Slip and Fall Accidents on Cruise Ships

Cruise ship slip and fall accidents are one of the most ways passengers and crew members are injured on cruise ships. Slippery deck surfaces, wear and tear, wet and foreign substances, cleaning and poor routine ship maintenance are all reasons why they can happen. Spilled drinks, wet or foreign substances, loose flooring, and even water tracked in by guests using swimming pools are also common reasons passenger can sustain serious injuries. At Gerson & Schwartz PA, our law firm specializes in cruise ship slip and fall accidents. Our cruise ship injury attorneys have a great deal of experience assisting passenger and crew members in a slip & fall accident. We know the questions to ask, and where to find the answers too. We have the experience and expertise to combat the cruise line companies for their negligence and hold them accountable in the court room.

Our cruise ship injury lawyers conduct regular vessel inspections and retain leading experts as part of our commitment to our clients in order to check for defective and dangerous conditions that may result in a cruise ship slip and fall. Cruise ship operators and other marine going vessel surfaces must provide adequate slip resistance on deck surfaces both in wet and dry conditions.

In order to assist injury victims, we retain leading experts in engineering, biomechanical experts, ship design, structural engineering, and other leading experts in the marine industry to evaluate floors, decks, and other walkway surfaces.

If you or a loved one sustain a serious injury on a cruise ship, our firm may even conduct a vessel inspection so we can evaluate test and inspect the area where the accident occurred.

Are Cruise Ship Slip And Fall Accidents Common?

Yes. A cruise ship has not only the sorts of slip and fall hazards that people encounter on shore or other land based environments but they also have a number of potential other safety hazards that are inherent to a marine environment. This includes corrosion from salt water, sea spray, and water tracked into high traffic areas from pool areas. Cruise ship accidents occur just as they do on land. Spilled drinks, wet or foreign substances, and food in restaurants, loose flooring, and water tracked in by guests using the swimming pools, even dim lighting in stairwells and hallways are also common. But cruise ship slip & falls can often due dangerous surfaces due to the limited selection of deck and flooring materials that appear to be wood and other surfaces used on land. Other cruise ship and maritime related slip, trip and fall accidents specific to cruise ships may be due to foreign objects that are blown over due to wind, or ship equipment that is not properly maintained or properly secured.

What To Do If You Are Injured In A Slip And Fall On A Cruise Ship

If you are seriously injured on a cruise ship, you need experienced legal help. What many cruise ship injury victims don't realize are the great lengths that cruise ship operators have undertaken to shield themselves from legal claims. Forum selection clauses, requiring injury victims to file legal claims in certain jurisdictions, choice of law provisions, waivers, requiring passengers to sign a passenger injury statement, and many other nuances in the cruise ship investigative policies and procedures are all aimed to make it more difficult for injury victims obtain fair compensation.

What Must I Prove In Order To Win A Slip And Fall Accident On Cruise Ship?

Under federal maritime law, cruise line operators owe a legal duty of reasonable care. Like businesses ashore, cruise line operators and employees are legally responsible for keeping their decks, floor surfaces and other common areas on the vessel in a reasonably safe condition. The legal standard of reasonable care under the circumstances not always not easy to delineate. How and what constitutes reasonable care is dependent on a number of factors. Knowledge of a risk creating or dangerous condition on a cruise ship is usually required under maritime time law. Other factors to consider in any cruise ship fall accident is the number of prior incidents or the numbers of times a slip and fall accident has occurred. We also look to see what the cruise line operators knowledge of potential dangers and whether a cruise line had reason to know of a hidden danger and what the cruise line did or failed to about in light of their knowledge.

In some cases, our lawyers have established the existence of numerous slip and fall accidents giving rise to claims for punitive damages.

High traffic areas must be free of dangers and safety hazards the cruise line either knew or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known. Cruise line companies may also be responsible for slip, trip and fall accidents due to potential hazards they create. Dangerous conditions can include a slippery surface fall due to routine cleaning by cruise ship personnel and a failure to warn of the slippery dangerous or failing to undertake reasonable safety precautions.

Under the law, cruise line operators also owe a legal duty to warn customers about known dangers they should have known. The legal duty to warn does not just apply to wet or foreign substances but to any danger that the cruise line knew or should have known of in the exercise of reasonable care under the circumstances. Examples of inadequate warnings may include the negligent failure to use a caution or wet floors sign, during routine cleaning or maintenance, or failing to mark off an area that has just been cleaned.

If the cruise line creates a dangerous condition or fails to take reasonable safety and security measures they are responsible for all injuries and harms they have caused. If an accident was a result of the negligence of the cruise ship or its employees, such as creating dangerous condition or fail to take adequate safety measures, you may be able to recover financial compensation for your injuries.

Common Injuries

The average age of a cruise ship passenger is over 50 years old, and because of this, even what seems like a minor accident can cause serious injuries with long term medical complications and financial repercussions. Some of the common injuries resulting from a cruise ship slip and fall that our firm handles include:

• Orthopedic Injuries
• Injuries to hands, wrists, or knees
• Concussions and Head Injuries
• Back and Spinal Cord Injuries
• Lacerations and Contusions

Complex Litigation Requiring Experienced Attorneys

Litigating against cruise ship companies is a difficult process that requires an experienced cruise ship attorney. Most cruise line passenger ticket contracts exclusively require litigation against the company be brought in certain courts, predominantly in Florida federal courts. Over time, various judicial rulings have created an environment that is very favorable to the defending companies. Cruise line operators also typically put clauses in their ticketing contracts that limit the time people have to notify of the company of their intent to file a legal claim and the time in which they may sue over a personal injury claim in order to potentially bar injury victim's rights to recover against them for their negligence.

Gerson & Schwartz P.A., Your Cruise Ship Slip And Fall Experts At the Miami, Florida personal injury law offices of Gerson & Schwartz P.A., our expert legal staff has over 45 years of experience helping slip and fall accident victims both on land and sea recover for their injuries. We can help you too. We are located in Miami, Florida near both the Port of Miami and Port Everglades, and have a proven track record of recovering for cruise ship slip and falls, maritime accidents and other cruise ship injuries. Contact us today to discuss your cruise ship slip and fall claim, and see how we can help.