Celebrity Cruises has won its appeal of a personal injury lawsuit where a passenger tumbled and hit her head on the edge of a stage on the Celebrity Infinity.
Maritime law requires cruise lines to exercise "a duty of reasonable care" towards passengers but need not warn them of " open and obvious" dangers, the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit said in an unpublished decision.
Jonathan Heller, a lawyer representing Krug, and Darren Friedman, Celebrity's lawyer, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
On 16 January 2016, plaintiff Janet Krug, then 61 years old, was taking part in a music trivia game aboard the ship that required contestants to name song titles.
Toward the game's end, several passengers, including Krug, were tied for most points in the "Name That Tune" contest.
The organiser set up a tiebreaker requiring contestants to run to a microphone on the edge of a stage and then name the song.
As the crew member began to play the tie-breaker song, all of the contestants ran toward the microphone, causing several of them to run into each other and fall to the floor, court documents state.
Krug, who sought more than $75,000 in damages, also remembered thinking "I need to win this" as the song was her wedding song.
Krug fell forward, and her face and head struck the edge of the stage "with great force," resulting in severe physical injuries that included facial fractures, traumatic brain injury and a broken hand, according to court documents.
Her injuries, which also consisted of a back injury, orthodontic injuries and emotional and psychological distress, required her to be air-lifted to an on-shore hospital for immediate surgery.
She has undergone several surgeries since then and must sustain future procedures as a result of the accident, according to court documents.
Krug, however, takes hyrdrocodone for back pain over the past 20 years and had four back surgeries.
She is also unable to walk more than two blocks, stand longer than 15 minutes, run, jump or carry anything heavy, documents state.
Further, she had one or two cocktails and a couple sips of wine during an early lunch before the game, which she had played twice before on the two-week cruise.
Krug contended that the game organiser needed to warn her and the other contestants of any possible dangers but the appeals court held that all such risks were, again, "open and obvious," according to court papers.
"Here the defendant did not breach any duty to warn plaintiff because there were no hidden dangers in playing the tiebreaker game," documents stated.
