Lawsuit Filed Against Norwegian Cruises After Teen Is Injured On Go Kart

A teen and her family have filed a lawsuit against Norwegian Cruises after the teen lost control of her go cart, according to a recent filing in federal court. According to the lawsuit, the teen suffered multiple injuries including whiplash. She has also possibly sustained injuries like traumatic brain injury (TBI), neurological injuries, and other orthopedic injuries.

Cruise ships routinely offer attractions like go carts, waterslides, roller coasters, and more. However, the risk of operating these attractions aboard a moving vessel is often greater than the risk of operating the attractions on shore. Further, the only entity responsible for ensuring the safety of these attractions is the cruise line itself.

What makes matters difficult for plaintiffs is that they’re required to sign waivers in the event of injury. An attorney representing the family is prepared to argue that the waivers are unenforceable. Still, their lawsuit will face an uphill battle. The court may rule that the waiver is enforceable and that the plaintiff signed away her right to sue if she was injured. In some cases, however, such waivers are unenforceable. Below, we’ll take a look at some of the factors at play in a lawsuit like this.

Waivers signed by passengers 

The waivers signed by passengers generally prohibit certain types of lawsuits from being filed in certain cases. However, pursuant to the rules of federal courts, a cruise line cannot limit its liability for its own carelessness or negligence. Waivers may not completely prevent a lawsuit from being filed, but they can be presented to the jury as evidence that the cruise line attempted to warn the passenger of potential dangers. Norwegian Cruises will attempt to pin the blame for the plaintiff’s injuries on her own failure to maintain control of the go cart. Meanwhile, the plaintiff will attempt to claim that 1) Norwegian Cruises failed to inspect the go cart and the go cart was defective in some way, 2) that the attraction was intrinsically dangerous and several passengers suffered injury or nearly suffered injury from go kart failures, or 3) Norwegian Cruises failed to remedy a dangerous condition on the track that led to the injury.

Duty of care 

Norwegian Cruises often contracts with companies that operate excursions. Sometimes, they can be sued for an injury that occurs during an excursion, but they attempt to limit their liability by making the excursion company responsible. In the case of attractions, like go cart tracks, Norwegian is likely solely responsible for the go carts and the tracks. While the plaintiff could file a lawsuit against the company that manufactured the go cart, Norwegian would have a duty of care to ensure that all the go carts were functioning, the track was clean, and go karting aboard a vessel was not intrinsically dangerous.

Talk to a Florida Cruise Ship Injury Attorney Today 

The Florida personal injury attorneys at Halpern, Santos & Pinkert represent the interests of those who are injured aboard cruise ships. Call our office today to schedule a free consultation and we can begin discussing your injuries in more detail.

Source:

sun-sentinel.com/2023/03/30/norwegian-cruise-line-sued-over-teenagers-go-cart-injury/