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A Costa Cruise coronavirus class action lawsuit should be dismissed, according to a recent motion by the cruise line in federal court.
Plaintiffs in the Costa Cruise class action claimed that 2,000 consumers were allowed to sail on a cruise ship which was essentially a “ticking coronavirus time bomb.” As a result, dozens of cases among Carnival Cruise passengers were allegedly recorded.
In a 31-page motion to dismiss, Carnival’s Costa Crociere SPA said the case should be tossed out, based on a ticket agreement accepted at the time of the cruise reservation. All members of the proposed Class allegedly agreed to the terms and conditions when they purchased Carnival Cruise tickets. The agreement reportedly bars consumers from bringing their claims on behalf of a Class.
According to Costa Cruise, these Class waiver agreements have been repeatedly enforced by courts – a precedent which the company says should apply to this case.
In addition to referencing the Class waiver agreement, the defendant argues that the case should be dismissed in full due to its insufficient and vague allegations.
Based on the complaint, it is allegedly unclear whether plaintiff Paul Turner contracted COVID-19, what his experience was, when his symptoms appeared, and other facts which Costa Cruise says is necessary to determine if the claims have standing.
“The complaint is vague, conclusory, inconsistent and lacks facts that would indicate whether plaintiff became ill from COVID-19 (as opposed to any other ‘virus’) or whether he claims injury from a ‘risk’ of exposure to COVID-19,” Costa Crociere concluded.
The company also argues that the plaintiff’s claims about misleading advertising should be dismissed. The claims are allegedly based on emails sent to plaintiffs after they had already purchased tickets for the cruise line, meaning the emails did not influence purchases, and the claim for misleading advertising fails.
Finally, the dismissal motion argues that Costa Cruise Lines Inc. should not be included in the case as a co-defendant because the company is the cruise line’s marketing and sales arm. As a result, their conduct allegedly does not pertain to the claims in the Costa Cruise class action lawsuit.
Turner filed his class action lawsuit in April, arguing that he and other consumers were not sufficiently warned that they could have contracted COVID-19, due to other passengers showing symptoms of the virus.
Before the 20-day Costa cruise left on March 5, the company was allegedly aware that a previous passenger on the Costa Luminosa had COVID-19 symptoms, which required them to get medical evaluation. Despite being aware of these facts, the cruise line allegedly chose to continue with their plans.
Later, after a passenger disembarked in Puerto Rico and showed COVID-19 symptoms, Costa Cruise allegedly took two full days to inform passengers of the incident. Although the passengers were told to isolate to their rooms after they were informed of the issue, the two-day waiting period allegedly resulted in increased risks of getting the virus.
Turner also noted that several ships also owned by Carnival Cruises had a similar issue – including the Diamond Princess and Grand Princess outbreaks in February.
“It would only stand to reason, that knowing of these prior traumatic outbreaks on two of its sister company’s vessels less than a month prior to the subject voyage on the Costa Luminosa, that Costa would have learned to take all necessary precautions to keep its passengers, crew and the general public safe,” Turner argues in his Costa Cruise class action lawsuit.
As a result of Costa Cruise’s alleged negligence, passengers were at a higher risk of developing COVID-19. Turner claims that the cruise line should have informed consumers of the risks. However, instead of doing this, Costa Cruise allegedly concealed the risks and even expressly assured passengers that the trip was safe despite the global pandemic.
“During the voyage, Costa concealed information surrounding the coronavirus from passengers by blocking out news channels on stateroom TVs that had previously been available to passengers during the beginning of the cruise,” Turner states in the Costa Cruise class action lawsuit.
Did you go on a cruise during COVID-19? Share your experiences in the comments section below.
Turner and the proposed Class are represented by Michael A. Winkleman, Jason R. Margulies, Marc E. Weiner and Daniel W. Grammes of Lipcon Margulies Alsina & Winkleman PA.
The Carnival Cruise COVID-19 Class Action Lawsuit is Paul Turner, et al. v. Costa Crociere SPA, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-21481, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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