DOES A CRUISE LINE HAVE TO GIVE OVER AN ACCIDENT REPORT?

When a passenger is injured on a cruise ship, and it does not matter whether it is on a Carnival cruise ship, Royal Caribbean vessel, Norwegian Cruise Line vessel, etc. the cruise line begins “an investigation” aboard the vessel. Many times this involves taking statements from the injured passengers, from passenger witnesses, or from cruise line employees. It many times also entails checking to see if the injury incident was caught on ship’s video. The cruise lines want to do this as soon as possible and many times they are interviewing the injured person at the scene of the incident itself. This can include while the person is still in pain, the person may be dazed from the incident, or the passenger does not even know yet what happened. The cruise line will not give over the incident report. They will suggest the guest and family talk to “Guest Services”, but Security knows that is just a stalling tactic. Guest Services is not going to give over a copy of the incident report nor information from it. (e.g., name and contact information of other passengers who may have witnessed the incident)

Why do they not give over the accident report?  Two primary reasons. 1. That report can contain information which they would prefer not end up in the hands of the injured passenger if the cruise line can avoid it.  When you do not have this information it makes it more difficult to prove the cruise line was at fault. You have to file suit in most cases to obtain information critical to your case: photos, video, witness names, crewmember names, data on prior similar injuries, etc. 2. If there is video of the incident, many times the cruise line will want to take the injured person’s deposition in serious injury cases to try to establish inconsistencies in what the injured person says about the injury incident versus what the video actually shows.

A third reason the cruise lines do not give over a copy of an injury incident report is because they are not required to do so by law. Perhaps as recently as 15 years ago the courts required the cruise lines to turn over incident reports to injured passengers. However, the cruise lines recognized that if they issued a blanket directive from their legal departments to the vessels to investigate injury cases, interview passengers and witnesses, and take photographs on scene, and collect video, then—the legal theory goes—that information would constitute attorney/client work product. Such information is rarely obtainable from a Defendant except under very limited circumstances—and that almost always occurs only after suit is filed. All cruise lines now have this standing directive in place from their legal departments to “investigate” and save the data. This, the courts say, makes it attorney-client privileged material.

Conversely, typically, the cruise lines will give over to you a “Passenger Injury Statement”, also known as a “Guest Injury Statement”, and by other names. These are usually one-page questionnaires which are filled out by the injured passenger—or if they cannot complete the form they are sometimes filled out by another passenger in the injured person’s party (e.g., a spouse, relative, or friend), or by a security person on the vessel. Yes, the cruise lines do typically give over these passenger-completed injury statements. One caution on these Passenger Injury Statements: If you have to make an injury claim against the cruise line, anything in that Injury Statement can and will be used against you.  Careful when completing them. Also, know this: the cruise lines insert a question in those Guest Injury Statements suggesting you were at fault in the injury incident. Questions like, “What could I [the passenger] have done to avoid the incident?”, or “Was another passenger the cause of the incident?” or “Was it just an accident?” These carefully worded questions are designed to have a passenger place blame for the incident on anyone or anything other than the cruise line. There is no section in any cruise line’s Guest Injury Statement we have seen in 25 years that lays blame on the cruise line. Consider why that is the case that the cruise line gives you a form to complete when you have just been injured and they suggest everyone else is to blame and they are not.

One other important thing to note is that Security is not there to help you collect evidence FOR your claim; they are there to collect evidence AGAINST your claim. If you have had an injury incident, yes Security will help you get to the infirmary on the vessel. While you are in the infirmary, the Security personnel will be back at the scene of the incident taking photographs, pulling video, interviewing other passengers, interviewing employees, and pulling the passenger’s alcohol record. Against you. In the hundreds of cases we have handled against the cruise lines, we have also seen cases where if a defective condition caused an incident, the cruise line will try to repair it before the injured passenger can come back to the scene to try to figure out and document why they were injured.  Also, the infirmary will examine you and provide medical assistance, but they too are tasked with documenting why the passenger is at fault for the incident and the cruise line is not.  We see medical records very often misquoting what an injured person said to the medical personnel in the presence of other passengers who accompanied the injured passenger into the infirmary.  The infirmary will also try to require the injured passenger to take a breathalyzer, or will state in the records the passenger may have appeared intoxicated. That is not for medical treatment, but it is for the cruise line’s defense of the passenger’s injury.

SUMMARY:

1. The cruise lines do not give over Injury Incident Reports.
2. By law the cruise lines are not required to give over Incident Reports.
3. Cruise lines typically give over Guest Injury Statements completed by the passenger.
4. When you are injured on a cruise ship, the cruise line immediately begins to build a case against you being at fault and in their favor, and this includes:
   1. Collecting photographs and video against you.
   2. Collecting passenger, employee, and your statements by ship Security.
   3. Checking your alcohol purchases.
   4. Security and Medical personnel elicit statements helpful to the cruise line.
   5. Conducting repairs or remediation of the condition before you can document them.

When you need an attorney to battle the cruise lines it is important that you choose a maritime law firm—not a car accident specialist—who has gone against the cruise lines for more than 25 years. At www.888BoatLaw.com we have been fighting for our injured passenger clients against Carnival, Royal Caribbean,  Celebrity, Norwegian, Regent, Oceania, MSC, Princess, Margaritaville,  etc., for our deserving injured clients.  At www.888BoatLaw.com our clients are known by their names, not a number. Read our reviews. Do not trust your case to a law firm who sees a cruise injury case once ever five year. This is what we do every day.

WE ARE READY RIGHT NOW

TAMPA BAY AREA  727-399-2222

SUN CITY CENTER  813-999-2221

THE VILLAGES        352-633-6900

ALL OF FLORIDA    800-253-2531