Lawsuit seeks class action status against Carnival after nightmare cruise

People watch from their balconies and hold up signs aboard the Carnival Triumph after it was towed to the cruise terminal in Mobile, Ala., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. The ship with more than 4,200 passengers and crew members has been idled for nearly a week in the Gulf of Mexico following an engine room fire. (AP Photo/AL.com, Mike Brantley) / AP Photo/AL.com, Mike Brantley

MIAMI A couple is hoping to obtain class-action status for a lawsuit they've filed against Carnival Cruise Lines following an engine-room fire that stranded a ship for days in the Gulf of Mexico.

The suit filed Monday by Matt and Melissa Crusan of Oklahoma seeks to represent the more than 3,000 passengers who were on the Carnival Triumph when the fire broke out on Feb. 10.

23 Photos

Aboard the Carnival Triumph cruise ship

A judge must approve the motion to grant class-action status. Carnival requires all lawsuits to be filed in Miami, where the liner is based.

Texas resident Cassie Terry was the first to sue the company, filing a lawsuit less than 24 hours after the boat docked.

Maritime attorneys say it's difficult to win such cases unless the plaintiffs can show actual injury or illness.

Carnival has said it won't comment on Triumph lawsuits.

[Donnie_G]

Carnival Cruise Lines could make out like a bandit if they started offering "reality based disaster cruises" as a regular part of a vacation package. Disney Studios could definitely make this work.

[Krowster]

Well, there goes part of the exec Christmas bonuses, which is just about one weeks pay for some of them. Dahhh.

[saturn05]

It was an accident for gods sakes. Was it negligence or something? I sure would not have wanted to be there, but suing them, come on.

[MrEthiopian]

Apparently you have not done your homework prior to commenting, because it was clearly negligence, I would say criminal negligence if you read the history of this ship. The ship in question has had multiple document problems with its generators and propulsion, the ship has also had fires in the same location, but the true problem is that Carnival books cruses back to back. In one brief I read it stated that the cruse ended with engine trouble, original passengers disembarked and with-in hour the ship was filled with new passengers and on its way out to sea. It appears that Carnival is more concerned with getting the customers money and getting out of port and much less concerned with properly fixing the ship and making it sea worthy.

If its true that Carnival is not maintaining and fixing documented problems before leaving port, that would put every passengers life in danger and hence be criminal negligence.

Carnival fully understood that the Triumph had mechanical problems when they left port, they took the gamble that they had many times prior, though this time that problem caused a catastrophic problem.

Criminal negligence and its time Carnival pays for all the past ruined vacations that this negligence caused.

MrEthiopian

[jgg000010]

how do you assess damages for spending 5 days adrift at sea in crap up to your ankles?

[ballwyllo]

Poppycock!