A second couple has filed suit against Princess Cruises over possible coronavirus exposure.
Steven and Tryphena Kurivial of Ohio sued the Carnival Corp subsidiary on Thursday in a federal court in Los Angeles, accusing Princess of negligence in sailing the 107,500-gt Grand Princess (built 1998) after a coronavirus outbreak on board and the long-term quarantine of the 115,900-gt Diamond Princess (built 2004).
The two are demanding more than $1m in damages.
The Kurivials' lawsuit is almost entirely the same as the one filed on Monday by Ronald and Eva Weissberger, who also demanded at least $1m.
Both lawsuits allege Princess should not have allowed the Grand Princess to sail on 21 February after two passengers on a previous voyage were discovered to have coronavirus, one of whom died.
The cruiseship was set to visit Hawaii and Mexico, but only made it as far as Hawaii before cutting the voyage short and returning to San Francisco. It was held offshore there for five days before being allowed to dock at the Port of Oakland on Monday.
'No one tested until 5 March'
Both complaints allege that the only preventative measure Princess took was to have passengers fill out a form, despite 62 passengers on board the 21 February sailing from the previous infected trip.
They said no one was tested until 5 March, when the ship arrived in the waters off California.
The Kurivials' lawsuit added that a crew member deserted the Grand Princess when it called at Hawaii. If the couple had known, the complaint said, they would have left there, or never boarded.
The Grand Princess' aborted sailing followed Diamond Princess' issues in Japan, where Covid-19 was discovered on board and quickly spread to 700 passengers and crew members. Seven died and passengers had to be flown back to their home countries for treatment.
The second lawsuit came on the same day Princess announced it was suspending operations for 60 days until 10 May.
The company said the move came out of "an abundance of caution" and was voluntary.
Princess did not immediately return a request for comment on the Kurivials' case. The company said on Monday in response to the Weissbergers lawsuit that it was sensitive to the difficulties the virus had caused guests and crew.
Both couples are represented by Burbank, California-based attorney Michael Simmrin.
