Injured on a Regent Seven Seas Cruise Ship?

With weights of roughly 45,000 tons and passenger capacities under 1,000, Regent Seven Seas vessels like the Seven Seas Voyager and Seven Seas Navigator are considerably smaller than some other cruise liners. So, instead of a wide range of activities, these ships focus on luxury. Although the industry is much safer today than it was in the days of Titanic, Lusitania, and other opulent cruise ships, there is still a temptation to take design shortcuts. For example, engineers might make hallways a bit narrower so state rooms can be a bit larger.

At Gerson & Schwartz, PA, our attorneys have prioritized cruise ship injuries throughout their 80 years of combined experience, so they know what it takes to build a winning case. Much the same thing is true today as when we first started: hard work wins cases. That is why we promise to give our clients our best effort every day we come to work, whether we will be advocating in court, reviewing evidence, or negotiating with the owner or insurance company.

Regent Seven Seas is basically a subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Lines, so the choice-of-law provision buried in the ticket fine print usually designates the federal court in Miami as the place where disputes are heard. Individuals may challenge this designation, bust such challenges generally fail.

The choice-of-law clause is significant, because Florida law generally has a one-year statute of limitations in these matters; moreover, many cruise ship lines require victims to provide written notice of their claims within six months after the injury.

In addition to the statute of limitations, some other federal, state, and international laws often apply, including:

• Shipping Act: This federal law creates a very strict duty of care. Ocean-going vessels must safely deliver their passengers to their destinations, and protect them against both outside threats, like armed pirates, and shipboard dangers, like unsafe conditions.

• International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea: Most safety-related categories, including vessel integrity, fire safety, and lifesaving equipment, fall under SOLAS’s purview.

Additionally, Florida law sometimes extends law enforcement’s jurisdiction to cruise ships and a related federal statute does much the same thing.

Under Florida law, the landowner is legally responsible for unintentional torts if a breach of a legal duty caused injury. Falls, that are sometimes caused by a wet spot on the floor or a loose stairway railing, are among the most common unintentional torts that occur on cruise ships. Florida law also holds landowners responsible for intentional torts, like assaults and robberies, if the tort was a foreseeable consequence of the passenger’s presence on board the ship.

In both these cases, victims are usually entitled to compensation for both their economic damages, such as hospital bills, and noneconomic damages, including emotional distress. Punitive damages are also available, in some instances.

Victims who were injured aboard a Regent Seven Seas cruise ship are often entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an aggressive personal injury lawyer in Miami, contact Gerson & Schwartz, PA. We do not charge upfront legal fees in personal injury cases.