Rock Center
Six months after the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Italy, the massive cruise ship remains where it tipped over. Those who survived the crash have learned that the agreements they signed at the start of the cruise left Carnival Corporation, the owner of Costa Cruises, with very limited liability for the wreck.
While the family of a plane crash victim is usually offered between $2 and $5 million, those who lost someone in the Costa Concordia incident have been offered $75,000, said Attorney John Arthur Eaves who represents more than 100 Costa Concordia survivors. Of the 4,000 passengers, 30 people died in the incident.
Citing pending litigation, Carnival declined Rock Center's request for an interview.
Editor's Note: Harry Smith's full report airs Thursday, July 12 at 10pm/9c on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Leave a Comment:
Crew members are not at all surprized that Carnival's first response was to dangle money or discounted cruises in front of the victims. Cruise lines have been getting away with paying off or kicking off victims for years. Everything in this industry benefits the cruise lines and NOT the passengers or the crew. For them it is simple profits and P.R. vs prosecution.
I hate to say it though, But when you get on a ship in any aspect whether it is a cruise liner or a cargo ship you should expect the same limitations and dangers and consequences of what could happen if the worst were to strike; Its the same thing in the airline industry and the Bus industry and any industry where people are being moved around. Hence why they have insurers and the insurance also has insurance on top of that. You COULD die on a ship, You COULD be killed in an airplane. You assume the risks when you get on and you must be aware of this. Thats why you have these safety demonstrations and safety drills. If the people profiled on this report really wanted to make CHANGE why not attempt to have industry leaders and experienced mariners look at what went wrong during this crisis and make and suggest changes to the IMO and work from there. No, Instead they went on this cruise and had the worst happen and are expecting to get a huge settlement from the company. This is typical of our American Society today and we all need to start takinginto account our own choices and realize that life happens and that not everything needs to end up in a court room.
I am an attorney and represent a passenger on the Concordia. In addition to the limitiation of liability, passengers on this cruise can be hurt by not filing a proper written claim within 185 days which by my estimate is just a few days away on Monday, July 16, 2012.
Take a look at the Costa Ticket:
The very first section:
"The Carrier shall not be liable for any physical or emotional injury,
illness or death of a Passenger unless written notice of the claim with
full particulars is delivered to the Carrier or its duly authorized
agent within 185 days after the date of injury, illness or death."
This is also called a Presentment Requirement
It requires a passenger to send the details of the accident to the cruise.
While you covered the Venue Restrictions (Italy) you did not mention this requirement or the reduced statute of limitation (also on the ticket). Any discussion of the rights of passengers for this accident should mention all three.
John O'Connell