Princess: cruisers sanctioned for frivilous lawsuit

[Cruisin' Chick]

Wonder if they were getting turned down by lawyers, and then the one that took their case was charging a retainer with the idea of churning the account. You would think if a judge says they filed past the deadline, the lawyer would advise against an appeal.

[Quenby]

I remember this incident -- I watched some of it on CNN -- they evacuated some of the injured people by helicopter. They had lines of ambulances waiting at the port. As I recall, Princess paid for hotels and flights and provide quite an assortment of compensation.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Princess_(ship)

 

Not sure why, but when you open the page, you have to click on the second Crown Princess (ship)

[wilfros]

This whole sueing thing has gotten out of hand!! Living in Canada things are quite different.

 

I had an issue regarding the passing of my father and resulting questions about his will. In order for me to get the assets frozen and an investigation into the date his last will was written ( he had altzimers) I was told I would have to put up 80,000 dollars, up front, before anything would or could be done.

 

Should I have proceeded and the date turned out to be valid (written when he was still of sound mind) then I would also be responsible for the legal costs of the "other side". I was looking at the possibility of 160,000 just to get a date.

 

While the system seems unfair it sure takes care of an frivilious (sp) law suits. It took me all of 30 seconds to make my decision to just live with the estate as it stood.

 

I am pleased with the outcome for Princess. I can't imagine trying to escape completely and also finding fault with every little thing in a vain attempt to get re-embursment. That sounds more like a job than a holiday.

 

JMHO

[wilfros]

This whole sueing thing has gotten out of hand!! Living in Canada things are quite different.

 

I had an issue regarding the passing of my father and resulting questions about his will. In order for me to get the assets frozen and an investigation into the date his last will was written ( he had altzimers) I was told I would have to put up 80,000 dollars, up front, before anything would or could be done.

 

Should I have proceeded and the date turned out to be valid (written when he was still of sound mind) then I would also be responsible for the legal costs of the "other side". I was looking at the possibility of 160,000 just to get a date.

 

While the system seems unfair it sure takes care of an frivilious (sp) law suits. It took me all of 30 seconds to make my decision to just live with the estate as it stood.

 

I am pleased with the outcome for Princess. I can't imagine trying to escape completely and also finding fault with every little thing in a vain attempt to get re-embursment. That sounds more like a job than a holiday.

 

JMHO

 

I just re-read this and I don't want my comments to appear to demean the serious nature of the event that, in fact, did take place.

 

Just tired of reading about and meeting people who do nothing but complain.

 

Again JMHO.:eek:

[Quenby]

Wilfros -- no problem. A lot of us get tired of all the complainers -- it's one reason I no longer do traditional dining.

 

It would be interesting to know the extent of their injuries. From everything I read after the incident, Princess seemed to take care of people financially.

[piper28]

I remember this incident -- I watched some of it on CNN -- they evacuated some of the injured people by helicopter. They had lines of ambulances waiting at the port. As I recall, Princess paid for hotels and flights and provide quite an assortment of compensation.

 

Nobody was evacuated by helicopter. I can't remember if there was a line of ambulances, but I'm not convinced there weren't a line of lawyers at the dock :).

 

It's quite possible that someone might have been able to prove negligence though given that it was error by a crew member overriding the auto pilot. But outside a couple of the more serious injuries (and there weren't many serious), I do wonder about whether it's reasonable to sue over. But then, there were people that were perfectly fine that were talking of sueing before they'd even gotten off the ship. But I honestly wonder why anyone would wait as long as they did before trying it, and don't really have a lot of sympathy over them getting nailed for the frivolous charges over it.

 

(FWIW, I personally felt we were treated very fairly through the whole situation. Princess never quibbled with any of our claims we made with them for travel expenses back home and property damages.)

[Quenby]

The helicopters were at the dock - I watched the people being loaded. They were not evacuated from the ship by helicopter but at least two people were transported from the dock by helicopter. I had some interest in this since I had worked on mass casualty NBC drills. Princess reported that approx 260 injured people were treated onboard with 94 transported to local hospitals.

[Cuizer2]

It probably took them that long to find a lawyer willing to take on the case. But any decent lawyer would have realized that the passenger contract stipulates a timeframe when any lawsuits can be filled. Both ridiculous and frivilous. IMHO!

 

The lawyer was retained within two months of the ending of the cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

But apparently didn't act fast enough and cost his clients $$$$. :rolleyes:

[TracieABD]

This is not an entirely disappointing outcome...

[Colo Cruiser]

Sue the Lawyer!!

 

 

She is!! Good for her. :)

[smeyer418]

yes nice malpractice lawsuit against the lawyer(who will have to pay the sanctions by the way).

 

1. first rule taught in law school never miss a deadline.

2. second rule taught in law school NEVER MISS A DEADLINE.

 

BTW there are times when equitable tolling of the deadline would be allowed but not in the facts of this case.

 

and finally in a lawsuit against the lawyer, you have to prove two thing missing of the deadline AND that you would have won the underlying lawsuit but for the negligence of the lawyer.

[paul929207]

yes nice malpractice lawsuit against the lawyer(who will have to pay the sanctions by the way).

 

1. first rule taught in law school never miss a deadline.

2. second rule taught in law school NEVER MISS A DEADLINE.

 

BTW there are times when equitable tolling of the deadline would be allowed but not in the facts of this case.

 

and finally in a lawsuit against the lawyer, you have to prove two thing missing of the deadline AND that you would have won the underlying lawsuit but for the negligence of the lawyer.

Hopefully the lawyer will wind up with a huge bill from the client

[woodofpine]

Here we have a fairly serious maritime incident (well reported, the Crown P. tilt) that was acknowledged by all to have been caused solely by a negligent SNAFU on the bridge which resulted in some serious injuries to passengers...

 

Yet CC posters universally cackle with glee, twice over, that an alleged injured party ends up with no compensation due to attorney malpractice! The first cackle is that the line paid nothing to potentially seriously injured passengers; the second cackle is that the line paid nothing (and got a cost judgment) NOT based on the merits of the claims but a time bar SNAFU of an attorney...

 

With that mentality, no wonder so many cruise line managers consider passengers cattle!:(

[hillslife]

We were on the Crown when it 'tilted'...yes, it was VERY scary and yes, several people had some bumps, bruises, lacerations, etc. But only a couple people were more seriously injured and needed immediate transport to a hospital. I am an RN and worked for a few hours in the Medical Center helping the staff. I was generously rewarded by Princess for my assistance; and EVERYONE on the ship was totally reimbursed for their cruise, air, travel plans, etc. by Princess.

 

People were talking about 'suing Princess' before we even were back at the dock....many were just looking for $$$$.

 

YES, it was scary; YES, it was human error; but I think we were generously and quickly treated by Princess and those that sued (excluding the couple major injuries-not sure of their status) are just being greedy:mad:

[Croooser]

Good for the courts.

Why did they wait more then the year allowed to file?

 

Does not fall under Maritime laws, how ridiculous, their lawyer is a moron.

They award should have been triple that.

 

That was the Crown Princess.

 

X2 - should have awarded more damages to serve as a deterrent.

[Cuizer2]

and finally in a lawsuit against the lawyer, you have to prove two thing missing of the deadline AND that you would have won the underlying lawsuit but for the negligence of the lawyer.

 

Which puts the lawyer in a very strange position. On the one hand the lawyer has to argue the case had no merit while on the other hand the lawyer has to claim the case did have merit as the lawyer would never file a case that had no merit.

[smeyer418]

Which puts the lawyer in a very strange position. On the one hand the lawyer has to argue the case had no merit while on the other hand the lawyer has to claim the case did have merit as the lawyer would never file a case that had no merit.

not at all really. He/she will argue mostly on the damages. I bet they weren't really hurt that badly...

[wizard-of-roz]

How much responsibility do we bear when we board a cruise? What do you "arm chair" lawyers think.....what percentage of liability do we hold when we board a train? Or, enter a supermarket?

Are the percentages implied? If we bear a certain percentage of the liability of any public transportation then this must be considered in any liability case.

The burden of the percentages that we carry when we enter the public venue [unless malice can be proven] is bigger than you think!

I must know that when I take the risk of travel on the ocean, a lot of the burden is on me.....the biggest burden FILE IN A TIMELY MANNER!

[RickEk]

Here we have a fairly serious maritime incident (well reported, the Crown P. tilt) that was acknowledged by all to have been caused solely by a negligent SNAFU on the bridge which resulted in some serious injuries to passengers...

 

Yet CC posters universally cackle with glee, twice over, that an alleged injured party ends up with no compensation due to attorney malpractice! The first cackle is that the line paid nothing to potentially seriously injured passengers; the second cackle is that the line paid nothing (and got a cost judgment) NOT based on the merits of the claims but a time bar SNAFU of an attorney...

 

With that mentality, no wonder so many cruise line managers consider passengers cattle!:(

 

Oh absolutely, the Crown Princess tilt was caused by a bad decision by a senior officer. That point is not in contention. What CC posters are "cackling" about is that the folks in the article waited too long. If they were that injured that they felt the need to sue, they should have done it within the time constraints of the Passage Contract. So yeah, they got what they deserved... nothing.... boo hoo...:rolleyes:

[Colo Cruiser]

Oh absolutely, the Crown Princess tilt was caused by a bad decision by a senior officer. That point is not in contention. What CC posters are "cackling" about is that the folks in the article waited too long. If they were that injured that they felt the need to sue, they should have done it within the time constraints of the Passage Contract. So yeah, they got what they deserved... nothing.... boo hoo...:rolleyes:

 

 

 

Yes thats it!

[boone2]

We were on the Crown when it 'tilted'...yes, it was VERY scary and yes, several people had some bumps, bruises, lacerations, etc. But only a couple people were more seriously injured and needed immediate transport to a hospital. I am an RN and worked for a few hours in the Medical Center helping the staff. I was generously rewarded by Princess for my assistance; and EVERYONE on the ship was totally reimbursed for their cruise, air, travel plans, etc. by Princess.

 

People were talking about 'suing Princess' before we even were back at the dock....many were just looking for $$$$.

 

YES, it was scary; YES, it was human error; but I think we were generously and quickly treated by Princess and those that sued (excluding the couple major injuries-not sure of their status) are just being greedy:mad:

As an ER nurse I too worked in the medical centre that day, I looked after the most seriously injured people, none were lifethreatening. The only person to be offered a hellift to a truama centre was a young girl with a controlled arterial bleed, the parents refused and were screaming about suing from the get go. As the ship righted itself people were screaming on the cell phones to get their lawyers, there were alot of passengers down by the medical centre taking photos of the injured for CNN. I have never been more disgusted with my fellow humans. The crew and medical staff were absolutely amazing, I worked there for 5 hours until everyone who needed to be was medivacced off the ship And yes we were very well compensated on that cruise and later.

Funnily enough I had a call about a year ago from a lawyer, (they said) who was asking about the tilt. They said they were working for Princess but they sounded very unprofessional. All they got from me was Princess cheerleading! I thought the whole incident (truamatic and scary as it was) was handled very well

Terry

[boone2]

PS the most seriously injured was a crew member, there were also alot of minor injuries among the crew too

Terry

[Hlitner]

We always thought this lawsuit was strange. What is the remedy? Should cruise lines require everyone to wear seatbelts whenever sitting and use railing or safety lines when walking? Makes no sense.

 

Hank

[wizard-of-roz]

We always thought this lawsuit was strange. What is the remedy? Should cruise lines require everyone to wear seatbelts whenever sitting and use railing or safety lines when walking? Makes no sense.

 

Hank

 

Really! Anything can happen on these moving hotels......heck, a rogue wave could wipe the whole thing out! :D Who do you sue then? God!