Jury Awards $4 Million To Disney Cruise Line Worker

PORT CANAVERAL (CBSMiami/AP) — A Disney Cruise Line worker was awarded $4 million by a jury after she claimed that she got inadequate medical care from ship doctors after she was hit by a car during a port of call.

The Brevard County jury ordered the cruise line to pay Maria Ana Reis Martins $2 million for lost earnings, $1 million for pain and suffering, and $1 million for punishment.

It is the first time that Disney Cruise Line has lost a personal injury case involving a ship worker in a jury trial, said Julio Ayala, Martins' attorney.

According to Martins' complaint, a car hit her when she was ashore in the Bahamas in 2013. The ship's medical team failed to diagnose three broken ribs and said she was fit for work in her job as a dining room server.

A doctor in Florida later found that she had broken the ribs, and she was sent back to her native Portugal for five months for treatment. She returned to work in 2014 but had to leave a month later due to nerve damage, the lawsuit said.

The jury assigned 70% of negligence associated with Martins' injury to the company and 30% to her.