Make one thing clear. The parents ARE at fault. If you go to a beach with life guards does that mean

This week several people died during cruises on ships owned by Carnival Corporation. A young seafarer died on the Carnival-owned Cunard Queen Victoria cruise ship. A crew member from the Carnival Conquest was crushed to death at the port of New Orleans . And most tragically, a 6 year-old boy needlessly drown on the Carnival Victory in a swimming pool which, incredibly, did not have a life-guard.
Let's look first at the sad case of little 6 year old Qwentyn Hunter who died on the Carnival Victory last week. He died underwater in a swimming pool that Carnival decided car rental discount chicago not to supervise with a lifeguard for, what I believe to be, purely financial reasons.
Is it foreseeable that a child may drown in a pool? Of course. We have written recently about a 4 year old boy who is severely brain injured after slipping under the water on a cruise ship Disney which also didn't bother to assign a lifeguard to the pool.
Put aside the debate whether the boy's death was a lack of personal responsibility of the parents or a lack of corporate responsibility due to the the malfeasance of the cruise line (or both), what is the maximum exposure presented to Carnival?
DOHSA is an archaic law enacted in 1920 which provides only pecuniary losses to the survivors of someone who dies on the high seas. Pecuniary damages means only those financial losses, such as lost wages or medical expenses, suffered by those who are dependent on the dead person. In cases of a dead child or a dead retiree, car rental discount chicago there are no lost wages and no one dependent on the child or retiree for support. In Qwentyn's situation, there are obviously no lost wages or medical expenses. car rental discount chicago So all that the family could possibly receive in compensation after an expensive, long-drawn-out lawsuit is whatever car rental discount chicago it costs to bury a child these days.
If the cruise line is negligent for a child's death in an unattended pool, it will pay a maximum of $10,000 or so if liability is proven. Big deal. From a financial perspective, the cruise line is ahead of the game by not paying millions to employ lifeguards on over a hundred Carnival cruise ships to keep the kids safe. Carnival's Micky Arison, worth over 5 billion dollars, gets to keep his bounty.
car rental discount chicago Cruise lines love DOHSA. It exculpates the cruise lines when they act irresponsibly. The cruise industry has lobbied hard against amending the law. Read about that here and here . Don't miss reading: What Does BP, Al Qaeda and a Cruise Line Have In Common?
But that's not all. The cruise lines have also fought tooth nail to keep the claims of foreign crew members outside of the U.S. legal system and deprive injured crew members from having their cases heard by U.S. juries by insisting that they resolve their cases through arbitration.
Read about this injustice here . The Filipinos face a schedule of compensation depending on the injury. A lost finger, or hand, or an arm may result in an award of only $7,500 or $25,000 or $35,000. A death? $50,000, plus only $7,000 per child with a limit of 4 children.
One of the worst cases involved a Filipino crew member who received 35% burns on his body in a clear case of the vessel operator's negligence. At the ship owner's request, car rental discount chicago the disabled and disfigured crew member's case was dismissed from the U.S. legal system and sent to Manila where a Kangaroo car rental discount chicago Court awarded the burned Filipino just $1,870.00 (US).
The cruise car rental discount chicago lines don't want you to understand what happens when the nice, smiling Filipino waiters or bartenders who serve your family subsequently are seriously injured or die on cruise ships. It is fundamentally different and absolutely unfair compared to when people are injured or die on land.
Make one thing clear. The parents ARE at fault. If you go to a beach with life guards does that mean you stop paying attention to your children? car rental discount chicago NO! That said yes ccl does not provide a life guard for the pools. They rely on overworked security to do so but does not mean they are assigned to do such. It is amazing with the hours they work like mules they can do the great job they do. And yes it is the bottom line only that ccl thinks of. Note: They should check the stupid, spend thrift actions of their travel practices first before things that effect the crew and passengers. Bottom line is no, they do not care and if not for bad press like your accurate reporting car rental discount chicago they would care less.
Having lost a child on a cruise ship, I can tell you that nothing, NOTHING, is more straight-to-the-heart dagger-like, than being told, "We're sorry but your child's life was worthless." Even when that child dies as a result of their medical care or lack of!! DOSHA needs to go, then maybe the cruise line business would go too!! I hope I live to see the day that that industry hurts a fraction of as much as all of us who have lost loved ones on cruise ships do every single day! Thanks car rental discount chicago Jim for putting it out there everyday car rental discount chicago the way you do so people know what kind of a rapacious, car rental discount chicago repugnant corporate entity they are thinking of doing business with. People need to Know before they GO!
Maritime & admiralty lawyer & attorney James M. Walker of Walker & O'Neill car rental discount chicago Law Firm, offering services related to injuries, sexual assaults, fires, negligence, rapes & disappearances on cruise ships, pirate & terrorist attacks, missing passengers, shore excursions, wrongful death and the Jones Act, serving cruise car rental discount chicago passengers, crew members, cabin attendants, utility workers, waiters, bar tenders, ship doctors and cleaners on cruise ships worldwide.
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