Can You Sue a Cruise Line for Mental Distress?
Physical injuries from cruise ship accidents often cause intangible damages like emotional distress, and you can seek compensation for those damages and more when you file a lawsuit against a liable cruise line with our lawyers’ help.
If a cruise line is liable for your injuries, you can sue for any mental distress, economic damages, and other losses you incur as a result. Passengers have one year to sue for any damages, and can’t get compensation if they miss the deadline. You can sue for mental distress due to negligence, recklessness, or intentional conduct.
For a free case review from our cruise ship injury attorneys, call Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind now at (305) 204-5369.
Can I Sue a Cruise Line for Mental Distress?
You may sue a liable cruise line for any damages you incur, including non-economic damages for mental distress and other intangible losses. When suing for mental distress, it’s important to calculate non-economic damages accurately. Otherwise, you might not get as much as you deserve.
Mental distress, physical pain, mental suffering, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, embarrassment, and lowered quality of life are all recoverable non-economic damages in a personal injury lawsuit against a cruise line.
Mental distress and other intangible damages don’t come with price tags but are inherently subjective. So, when suing a cruise line for mental distress, victims must be candid with their lawyers about their pain and suffering so we can make accurate calculations.
There’s no limit on how much you can sue a cruise line for mental distress and other non-economic damages.
Why Can I Sue a Cruise Line for Mental Distress?
You can sue a cruise line for mental distress if your damages are due to negligence, recklessness, or intentional acts.
Negligence
You may sue a cruise line for damages due to negligence. Failure to provide adequate security at cruise ship entrances and exits, failure to keep decks dry, and other acts of negligence by crew make the cruise ship liable for all losses, including mental distress and pain and suffering.
Recklessness
You may also sue after an injury due to recklessness and egregious misconduct, such as a crew member continuing to serve alcohol to a visibly intoxicated passenger who fell overboard or keeping a crew member who assaulted passengers on staff after a reported incident.
Intentional Acts
Intentional assaults are relatively common on cruises, and the cruise line might be liable for all damages, including those from mental distress, if a crew member intentionally physically or sexually assaults you while on board.
What Are the Challenges of Suing a Cruise Line for Mental Distress?
Our attorneys can help you overcome all the challenges of successfully suing a cruise line for mental distress, from dealing with contractual limitations to proving liability and damages.
Overcoming Contractual Limitations
In passenger tickets, cruise lines can select a venue for all lawsuits and require a notice of claim within 6 months of the injury; otherwise, passengers are barred from recovering for any damages, including mental distress.
Proving Liability
We must prove that the cruise line or a crew member’s actions directly caused your damages, economic and non-economic alike. Your testimony and eyewitness statements can be among the strongest evidence linking the defendant’s negligence to your losses, both tangible and intangible.
Tallying Your Damages
Plaintiffs must also prove their non-economic damages to recover them from a cruise line. We can quantify mental distress, physical pain, and other intangible damages after having in-depth discussions with you about these losses, which victims often undervalue. We may also rely on mental health experts to help quantify pain and suffering.
FAQs About Suing a Cruise Line for Mental Distress
Can You Sue a Cruise Line for Other Non-Economic Damages?
In addition to mental distress, you can sue a cruise line for any non-economic damages related to an injury, such as physical pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, lowered quality of life, inability to engage in activities you once enjoyed, and more.
How Long Do You Have to Sue a Cruise Line for Mental Distress?
You most likely have one year to sue a cruise line for mental distress and other damages, which is a shorter statute of limitations than victims often anticipate for personal injury claims.
How Much Can You Recover by Suing a Cruise Line for Mental Distress?
There’s no limit on passengers’ recoveries of non-economic damages in cruise ship injury lawsuits, and we can fight for full and fair compensation on your behalf.
Do You Need to Testify if You Sue a Cruise Line for Mental Distress?
You may have to testify about your mental distress and other non-economic damages if your lawsuit against a cruise line goes to trial, which may or may not happen.
Can You Get Compensation for Mental Distress by Settling a Cruise Ship Injury Lawsuit?
You can get compensation for mental distress, pain and suffering, and other non-economic harms by settling, but this usually takes some time and staunch negotiation tactics from our cruise ship injury attorneys.
What Evidence Proves Mental Distress from a Cruise Ship Injury?
To prove your mental distress comes from a cruise ship accident and injury, our lawyers may have you testify during a lawsuit. We may also suggest you document your pain and suffering in a journal and that you speak with mental health experts, therapists who can testify as experts during a lawsuit.
Do You Need a Lawyer to Sue a Cruise Line for Mental Distress?
If you try to sue a cruise line without an experienced attorney’s help, you risk underestimating your damages from mental distress, settling your case too quickly and for too little, and not sufficiently proving pain and suffering during a trial.
Contact Our Attorneys for Help with a Cruise Ship Accident Claim
Call the cruise ship injury attorneys of Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind at (305) 204-5369 for a free case evaluation today.
