X awarded 15.2 Mill in Damages

[FIRELT5]

http://www.cruise-community.com/ShowStory.asp?ID=12157

[RLM77]

For those who prefer not to register, here is the story from the link above:

 

Jury awards Celebrity $15.2m in damages

29/6/2007

Celebrity Cruises has been awarded $15.2m for lost profits in 1994 and 1995 stemming from a 1994 outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease on the Horizon. A New York federal jury ruled that Pentair, the parent of Essef Corp., the manufacturer of components in a pool deck hot tub that was the source of the outbreak, must pay the damages in addition to an earlier award of $10.4m for expenses incurred by Celebrity.

The cruise line had sought $47.6m in lost profits related to the outbreak in which one passenger died and others became ill, some critically, due to legionella bacteria in a hot tub filtration system.

Last year a jury awarded Celebrity $183m for lost profits and lost enterprise value. A judge allowed $10.4m for expenses but tossed out $135m for lost enterprise value and granted a new trial on the jury’s finding that Celebrity was entitled to $47.6m in lost profits.

Celebrity president Dan Hanrahan today expressed appreciation for ‘the jury’s understanding of the impact this event had on our company.’

Pentair said it is studying the decision to determine any future action.

[Parrotgirl]

We were on Meridian in Bermuda when the Horizon limped away after disembarking all of its passengers. It was very sad for anyone who was on that cruise. I remember seeing passengers on the dock with their luggage and wondered what was happening. We heard about the outbreak when we returned home to very worried friends and family, who didn't know which Celebrity ship we were on.

 

I'm very happy to see that Celebrity was rewarded damages for the problem. I knew people who were afraid to sail on Horizon after that so I'm sure it was probably common, and Celebrity had to have lost a lot of money.

[PatC]

We were on the Horizon the second of the 2 weeks of the Legionnaires outbreak. I'm so glad Celebrity was reimbursed. We were some of those passengers who were "on the dock with their luggage" but what treatment we received from the cruise line!

 

We were all taken to top notch hotels for the night which included what we ate and drank. The second night we were also put up in great hotels and wined and dined by the cruise line. We were tranported to the airport and placed on huge planes which were from England and ate and had whatever on board while traveling home. We were treated royally throughout the entire incident and have sailed Celebrity ever since.

 

Be aware that all passengers were advised repeatedly on the dock before boarding in New York about what had happened and were advised that if they chose not to board they were reimbursed for the entire trip. Now, that doesn't make up for the fact that we stood on the dock for over 3 hours but we took our chances and boarded. The CDC sailed with us the entire way. Some passengers were irate that they weren't told about the outbreak before sailing but when we left it hadn't been confirmed exactly what had happened.

 

I'm not condoning anyone here, just want to say that having experienced the cruise then we were given every opportunity not to sail, when we did they took great care of us and also in getting us home safely, almost to our doors!

 

Good for Celebrity - they spent big bucks to take care of their passengers, gave us all free cruises, wiped out our on board charges and then treated us well.

 

Pat C

[Whippets]

Just illustrates what a "class" operation Celebrity is!