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December 2002: Crew Member, Sexually Assaulted on Millennium Cruise Ship, Files Lawsuit Against Celebrity Cruise Lines A female youth counselor
onboard the Millennium cruise ship filed suit against Celebrity Cruises, alleging she was
sexually assaulted and battered by two male crew members, and that the company failed to
provide her with medical treatment and counseling or collect evidence from the crime
scene.
The lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, alleges that Celebrity was also negligent by ignoring prior complaints of sexual harassment and assaults aboard its vessels and that it failed to protect female employees and passengers. On Nov. 2, 2002, the Bahamian Police arrested the two crew members on charges of rape. They have posted bail and surrendered their passports, and now are awaiting trial in the Bahamas. James Walker filed the suit on behalf of the victim. This suit comes after a Federal Court jury in Miami reached a verdict of $1,000,000 in November in favor of a passenger who was sexually assaulted by a crew member employed by Celebrity Cruise Lines aboard the Zenith cruise ship. In both cases, Celebrity failed to collect forensic evidence or even perform a rape kit analysis, and failed to administer anti-viral medicine or antibiotics for prevention against HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. After both assaults, Celebrity took steps to prevent the rape victims from receiving appropriate medical care and counseling while attempting to cover-up the crimes to protect the cruise line's image.
November 2002: Miami Jury Renders Verdict Against Carnival Cruise Line A jury in Miami reached a verdict against Carnival Cruise Line in favor of an ill crew member who had been denied surgery for four years. The crew member, Byron Rivera, is a young man from Guatemala who was diagnosed with sinusitis while working on a Carnival cruise ship. A demand for re-instatement of maintenance and cure was made on behalf of the ill crew member in 1998. Several prominent doctors at the University of Miami recommended surgery in order to improve the crew member's medical condition. Carnival ignored the doctor's recommendations and refused to provide the recommended medical care to Mr. Rivera. The jury found that Carnival should have provided the necessary medical care, and awarded $40,000 in maintenance and cure benefits. Attorneys Paul Hoffman and JamesWalker tried the case against Carnival. October 2002: Miami Jury Finds SS Norway Unseaworthy and NCL 100% at Fault for Injury to Crew Member A Miami-Dade County jury awarded a crew member employed by Norwegian Cruise Lines $705,000 in compensation for a back injury he suffered in June 2001 aboard the SS Norway. The case involved a claim against NCL by Andrej Gryczan, a 46 year old engine repairman from Gdansk, Poland. Mr. Gryczan was required to work 20 hours a day for a week to repair leaking sprinkler pipes aboard the cruise ship. This followed a series of Coast Guard inspections which shut down the Norway due to hundreds of leaks throughout the vessel's sprinkler system. NCL had chosen to save money over the years, at the risk of passenger safety, by patching the old pipes with temporary clamps and sleeves. The jury found the cruise ship unseaworthy and NCL 100% negligent for Mr. Gryczan's injuries. Attorneys Paul Hoffman and James Walker tried the case against NCL. June 2002: Miami Herald: Three Passengers Allege Assault on Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship
The suits allege that Royal Caribbean was negligent in caring for the safety of its passengers -- by failing to adequately screen, train and supervise employees and prevent them from becoming intoxicated. Royal Caribbean spokesman Michael Sheehan said the company has not yet been served with the suit and is not aware of the exact allegations. ''However, our standard operating procedure is to automatically report allegations of this sort to the FBI,'' Sheehan said. ``This party did make a complaint last fall, we did report that to the FBI, and the FBI declined to investigate, apparently concluding that no crime was committed.'' The events allegedly occurred on the dance floor when the 33-year-old bride from North Florida, her 64-year-old mother and a 34-year-old friend -- both from Pennsylvania -- were enjoying a bachelorette evening in the ship's ''On Your Toes'' nightclub, Walker said. A group of ship officers arrived in their white uniforms and were trying to get various women to wear their uniform jackets and pin their bars on the women's blouses, Walker said. The assaults included the chief officer groping the women and pressing his groin into the three women while he restrained each one. The ship doctor used obscenities while sexually harassing one of the bridesmaids, and touched her inappropriately. There was no security and no intervention by other crew members. Afterward, the bride reported the events to Royal Caribbean and said she intended to file a report with the FBI. Walker said the cruise line told her she could do so when the ship returned to Miami. However, the suit alleges the bride was not permitted to meet with the FBI and was told that she could only meet with the cruise line's risk management department and with representatives of the Royal Norwegian Consulate. No arrests were made. Notwithstanding the cruise line's alleged "zero tolerance" policy, the chief officer was permitted to resign. The ship doctor is still working on the cruise ship. May 2002: CBS4 News Special Report "A Dream Cruise - An
Unexpected Death" 
Most ship doctors are not from the United States. Almost without exception, they attended foreign medical schools. They do not have anywhere near the same education, training, or experience you should expect from U.S. educated and trained physicians. Many of the ship doctors are on the cruise ships for the same reason as the passengers - to enjoy a vacation and to get away from the stress of a real job. The cruise lines contend that these doctors are not their employees but are, instead, "independent contractors." The cruise lines claim immunity from liability in all cases where passengers are injured by the ship doctors, particularly in instances of gross medical malpractice leading to death. Most passengers do not realize that these doctors usually work only six to eight month contracts and then often disappear back to Africa or Europe. If they can be found, the ship doctors are usually not subject to jurisdiction in the United States courts. To make matters worse, if a passenger dies due to inadequate medical care while the ship is in international waters, the surviving family's recovery is limited to financial losses. A statute called the "Death on the High Seas Act" applies. Emotional injuries such as grief, sorrow, pain, and loss of love and affection are typically not recoverable. If the passenger is not a wage earner (for example - a retiree, housewife or child), the only potential recovery is limited to funeral and burial expenses! Because the cruise lines face virtually no financial exposure when the "independent" ship doctors kill a passenger, there is no incentive to improve the quality of the medical equipment or staff on the cruise ships. The result is the type of human tragedy touched upon in this investigation. View and Listen to the CBS Report ©MMII CBS Worldwide, All Rights Reserved. Original airdate May 6th, 2002 Read the Death on the High Seas Act ("DOHSA") Which Limits Recovery for Death on the "High Seas" to "Pecuniary" Damages Only Read Cases Discussing DOHSA, Courtesy of the AdmiraltyLawGuide Read Statement from Senator John McCain Discussing the Inequities of DOHSA in Aviation Cases April 2002: Carnival Cruise Lines Fined $18 Million for Pollution
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