Can Employees Sue a Cruise Company if They Were Forced to Stay on Ship During Coronavirus?
Cruise ship employees have been put in awkward situations during the coronavirus pandemic. Many of them may fear for their own health and safety, but their jobs require them to stay on a cruise ship where the chance of getting the coronavirus is quite high. Right now, many cruise workers are still stuck on cruise ships in quarantine, and many might be entitled to compensation for harms and illnesses they’ve suffered because of decisions to keep them on the ship. Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind’s attorneys for cruise ship workers stuck on cruise ships during the coronavirus explain how you might be able to sue for injuries, illness, and unsafe conditions if you were forced to stay on a cruise ship during the coronavirus pandemic.
Can Cruise Workers Sue for Being Kept on the Ship During COVID-19?
If you were on a cruise ship at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, you might have already been exposed to coronavirus and sent home sick. If you were exposed because of negligent or unsafe conditions on the ship, you might be entitled to sue a cruise ship company for coronavirus. Similarly, cruise ship workers injured at work or made ill from the coronavirus are usually entitled to necessary medical care to treat their injuries and illness. If you were kept on a ship while it was at dock even though you needed medical care at a hospital, you might be entitled to sue the cruise ship company as well. Our attorneys represent COVID-19 patients who were kept on cruise ships instead of being released for treatment.
However, another issue that cruise workers are facing today is injury and illness from unsafe conditions as they are still being kept on cruise ships. Some reports say that over 90,000 cruise ship workers are still at sea as of the writing of this article, with many still in quarantine. Some of these workers are having trouble getting home because of complications with international law. However, as long as these workers are still on the ship, the cruise ship company they work for is responsible for the conditions on board and for their safety.
If the conditions in your on-ship quarantine become unsanitary because the ship operators failed to provide proper cleaning and sanitation, you could be seriously injured. Similarly, cruise operators must provide food and clean drinking water to the crew on the ship, and failing to do so could be a breach of those reasonable duties. Lastly, the cruise ship must ensure that the premises are safe, and failing to do so could open them to liability for cruise ship slip and falls and other cruise ship injury cases.
Many cruise ship workers are also facing serious mental harm from isolation. Some cruise ships are reportedly keeping their workers in their cabins for 21 hours each day, which is essentially solitary confinement. Even when passengers are let out, social distancing requirements might mean that they cannot interact socially, and potentially unsafe conditions could still put them at risk of contracting COVID-19 when not in isolation. This has driven many cruise workers to thoughts of self-harm. If a loved one died by apparent suicide while working on a cruise ship during the coronavirus pandemic, you might be able to sue for unsafe conditions that allowed them to die.
The specifics of your case will dictate whether or not you can file a lawsuit for your injuries or illness or for the death of a loved one in quarantine on a cruise ship. On some ships, everyone is doing their best and taking reasonable steps to get their workers home safely. However, unreasonable mistakes in planning and administration on other ships could be responsible for your continued isolation, your safety risks, and the inhumane conditions you now face. In those cases, the cruise ship company might be responsible for your injuries.
Damages for Injured Cruise Workers Suing for Being Stuck on a Cruise Ship During Coronavirus
If you do file a lawsuit against a cruise company for being stuck on board during the coronavirus pandemic, you might be entitled to monetary damages. The amount of damages you can claim will vary depending on the specific damages you suffered. If you contracted COVID-19 and required hospitalization and treatment with a ventilator, you could have faced serious pain and suffering as well as expensive medical bills. If you lost a loved one who was stuck on a cruise ship or died from coronavirus on a cruise ship, you could be entitled to even more substantial damages.
Our attorneys for Royal Caribbean employees stuck at sea during COVID will work to calculate the full cost of the damages in your case. We usually begin by looking at the economic damage you faced. As many people are out of work because of coronavirus, it might be difficult to claim lost wages were caused by the ship’s conditions. However, economic damages from medical expenses, expensive travel costs to get off the ship after negligent quarantine, or other expenses brought on by the cruise ship’s mistakes could be compensated.
You can also seek compensation for the physical pain and discomfort and the mental and emotional suffering of being stuck on a cruise ship during quarantine. This could include serious damages based on your personal testimony about how the negligent quarantine conditions affected your mental and physical health.
Call Our Coronavirus Cruise Ship Injury and Illness Lawyer for a Free Case Consultation
The cruise ship accident lawyers at Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind represent victims of injuries on a cruise ship, and we represent cruise ship workers who were hurt by negligent conditions on their ship. If you or a loved one worked on a cruise ship during the coronavirus pandemic, you may have found yourself stuck on the ship facing worsening conditions. Our attorneys might be able to file a lawsuit against the cruise company and work to get you compensation for the harm you suffered. We can also file wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of family members. For a free case consultation, contact our lawyers for Diamond Princess employees stuck at sea during coronavirus at (866) 386-1762.
