Our 53 year old client suffered a fractured elbow when she tripped and fell on a cruise ship. Our client was on a holiday with her family and friends at the time of the accident.
Before the accident, our client was independent. She supported her two children and took pride in looking after her home.
Our client lost her independence for many months after the accident, requiring assistance with even the most basic of tasks like doing her hair. She continues to experience pain and restrictions in the use of her arm, which is her dominant arm.
The cruise company took a hard-line approach to our client’s claim and said it was not responsible for her accident.
After court proceedings were commenced, a settlment was eventually reached through informal negotiations. Our client received compensation for her pain and suffering, treatment and care needs – both in the past and in the future.
Our 73 year old client was injured when slip and fall accident on a cruise ship. She was on her own on a holiday that was cut short by the accident.
Our client suffered a fractured knee in the accident and subsequently fractured her wrist and ankle when the knee caused her to fall again.
Even though our client was retired at the time of the accident and did not lose income, she lived a full and active life which was severely impacted by the accident.
Our client went from being active, independent and social to gaining weight, losing her fitness, hesitating to go out for fear of having another fall, and relying on her son to assist her.
After court proceedings were commenced, the cruise company agreed to have settlement negotiations which resulted in a successful settlement. Our client received compensation for her pain and suffering, treatment expenses incurred to date and ongoing as well as her future care needs.
Our 59 year old client was injured when she slipped and fell while on a cruise holiday. Our client was supposed to be relaxing on a holiday with her husband when the accident ruined her holiday.
Our client suffered a serious injury to her hamstring that required surgery and many months of rehabilitation including only being able to lie down – not stand up and not even sit down.
Before the accident, our client regularly participated in activities such as water skiing, hiking, mountain biking and intense cardio and weight training at the gym.
As a result of the cruise ship accident, our client went from being fit and healthy, to being disabled and no longer able to participate in her usual activities.
Our client’s fitness was also an important part of her work. Her business development plans were halted by the accident.
The hamstring injury also led to other leg complications that required surgery.
Despite denying that it was negligent in causing our client’s accident, the cruise company participated in settlement negotiations which ultimately resulted in the resolution of our client’s claim. This was after court proceedings were commenced against the cruise company.
Our client received lump sum compensation for her losses including her lost income and the impact on her business, treatment expenses including for her surgery and her ongoing needs as well as the care and assistance she requires. The compensation for her care and assistance needs took into account the fact she lives on a large property that she could no longer tend to as a result of her injuries. This is all in addition to compensation for her pain and suffering. The lump sum also included compensation for the distress and disappointment caused by the accident as well as the reduction caused by the accident in the value of the cruise for which our client paid.
In December 2019, tragedy struck White Island (Whakaari) in New Zealand when a sudden volcanic eruption claimed the lives of 22 people and left others with life-altering injuries. Among the victims were passengers from a cruise ship who had embarked on an organized excursion to the island. As their legal representative, I had the privilege of helping these victims and their families seek justice and appropriate compensation for their unimaginable suffering. This case study details the journey to a successful resolution and the critical decisions that shaped the outcome.
Our clients were Australian passengers aboard a cruise ship travelling off the coast of White Island. Enticed by the promise of an adventurous trek to the rim of the active volcano, they joined a guided excursion from the cruise ship to the island where they walked towards the volcano’s rim. Unknown to my clients, the volcano’s activity level had been elevated for weeks, signalling potential danger. Despite these warnings, the excursion was not cancelled. When the eruption occurred, it unleashed catastrophic consequences, killing some tour members and severely burning others. Survivors faced not only physical and emotional scars but also extensive medical expenses and an uncertain future. Some of the family members of those who were killed were financially dependent on them.
The Legal Challenge
The central issue in this case was the liability of the cruise operator. The cruise ship’s operator had a duty to prioritise the safety of its passengers. Evidence revealed that the operator either knew or should have known about the heightened volcanic risk. This failure to act responsibly by cancelling the tour was the foundation of our clients’ claims.
As the cruise ship was registered in Miami, USA, my clients’ compensation claims were brought there rather than in Australia. The primary reason for doing so was the knowledge that compensation paid under the US judicial system is far more generous than in Australia.
The Outcome
By bringing their claims in Miami, our clients received far higher monetary compensation than would have been the case had they brought their claims in Australia.
We acted for TG, a young man in his twenties, who was injured during a pacific cruise around Hawaii. TG was having a fun filled holiday, and regularly went to the ship’s nightclub in the evenings.
One evening TG was walking through the busy club when he was accidently pushed into some low lights illuminating the dance floor. TG was wearing shorts and his leg pressed against a light which was red-hot. He sustained a deep burn as a result, which went on to blister and scar.
The rest of TG’s holiday was ruined as he was unable to get his injury wet, thus making him unable to enjoy the ship’s swimming pools or to swim and surf at Hawaiian beaches during shore excursions.
We submitted a claim to the cruise company for the injury and loss of enjoyment of the remainder of TG’s holiday. We settled the claim to TG’s satisfaction, and he used the compensation to go on a luxury holiday with another company to make up for his spoiled cruise.
We successfully recovered compensation for a young boy, GB, who fell from an unguarded top bunk bed in his parents’ cabin during a Pacific Islands cruise. GB had awoken in the night and, disorientated as to where he was, fell through a wide unguarded gap from his top bunk. He fell onto a nightstand and fractured his wrist.
GB’s parents had approached other lawyers for legal advice, but had been turned away as the accident occurred in international waters. GB’s family then turned to Stacks Goudkamp.
We brought a claim against the cruise line and alleged that the bunk bed was unsafe and did not meet requisite safety standards. The cruise line agreed to settle the claim and we secured compensation for GB without having to go to court.
Our client, PG, was injured during a trans Tasman cruise to New Zealand. One evening he was descending the grand staircase in the vessel’s atrium, when he suddenly tripped down the bottom step. He fell onto the marble floor below, sustaining serious orthopaedic injuries including torn ligaments in his shoulder and knee.
It transpired that the bottom step was a different size and shape to the other steps. We brought a claim against the cruise line alleging that the staircase failed to meet requisite health and safety regulations, and sought compensation for PG’s injuries.
We successfully recovered compensation for PG to cover his pain and suffering, medical expenses, and domestic assistance needs without the need to start court proceedings.
We successfully acted for a retiree, CR, who was badly injured when he tripped and fell in a cruise ship’s corridor. As a result of the fall, he dislocated and fractured his shoulder, requiring surgery. The accident occurred at the start of a South Pacific cruise, thus ruining the remainder of his holiday.
CR sought Stacks Goudkamp’s advice. With the assistance of photographs that he had taken in the ship, we were able to establish that the floor in question was a tripping hazard. We brought a compensation claim against the cruise line who agreed to settle the case out of court, with an allowance made for CR’s contributory negligence for not looking carefully at where he was going.
Our cruise accident lawyers were instructed by a charity worker who suffered multiple injuries when he slipped on a spillage during a Mediterranean cruise. Our client, TH, was walking on a tiled area inside the ship when he suddenly slipped and fell to the floor, tearing his hamstring in the process. It transpired that he had slipped on a pool of water that was concealed by the glossy tiles. There were no wet floor warning signs in place.
We established that the location of TH’s accident was an indoor shortcut used by passengers going to and from the ship’s swimming pool. There was no policy in place preventing passengers from going inside wearing wet swimming attire. We therefore alleged that the water was most likely from a passenger’s dripping swimming clothes, and that the cruise line was negligent for failing to have a ‘no wet clothes’ policy inside, not inspecting and cleaning the area, failing to have wet floor signs, and having defective flooring tiles.
We brought a claim against the cruise line who initially denied liability. However we persevered and were able to resolve the case for a generous amount without having to commence court proceedings.
Our expert travel lawyers successfully brought a compensation claim for HT, a cruise passenger who was injured on a shore excursion in Asia.
HT booked a city sightseeing tour of Singapore through his cruise operator. The tour was conducted on a minibus with fellow passengers, along with a driver and tour guide.
HT enjoyed the tour. However, the minibus became delayed in traffic on the return trip to the ship. The driver, therefore, had to make up time so that his passengers were not delayed for the ship’s departure.
The minibus was being driven quickly on the final approach to the cruise ship terminal. The driver was driving at an excessive speed and had to brake suddenly at red traffic lights. The minibus was not fitted with seatbelts. The sudden braking caused our client to move violently in his seat, causing him a whiplash injury.
HT made a good recovery from his injury. However, we were able to secure him compensation from the cruise line to cover his medical expenses and for the lost enjoyment of the remainder of his cruise.
Our client and her husband were only two days into a two-week cruise holiday when she sustained a nasty fracture to her right wrist and injury to her shoulder after slipping over on a greasy floor aboard the vessel.
Upon her return to Australia, our client underwent surgery to repair the fracture to her wrist and incurred significant medical expenses for both the surgery and her extended period of rehabilitation. Our client also was forced to have over 5 months off work to recover from her injuries.
After tough negotiations with the cruise ship company, Stacks Goudkamp achieved a settlement for our client which compensates her for all of her past expenses, provides her with security for the future, and provides some acknowledgement that our client’s holiday was ruined by this avoidable accident.
Our client, Audrey, sustained a serious injury to her leg whilst on a luxury South Pacific cruise.
Audrey and her husband John had enjoyed a shore excursion to a tropical beach in Fiji and took a tender back to the cruise ship. As the tender approached the vessel, the sea conditions became rough. The passengers were instructed to disembark the tender onto the vessel, but by this time the tender was rising and falling by the height of an adult due to the waves and rough swell.
Audrey was stepping across from the tender to the cruise ship’s pontoon when a large wave caught her off balance. She fell forward and fractured her tibia.
We submitted a claim to the Australian cruise operator on the basis that they were negligent, breached their contract with Audrey, and breached statutory guarantees they owed to Audrey under the Australian Consumer Law to provide cruise holiday services with due care and skill and which were reasonably fit for purpose. In particular, we alleged that the transfer operations should have been suspended until the weather abated, or until the cruise company could provide additional assistance to passengers. The cruise company denied liability.
We commenced court proceedings in the District Court of NSW. After protracted negotiations, the cruise operator agreed to settle Audrey’s claim rather than go to trial. Audrey received a favourable settlement, which she told us she would put towards a luxury cruise with another operator, to make up for her ruined holiday.
Our client was on a luxury Pacific Islands cruise when he slipped on wet decking that had been hosed earlier that morning. He sustained injuries to his shoulder.
On return to Australia, our client required significant medical treatment and his ability to work was compromised.
Our specialist travel lawyers brought a compensation claim against the cruise operator for our client’s cruise accident. Although liability was strongly denied, we were able to successfully secure our client compensation for his injuries without the need to go to court.
