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Cruise ship at sea, an original illustration

Eleventh Circuit Revives a Cruise Passenger's Injury Case

A cruise line's word is not enough to throw out a case at the starting line.

By Josef Timlichman, Attorney

The case

A passenger was hurt in a slip and fall on board a cruise ship and filed suit. The cruise line moved to dismiss, arguing the lawsuit was filed too late under the one-year deadline in its passenger ticket contract. The trial court agreed and dismissed the case. We appealed.

The ruling

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the dismissal and sent the case back to the trial court.

Why it matters

At the start of a lawsuit, the court must accept the facts in the complaint as true. The cruise line asked the court to throw the case out based on its ticket contract and its own report saying the passenger received the ticket terms before boarding. The Eleventh Circuit held that the trial court should not have relied on those cruise line documents to dismiss the case at that stage. It also held that a time limit in a ticket contract is a defense the cruise line has to prove. A passenger does not have to disprove it in the complaint, and a case can be dismissed as late only when that is clear from the face of the complaint. Whether a ticket's time limit is even enforceable depends on whether it was reasonably communicated to the passenger, and that turns on facts outside the ticket itself. The passenger never had the chance to present that evidence. In plain terms: the cruise line's say-so was not enough.

What happened next

After the appeal, the case returned to the trial court and later settled.

What this means if you were hurt on a cruise

Cruise lines often move quickly to get cases thrown out on ticket deadlines and other technical defenses. A dismissal is not always the end of the road. If a cruise line says you waited too long, or your case was dismissed, have an attorney review your ticket, the dates and the court record.

Roberts v. Carnival Corp., No. 19-14993 (11th Cir. Aug. 24, 2020) (per curiam) (unpublished)

Decision date:

Read the court's opinion

Roberts v. Carnival Corp., No. 19-14993 (11th Cir. Aug. 24, 2020) (unpublished). The court vacated its July 28, 2020 opinion and substituted this one.

Frequently asked questions

Does this outcome guarantee a similar result?

Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in any future matter

Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.