Carnival Cruise Line must pay US$300,000 to a former passenger after a federal judge in South Florida found the company was negligent in giving the woman at least 14 shots of tequila in the eight-and-a-half hours before she fell down a flight of stairs and suffered a possible brain injury.
A federal judge in Miami ruled in favor of Diana Sanders, a 45-year-old nurse from Vacaville, Calif, and awarded her $300,000 (about $411,315 CAD) in damages, according to the Miami Herald.
“This was a heavily defended case that could not, and should have, been resolved years ago,” Sanders’ attorney Spencer Aronfeld said in an email to Global News. “At trial, Diana took full responsibility for her drinking; Carnival refused to take any corporate responsibility for giving her 15 shots of tequila (between 15 and 30 ounces) over 8 hours.”
“This is the amount that Carnival literature admits can lead to unconsciousness or death. The human body can only process about one kilogram of alcohol per hour. Although Diana appeared to be drunk and very drunk, the servers continued to serve drink after drink after drink,” added Arnofeld.
Arnofeld said Sanders was “obviously drunk” and “badly drunk” as “servers kept serving drink after drink.”
“In the end, he passed out, fell down the stairs, was found unconscious in the staff area. He had a head injury, trauma and PTSD,” he continued. “He has no recollection of how he got there, and Carnival ‘failed to retain’ valuable CCTV footage of him from the time he left the bar until he was found 30 minutes later, five decks below.”
Arnofeld hopes the ruling will “encourage Carnival and all cruise lines to rethink and redesign their all-inclusive beverage packages, which we believe encourage both binge drinking and overconsumption of alcohol.”
A spokeswoman for the travel company told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it respectfully disputes the decision and believes there are grounds for a new trial and an appeal, which it plans to pursue.
According to the indictment, Sanders was a passenger on the Carnival Radiance on January 5, 2024, when he was served at least 14 tequila shots between 2:59 pm and 11:37 pm.
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Carnival Cruise Line’s Excitement! the drinks package limits guests to a maximum of 15 alcoholic drinks in a 24-hour period, starting at 6am.
Sanders fell between 11:45 p.m. and 12:20 a.m., causing disorientation, headaches, severe brain damage, back injuries, tail injuries, concussions and other injuries, according to the complaint.
The judge agreed with Sanders’ argument that Carnival crew members have a duty to care for the safety of its passengers, including “the responsibility … to direct and/or assist passengers on board whom Carnival knows, or should have known, that they are engaging in, or likely to be involved in, conduct that may be dangerous to themselves or others on board,” the Miami Herald reported.
When asked what percentage of Sanders’ injuries were caused by each side, the jury determined that 60 percent was Carnival’s fault, and 40 percent Sanders’s.
Aronfeld said jurors were given 30 minutes of missing surveillance video evidence from the time Sanders left the Casino’s bar until he was found unconscious in the staffed area.
Sanders’ lawyers also said that if he got too drunk on the ship, the bartenders at Carnival should have stopped serving him.
During the 17-month trial, Carnival tried to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Sanders “failed to identify any member of the party he was a fan of or which bar he drank alcohol in so that Carnival could identify his vendors,” according to court filings.
“Therefore, the excessive use of alcohol should be dismissed by failing to identify the negligent employee,” the documents added.
After the verdict, Aronfeld posted a TikTok video with Sanders, describing their experience during the trial and the trial.
“Waking up after the disappearance, I went to the staff asking for help and asking them to tell me what happened and it was very frustrating. They gave me conflicting information. They treated me like a criminal. I was very worried that they would not tell me exactly what happened to me,” said Sanders.
When the jury returned a verdict in favor of Sanders, he said it “felt amazing.”
Sanders’ attorney said “excessive use of alcohol charges are extremely difficult.”
“Passengers have a responsibility to drink responsibly. But cruise lines also have a responsibility to serve responsibly and when you serve someone who appears to be intoxicated, repeatedly drink after drink after drink, it can lead to disastrous results,” Aronfeld said.
Global News has contacted Carnival Cruise Line for further comment.
In a separate ongoing lawsuit, the fiancee of a man who died on a cruise ship filed a wrongful-death lawsuit last year against Royal Caribbean, alleging that it served him at least 33 alcoholic drinks and was responsible for his death after crew members pushed him to the ground and stood over him with all of his body weight.
Passenger Michael Virgil, 35, was arrested by security in December 2024 after allegedly assaulting crew members and threatening other passengers due to his intoxication while on board the Navigator of the Seas.
Allegations of the events leading up to his death say the ship’s crew “negligently” fed Virgil alcoholic beverages “for about an hour,” even though he was clearly intoxicated, according to court documents filed in Miami, where the cruise line is based, CBS News reported.
According to the lawsuit, he became angry after getting lost while trying to find his locker. He was confronted by security personnel who reportedly pushed him to the ground, lowering him with “their entire body weight.”
In video footage obtained by Fox, Virgil was seen trying to kick in the door of the room where the gang member was hiding, screaming, before being stopped by security.
At the captain’s request, Royal Caribbean staff injected Virgil with haloperidol, a medical-grade substance used to treat mental illness. Virgil was also pepper sprayed, the lawsuit said.
The father “ended up dying in the care of Royal Caribbean staff and crew,” it added.
In a statement released after the incident, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said the investigation was ongoing: “We are saddened by the passing of one of our guests. We support the family and are cooperating with the authorities in their investigation.”
– With files from Global News by Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press
