Our client was a passenger aboard a major cruise ship that departed from the Port of Miami when she slipped on a wet floor on the ship's premium restaurant deck while walking from dinner to a nearby restroom. She had no warning of the hazard. There were no wet floor signs. She attempted to catch herself but her left ankle rolled and she fell, sustaining a fracture that required surgery. The ship's own doctor confirmed the fracture on board. She completed the cruise restricted to a wheelchair and crutches, then flew home to California where she underwent open reduction internal fixation surgery on her left ankle eleven days after the fall. Mausner Group pursued the cruise line under maritime law. The case settled for $250,000.
Maritime law requires cruise lines to exercise reasonable care for the safety of their passengers. A wet floor on a heavily trafficked passenger deck -- with no warning signs -- is a foreseeable danger that a cruise line has both the obligation and the means to prevent. Mausner Group documented the condition of the floor at the time of the fall and built the liability case around the cruise line's failure to maintain a safe walking surface. Cruise ship cases require specialized knowledge of maritime law and the tight notice and filing deadlines that cruise lines embed in their ticket contracts. Mausner Group handles maritime and cruise ship injury cases regularly.
