Who is Liable for Injuries that Occur on a Cruise Ship Shore Excursion?
Part of going on a cruise is enjoying all the shore excursions it has to offer. If you are hurt while participating in one of these activities, who is liable, the cruise ship or another party?
The cruise ship may be held liable for your injuries if our lawyers prove that it failed to select or vet the shore excursion company properly or should have known of dangers and failed to warn the passengers about them. Cruise ships might also be liable if they lead passengers to believe they operate an excursion when they do not and if they profit from the excursion and are involved to the degree that it becomes a joint venture.
If you or a loved one was injured in a shore excursion offered through a cruise ship company, contact the cruise ship accident lawyers of Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind for a free case assessment at (305) 204-5369.
When Are Cruise Ships Liable for Excursion Accident Injuries?
Often, despite being marketed to passengers by cruise ships, shore excursions are operated independently. Because of this, cruise lines are only liable for the injuries victims suffer during activities ashore under certain circumstances. To determine liability, our lawyers will likely investigate the history of the shore excursion company, the longevity of its relationship with the cruise ship company, and whether there were any prior problems with this company that the cruise company knew or should have known about.
Failure to Vet the Excursion Company
The cruise company has a duty to exercise reasonable care for the safety of its passengers. The law recognizes that this duty extends to places off the ship that companies take their passengers to. Cruise ship companies are in the business of taking passengers to ports all over the world and profiting from it. Through this, the cruise lines gain a lot of knowledge about the particular ports and shore excursion operators. A passenger on a cruise ship often relies upon the cruise ship company to direct them to reputable operators for their excursions at different ports and the cruise line makes money selling them the shore excursions. If those cruise ship companies fail to uphold their responsibilities and liabilities, passengers might suffer injuries.
For example, failure to properly vet an excursion company, say for a zip lining experience, yet promoting that company to passengers could create liability for the cruise ship, which should have researched the company and its potential history of accidents. If the zip-lining company has a history of faulty equipment leading to participants falling, and the cruise line doesn’t heed that history, you might have a cause of action.
Failure to Warn Passengers of Dangers
Cruise ships could also be liable for injuries passengers sustain during shore excursions if they fail to properly warn them of the potential dangers associated with the activity. Since the cruise ship is marketing these excursions and typically profiting from them, it has a duty to properly inform passengers of the risks they face by doing any number of popular shore excursions, such as horseback riding, zip lining, or rock climbing. The location of the excursion could create a risk of injury, and cruise lines should prepare passengers with the information they need to approach the activity safely and be well-informed.
Apparent Agency Over the Excursion
Cruise ship companies generally profit from selling tickets for shore excursions. In fact, it is a major source of revenue for them. They devote a lot of resources to developing the shore excursions and marketing them to the passengers. They might even market the excursions in such a way that misleads passengers into believing the cruise ship company is actually operating the activity. Then, when an incident happens, the cruise might claim the shore excursion company is an independent contractor for which they have no liability, leading victims to believe they cannot file lawsuits for compensation.
Fortunately, when a cruise ship’s marketing, promotions, and suggestions lead you to believe that a shore excursion is run by the cruise line itself, not a separate third party, it might be held liable because of apparent agency. Proving this will require evidence of the cruise’s marketing tactics regarding specific excursions.
Joint Venture Between the Cruise and Excursion Company
When cruise ship companies profit from the sale of these shore excursions and share some of the responsibilities associated with running them, the activities could be seen as joint ventures, creating liability in the event of an injury.
Generally speaking, the law has found that companies operating shore excursions are independent of the cruise lines promoting them and do not impute the negligence of the excursion company to the cruise ship company. In other words, even if the cruise line recommended the port excursion company, sold you the excursion ticket, and profited from the sale of the ticket, it could be hard to hold the cruise line liable directly.
However, further investigation may show that the cruise line’s involvement with the shore excursion company reached the level of a joint venture. So, in addition to profiting from ticket sales and suggesting specific excursions, the cruise was directly involved in some of the decision-making regarding the excursion experience itself.
When Aren’t Cruise Ships Liable for Shore Excursions?
Cruise ship companies might not be liable for all shore excursions. They often want to distance themselves from excursion companies when it comes to liability for accidents, so they might put in their brochures and passenger tickets that the operators are independent contractors. They do this so victims cannot argue liability under apparent agency or joint venture, as the normal rule is that a company is not liable for the negligence of an independent contractor it hires or refers someone to.
Clarifying the shore excursion company as an independent contractor and separate from the cruise line and warning passengers of potential dangers typically absolves cruise lines of liability for shore excursions they do not operate. In these situations, victims may have compensation claims against the negligent excursion company for an injury, not the cruise line.
Common Cruise Ship Shore Excursion Accidents and Injuries
Passengers could suffer injuries in many types of accidents during shore excursions, though some of the most common include transportation accidents, drowning incidents, and intentional assaults. Regardless of how you were hurt, our cruise ship accident lawyers can review your case to determine who you can hold liable.
Transportation Accidents
When traveling to and from excursions, passengers may take buses or other transportation affiliated with the company offering an activity. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to hear of passengers on cruise ships injured during accidents involving transportation to and from excursion sites, whether involving a bus, boat, or another type of vehicle.
In fact, in November of 2016, a British passenger on the Azura owned by P&O Cruises died, and nine others were injured in a tragic bus crash during a shore excursion in Dominica, a Caribbean island. The bus was on its way back from a tourist attraction when the accident happened. In these types of situations, it would matter whether or not the bus operator was employed by the cruise line or the shore excursion company and if the activity was a joint venture with the cruise because of its involvement.
Drowning Accidents
Many shore excursions from cruise ships are somewhat water-based. Whether that entails snorkeling, kayaking, or hiking to waterfalls, there is the risk of drowning. Failure to give passengers the proper personal flotation devices or safety instructions during water-based activities could lead to serious and potentially fatal drowning accidents. Our Miami drowning death attorneys can help you determine liability if your loved one was injured or killed during an accident, reviewing the cruise’s marketing and relationship with the excursion company to determine if it can be held at fault.
Intentional Assaults
Unfortunately, a top cause of injury among cruise passengers, whether on the ship or during an excursion, is intentional assaults. These acts might be committed by those running the excursion, and, depending on the ship’s relationship with the operator and what you were led to believe, could create liability for the cruise ship itself. The cruise could also be legally responsible for covering your damages if you were assaulted because the crew suggested the excursion failed to warn you that the particular area where the activity was being held was dangerous, especially to non-residents.
Call Our Cruise Ship Shore Excursion Accident Lawyers Today
Call the cruise ship accident lawyers of Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind for a free case assessment at (305) 204-5369.
