Royal Caribbean Cruises has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a passenger who broke his ankle while skating on an ice rink aboard one of its ships.
In a 2 October verdict, a jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami awarded Edgardo Lebron $625,000 in pain and suffering resulting from the June 2016 mishap aboard the 138,194-dwt Voyager of the Seas (built 1999).
He was also given $42,006 for medical expenses, according to court documents.
Royal Caribbean was 65% negligent in the case while Lebron was 35% negligent, the verdict form shows.
Spencer Aronfeld, Lebron's lawyer with Miami's Aronfeld Trial Lawyers, said the case was "one of most challenging" passenger cases in 30 years because it involved the complexities of a skating rink.
"We're just grateful that Miami-Dade understood this case and that the jury was made up of very intelligent individuals who were able to parse through it," he told TradeWinds.
Darren Friedman, Royal Caribbean's lawyer with Foreman Friedman in Miami, said the cruise provider takes nothing more seriously than the safety of its guests.
"We are considering all post-trial options,” he told TradeWinds.
Royal Caribbean is investigating recent partying aboard the same vessel that involved 1,300 workers from an Indian tobacco company.
The company reportedly issued refunds to dozens of Australian passengers who complained of the disruptive partiers on the cruise that left from Sydney.
Court documents in the Lebron case say Royal Caribbean staff provided Lebron with ice skates that had short or broken laces on the right skate, rendering them faulty.
Further, the rink was not in "reasonably good condition" and the ship's movement was "unsteady" yet Lebron was never told to stop skating on the rink.
"The ice skating rink lacked adequate safety features to prevent plaintiff's fall," the suit states.
"The hazardous conditions were known and/or should have been known by the defendant [Royal Caribbean] ... These hazardous conditions were neither obvious or open to plaintiff."
Lebron alleged that the aforementioned conditions caused him to fall while skating, resulting in a broken right ankle that led to pain and grievous bodily injury.
In filing an 18-point affirmative defence, Royal Caribbean said Lebron should have noticed such "obvious or open" hazardous conditions himself and thus not skated on the rink.
The cruise major also said Lebron did not "exercise ordinary care, caution or prudence for his own welfare" to avoid the fall despite signing a written waiver of accidental liability.
