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The widow of a man who allegedly died after contracting COVID-19 while on a Princess Cruise ship has filed a lawsuit in California court claiming the cruise line was negligent.
According to the widow, as well as her son who is also a plaintiff, the operator of the Princess Cruise ship where her husband contracted COVID-19 allowed passengers to board despite knowing that another passenger infected with the highly contagious disease had previously been on the boat.
The lawsuit claims that the operator, Carnival Cruises, was negligent in allowing her husband to board without any warning of the hazards present on the boat.
The plaintiff and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Wong, were scheduled to take a cruise on the Grand Princess, boarding Feb. 21, 2020, to celebrate Mr. Wong’s 64th birthday and their 34 years of marriage, according to the lawsuit.
However, on the day they were to start the cruise, more than 75,000 people had contracted COVID-19 and 2,000 people had died. The plaintiff says that she and her husband were unaware of the extent of the spread of the disease, along with most others at that point in time. Unbeknownst to the Wongs and other passengers, a prior passenger had reportedly been infected with the virus.
According to the complaint, their cruise was cut short as the virus spread. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wong allegedly tested positive for COVID-19. After returning to California to disembark, they were quarantined at an Air Force base where Mr. Wong began developing a cough and fever. Eventually, Mr. Wong was transferred to a hospital for treatment.
Mrs. Wong says she was forced to stay in a hotel that was more than an hour away from the hospital. As her husband’s condition worsened, she was not permitted to see him. Mr. Wong eventually died of complications from the virus on March 24, 2020.
“When Mr. and Mrs. Wong boarded the Grand Princess cruise ship in San Francisco, California on February 21, 2020, neither of them had any knowledge, notice, and/or warning that they were boarding a cruise ship armed with a super virus known to be highly contagious, kill at-risk populations quickly, and have no cure— COVID-19,” alleges the Carnival Cruise death lawsuit.
The operators of the Princess Cruise ship, along with its Chief Medical Officer, should have been aware “that a prior passenger on-board the vessel was infected with COVID-19 and had been experiencing severe respiratory symptoms for the past seven (7) days while traveling on the Grand Princess, resulting in the entire ship and crew being exposed to and potential carriers of the highly contagious and deathly virus, all immediately prior to the Grand Princess docking in San Francisco, California, to off-load some passengers and pick up others on February 21, 2020,” continues the complaint.
However, neither the plaintiff nor her husband were provided any warning of the hazard, claims the lawsuit. The cruise line allegedly did not test passengers or crew for coronavirus. Further, the Princess Cruise ship operators failed to implement any safety procedures or quarantine exposed passengers or crew, alleges the plaintiff.
According to the Carnival Cruise death lawsuit, once aboard, the cruise operators also failed to provide any precautionary protective equipment, like masks, and failed to appropriately “disinfect, decontaminate, and/or sanitize the exposed surfaces of the cruise ship prior to boarding.”
The plaintiff asserts that she and her husband were “completely, unknowingly, and inescapably exposed to the deathly virus,” because of the cruise line’s failure to act.
Additionally, the Carnival Cruise death lawsuit points out that many cruise ship passengers are particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus and more apt to suffer complications and death if they contract the disease.
The plaintiff says that the Princess Cruise ship operators knew this, but still failed to implement measures that would have protected her husband from his Carnival Cruise death.
According to the Princess Cruise ship lawsuit, Carnival Cruise and other operators put profit over the safety of their passengers. The complaint asserts that the “lion’s share” of profit for cruise companies comes from on-board purchases made by passengers.
“Creating an obvious financial incentive for the officers, directors, and/or managing agents of defendants to knowingly board passengers on a cruise ship armed with a deadly and highly contagious virus, despite having already secured the purchase price of each passenger’s ticket,” states the complaint.
In addition, she claims that she was subject to aggressive cancellation policies that made it extremely expensive to consider cancelling the trip in the weeks proceeding their cruise.
The plaintiff accuses Carnival Cruise and other operators of wrongful death and negligence for failing to warn and properly manage the coronavirus outbreak on their ship.
Do you think the operator is responsible for the Princess Cruise death? Tell us what you think in the comment section below!
The plaintiff and estate are represented by Nanci E. Nishimura, Alison E. Cordova, Andrew L. Kirtley, and Kelly W. Weil of Cotchett, Pire & McCarthy LLP and P. Terry Anderlini and Caroline A. Rietz of Anderlinei & McSweeney LLP.
The Princes Cruise Ship Coronavirus Death Lawsuit is Wong, et al. v. Carnival Corporation & PLC, et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-04727, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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