn if she had been raped. "I just burst into tears."

The spa manager encouraged Taryn to report the matter to the ship's human resources department. She was then called to a meeting with top management from both the ship and the spa. "They told me there were two stories, his and mine, but his sounded more believable, because I had been drinking.

"I wasn't plastered, and I know he had been drinking too. The fact remains that I told him to get out of my room, but he didn't."

She was then given two options: to drop the matter, or take it further, but she was told that would mean the CIA and the FBI getting involved.

Feeling intimidated, she said she did not want "the whole of the US involved", but she wasn't prepared to drop it either. She then agreed to management's suggestion that the matter be passed to Steiner Transocean.

The spa manager got in touch with Steiner Transocean's head office in Miami, which operates spas on a number of cruise ships Ð and Taryn was given an hour to leave the ship, which was in dry dock at the time. Before she left, Steiner Transocean agreed to pay for any counselling and medical expenses.

Once back in South Africa, she tried to find out from Steiner Transocean whether any steps had been taken against her attacker, but was told that the matter was confidential.

This was the same response given to Weekend Post this week. "No employee can know whether any action was taken against another employee," said Steiner Transocean spokesman Bob Boehm. "The allegations were taken very seriously, and we took steps that were deemed appropriate." He would not provide further details.

The company's head of claims and risk management Elizabeth Junco later said the FBI investigated all incidents in international waters.

She said they had conducted interviews with crew members who worked with Taryn and the fitness instructor and "concluded that the allegations could not be substantiated". She said Taryn was sent home "for her own safety".

Royal Caribbean did not respond to several emails or phone messages.

Plaintiffs' lawyers are expected to ask the Supreme Court to weigh whether cruise lines are free of liability for onboard doctors' acts. Our maritime firm handled the handled the case that resulted in the ruling that was favorable to passengers. View the initial favorable ruling, the Carlisle Decision.

Are Cruises Liable for Doctors?
BY MARTHA BRANNIGAN

A Florida Supreme Court decision this week that cruise lines aren't liable for the malpractice of onboard physicians won't put to rest the contentious issue.

Attorneys for a passenger -- who sued Carnival Corp. after her appendicitis was misdiagnosed as the flu in 1997 -- plan to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the question.

''This is a very important question for millions of passengers,'' Charles Lipcon, a Miami attorney who intends to appeal on behalf of the passenger, said Friday. ``Unless cruise lines are responsible for their doctors, there is basically no recourse for passengers.''

Plaintiffs attorneys say cruise-line doctors typically come from foreign countries, which makes it difficult to serve a lawsuit on them; moreover, their assets -- if they have any -- are hard to go after.

The case involved a 14-year-old Michigan girl, Elizabeth Carlisle, whose abdominal and back pain and diarrhea was misdiagnosed as flu by a cruise-ship physician. She was later diagnosed with a ruptured appendix and a subsequent infection left her sterile, the suit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court alleged.

The trial court dismissed Carlisle's case against Carnival, but the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami reinstated it in 2003, finding the doctor was the ship's agent, and therefore the line could be held liable for his actions.

But that decision -- which relied on a single, old case in northern California -- conflicted with the bulk of federal maritime decisions, which say cruise lines aren't responsible for their doctors' deeds.

The state's high court, noting maritime cases must be treated uniformly, tossed out the case against Carnival on Thursday, even though it agreed that the passenger's argument about the cruise line's indirect responsibility made sense.

''The Florida Supreme Court opinion said it agreed with us conceptually,'' said Miami attorney David H. Pollack, who represents Carlisle. ``Quite a few people who cruise are retired, older people who do have a medical condition. There is a level of comfort to knowing there is someone who can treat you, but what if that someone messes up?''

Pollack said cruise tickets state in fine print that doctors are independent contractors the lines aren't liable for. ``I don't think anybody when going on a cruise would assume the ship is not responsible for their doctor.''

A Carnival spokesman declined to comment on the case, referring questions to its attorneys. ''For well over 100 years, the federal courts and most state courts have held a cruise line isn't liable for the doctors,'' said Darren W. Friedman of Maltzman Foreman P.A., who represents Carnival. ``A cruise line is essentially that: a cruise line. It's not a hospital. The doctors are responsible for their own actions.''

Friedman said suggestions that passengers have no recourse against doctors are inaccurate. ''The doctor in this case has insurance,'' Friedman said.

Our maritime law firm is in the Miami Herald again today. Read the article below or on MiamiHerald.com.

Lawyers turn cruise lawsuits into industry
The Miami Herald
By Amy Martinez

How many lawyers does it take to sue a cruise line? Only one, or one too many if you're the cruise line.

The $25 billion-a-year cruising industry has faced more lawsuits than it cares to count over the past few decades -- some 2,100 in South Florida alone since 2001.

Continue reading "Lawyers turn cruise lawsuits into industry" »

Carnival Cruise Lines President Robert Dickinson called the disappearance at sea of honeymooning cruise passenger George Smith IV "a non-event." The article published today in Florida Today discusses how cruise executives feel the concerns regarding crimes on cruise ships are overblown.

We are frankly shocked to hear the disappearance of a cruise passenger referred to as a "non-event"!

The cruise ship crime article discusses the opinion of one of firm's our maritime attorneys.

Continue reading "Carnival Cruise Lines President calls disappearance of honeymooner George Smith a "non-event"!" »

A second article on cruise ship safety, this one covering cruise passenger disappearances, is in the Miami-Herald today. This article also quotes maritime lawyer Charles Lipcon of Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A., who is representing some of the families of missing passengers.

The article quotes Lipcon as follows:

''The cruise lines do not want bad things to happen to their passengers,'' said Charles Lipcon, a Miami lawyer who's suing Carnival Cruise Lines on behalf of a 37-year-old Wisconsin woman who disappeared in December 2004 near the Mexican coast. He supports the idea of a federal security force.

''But when something goes wrong, they take it as a bad press kind of thing -- let's hide the ball and hopefully people won't hear about it,'' Lipcon said.

Read the entire article entitled "Missing Cruise Cases Spur calls for Scruity" in the Miami-Herald.

The Miami-Herald came out with an article today on cruise safety. The article features serveral indistry statistics released by the cruise lines which overall make it sound like cruise ships are extremely safe and crimes rarely, if ever, occur.

The article quotes Charles Lipcon, of Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A., and states:

Some safety advocates and lawyers dispute industry figures. Charles R. Lipcon, a Miami attorney who specializes in maritime injury cases, for instance, says the assault statistics noted by Crye don't square with other reports.

''The head of security for a cruise line said [in a deposition] that the line reports two sexual assaults per month per ship,'' said Lipcon.

Read the entire article entitled, "If you use your head, you coudln't be any place safer" in the Miami-Herald.

Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A. is in the news regarding cruise passenger disappearance. Our firm is hired to represent the family of Annette Mizener. Read the news story below.

The family of a Wisconsin woman who disappeared from a cruise ship sued Carnival Corp. for $15,000 on Monday, claiming the crew's failure to monitor a surveillance camera delayed search-and-rescue efforts.

The surveillance camera in the area where Annette Mizener's purse was found had been covered, preventing the crew from seeing her go overboard, according to the civil lawsuit filed in Miami.

''Had they checked on it immediately when it was covered, they would have known she was overboard,'' said Charles Lipcon, a Miami attorney representing Mizener's family. ``There was a long delay due to a failure to monitor the camera, or check why it didn't show a picture.''

Mizener, 37, disappeared from the Carnival Pride on Dec. 4 during a weeklong cruise in Mexico with her parents and 17-year-old daughter.

Source: The Miami Herald November 22, 2005

USA Today wrote a story about missing cruise passenger Annette Mizener. Charles Lipcon is representing the Miznener family.

An excerpt from the story is below:

The family of a Wisconsin woman who disappeared from a cruise ship sued Carnival Corp. on Monday, claiming the crew's failure to monitor a surveillance camera delayed search and rescue efforts. The surveillance camera in the area where Annette Mizener's purse was found had been covered, preventing the crew from seeing her go overboard, according to the civil lawsuit filed in Miami.

"Had they checked on it immediately when it was covered, they would have known she was overboard," said Charles Lipcon, a Miami attorney representing Mizener's family. "There was a long delay due to a failure to monitor the camera, or check why it didn't show a picture."

Source: USA Today

Read the entire article on the USA Today web site.

Learn more about cruise passenger disappearances and the law regarding search and rescue.

We all remember hearing about missing cruise passenger George Smith, who went on a cruise for his honeymoon, never to be seen again. George Smith was never found and his family it seems may never know what really happened to him. Finally, last month, Congress ordered an investigation into his disappearance and MSNBC has been airing specials on this as well as on other cruise ship crimes.

View the most recent clip from MSNBC's Scarborough Country, which features maritime attorney Charles R. Lipcon discussing the congressional investigations ordered on missing cruise passenger George Smith.

Charles Lipcon has been featured on 6 episodes of A Current Affair. The episodes aired between July 16 and August 19, 2005.

The disappearance of cruise passenger George Smith & cruise ship crimes including rape and sexual assaults on cruise ships were covered. Charles Lipcon believes that it's "open season on the high seas" and has his own ideas about what might have happened to George Smith. Lipcon has handled similar cases, so listen to the clips from A Current Affair to learn more.