Costa Concordia Disaster: More Survivors Sue Cruise Company

* 39 passengers sued ship's owners in Miami court

* Lawsuit alleges gross negligence, carelessness

* Costa extends deadline to accept its compensation

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Dozens of additional survivors of the Costa Concordia shipwreck off Italy have joined a Florida lawsuit that accuses the ship's owners of gross negligence and fraud, and asks for at least $528 million in damages.

An amended lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the state circuit court in Miami against Carnival Corp, which is incorporated in Panama and headquartered in Miami, and several of its subsidiaries, including Florida-based Costa Cruise Lines and Costa Crociere, which is based in Italy and operated the ill-fated ship.

Thirty-three more surviving passengers were added to the six in the original lawsuit filed in January, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to 39.

Carnival declined to comment, saying it does not typically comment on litigation matters.

The lawsuit alleges that the company acted with gross negligence and careless disregard during the cruise that ended on Jan. 13 when the Costa Concordia hit a reef and capsized off the coast of Italy. The ship carried 4,200 passengers and crew; 17 are known dead and 15 are missing.

The suit alleges that the crew failed to conduct safety drills, that the ship was off course when it hit the reef, that the captain waited too long before giving the order to evacuate, that the crew performed badly during the evacuation and that the cruise line inflicted emotional distress and failed to provide prompt and adequate aid to survivors.

"Plaintiffs found themselves in a listing, capsizing, sinking vessel without communication, direction or help from the captain and misdirection from the crew from approximately 9:45 p.m. to approximately 11 p.m. and were left to fend for themselves," the lawsuit said.

It alleges that the cruise company committed fraud in claiming that it complied with safety regulations, and that the online version of the agreement passengers had to accept in order to buy tickets did not include complete details.

Among those details were a requirement that claims against the company had to be pursued in Genoa, Italy, where Costa Crociere is based.

"The nature of the conduct, being so outrageous and reckless, and the failure to provide for safety features, actually negates the contract ... it makes the ticket null and void," said Marc Jay Bern, a senior partner in one of the law firms that filed the suit, Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik and Associates.

The suit said the captain's abandonment of the ship before all the passengers were evacuated was "so outrageous in character and so extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency."

It asks for more than $78 million in compensatory damages and at least $450 million in punitive damages, plus interest and attorney costs.


DEADLINE EXTENDED

Costa, which blamed the captain for the accident, has offered passengers compensation of $14,500 plus a refund and costs of travel home.

It had originally given passengers until Tuesday to accept the offer, but extended the deadline to March 31 to allow them to review the proposal with less urgency. Costa said the offer was available only to passengers who had returned home.

"The families of deceased and missing victims and guests who were injured will be covered under a separate proposal based on their individual circumstances," the cruise line said.

The plaintiffs in the Miami lawsuit are from the United States, Italy, Venezuela, China, Canada, Germany, Korea and Kazakhstan. The lawsuit said the Florida court is the appropriate jurisdiction because the defendants engaged in business in the state.

"Only one cruise ship has gone down in over 100 years, the Titanic. Now the Costa Concordia will live in infamy with it," Bern said.

The original lawsuit asked for $10 million in compensatory damages and at least $450 million in punitive damages.

The case number is 12-3496CA 40, Geoffrey Scimone et al vs. Carnival Corp et al.

Comments

[nanaofmysky]

08:19 AM on 02/15/2012

GOOD!! I hope more join in and sue. The captain,crew and company should be held responsible for what happened. Even 1 life lost is to many. I really feel for these poor people. Even those who got off the ship unharmed are going to be affected for the rest of their lives. Families who lost loved ones,those who are still missing,I hope in time they find peace.

[KIVPossum]

02:07 AM on 02/15/2012

People that look at an accident as a time to cash are repulsive. For any that suffered an injury, or death, then sue big time. The one that only got wet and lost their luggage need to be thankful they are ok, take a check for the loss, and move on with their lives

[BlueJasmine]

03:23 AM on 02/15/2012

If you weren't there, don't judge. So far, it seems clear that the problems here were systemic, reaching much further up the corporate ladder than just the captain. Sometimes, unfortunately, the only way to get people/companies to pay attention is to hit them where it hurts--on the bottom line.

[KIVPossum]

03:37 AM on 02/15/2012

Does not matter what the problems were - I abhor people that look on every event as a paycheck.

[BlueJasmine]

08:24 PM on 02/14/2012

The attorneys need to be much better informed as to the facts they are claiming, or those passengers will get screwed again in court.

[BlueJasmine]

08:21 PM on 02/14/2012

Until now, I was willing to accept that this was an isolated incident. However, thanks to that unfortunate claim in the article that this was the only ship to sink in the last 100 years, I went online to see if that was true. The answer is no -- depending on what you want to consider as a cruise ship (should ferries be included?), many, many other ships have sunk in the last 100 years. What was REALLY startling was how frequently the captain and crew abandon ship as soon as or even before the abandon ship alarm is given. It seems that all to often the feeling is that once the abandon ship order is given, everyone gets off the ship, including captain and crew. There were also claims by the captains that they were "organizing the evacuation from their lifeboat" -- exactly what Schetinno claimed. Apparently passengers are operating under a completely different set of expectations and values than the crew. This has been very enlightening for me. I guess if you do cruise, you need to be prepared to act according to your own judgment, and not wait for anyone to tell you to go to your lifeboat. That's if you ever want to go on a cruise again.

[qwerty qwertyu]

06:45 PM on 02/14/2012

I'll never go on another cruise again. Not after this disastrous nightmare

[KIVPossum]

02:09 AM on 02/15/2012

Your drive to the ship is more dangerous than a cruise

[wmcclung]

06:15 PM on 02/14/2012

"Only one cruise ship has gone down in over 100 years, the Titanic. Now the Costa Concordia will live in infamy with it," Bern said.
The ignorance in this statement is breathtaking. Has he never heard of the Andrea Doria (among others)?

[Barbara DeZan]

11:39 PM on 02/15/2012

The Oceanus. Britannia, Lusitania, Yarmouth Castle, Wilhelm Gustlof,Carpathia, Edmund Fitzgerald, and that doesn;t include merchants, ferries or war ships.

[wmcclung]

12:33 PM on 02/16/2012

The Oceanus and Yarmouth Castle are excellent examples of cruise ship disasters entailing human error and bad behavior.The Edmund Fitzgerald was a freighter; the Wilhelm Gustlof, Lusitania, and Carpathia were torpedoed; and I'm not sure which "Britannia" is meant - one was a battleship. I would suggest that the lawyer also study the sinkings of the actual cruise ships Achille Lauro (1994), Prinsendam (1980), and the Andrea Doria as I mentioned (1956). The Andrea Doria was an ocean liner, not a cruise ship, but of course the same was true of the Titanic, and the distinction is of no importance in this matter.