Norwegian Cruises Sued Over Go-Kart Injury

A 14-year-old female passenger aboard a Norwegian cruise has filed a lawsuit against the cruise line after she lost control of her go-kart and suffered critical injuries, according to a recent news report. The girl allegedly suffered injury when the go-kart careened out of control. She suffered injuries to her head and neck, according to the complaint, including a possible traumatic brain injury.

When a lawsuit is first filed, it may be unclear what the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries are. In these cases, the attorney will file a notice of claim that demonstrates what the potential worst-case scenario is for the plaintiff and then wait for her doctors to determine how badly injured she was. In this case, she likely suffered a concussion and whiplash at the very least. At worst, she will have permanent injuries related to brain damage. This could limit her ability to work and enjoy her life for the rest of her life.

Cruise line attractions 

Cruise line attractions like go-karts are often a vector for serious personal injury. The only people ensuring that the go-karts are safe are cruise line employees. In some cases, dual lawsuits can be filed against both the cruise line and the manufacturer of the go-karts. However, to sue the manufacturer, the plaintiffs would have to allege that the go-kart was defectively designed or had some defect. In this case, since the cruise line was in direct control over the go-kart, it’s the cruise line that’s being sued.

Waiver of liability

 Before a cruise ship attraction, most passengers are required to sign liability waivers. The cruise line will argue that the liability waiver prevents them from being sued at all. However, it may only prevent certain types of claims from being made against them. The plaintiffs are prepared to argue that the liability waiver is unenforceable and that the cruise line has a duty of care to ensure that the go-karts are safe. However, the plaintiffs have yet to allege that the go-kart itself was defective or broken. If the passenger merely lost control of the go-kart it may be more difficult for them to win this lawsuit.

However, there are more risks to running these attractions on a moving vessel than there would be on solid ground, so this is a complex case with a lot of moving parts.

Suing cruise lines over attractions 

With liability waivers and added danger related to running these attractions at sea, these cases can become very complex very quickly. Cruise lines do have a duty of care to ensure that all of the attractions are safe and will lose lawsuits when they fail to account for a potential danger. However, the cruise line will also blame the passenger for failing to maintain control of the go-kart, so that is how they will defend this case.

Talk to a Miami Cruise Ship Injury Lawyer Today 

Miami admiralty & maritime lawyer Michael F. Guilford represents the interests of those injured aboard cruise ship attractions. Call our Miami office today and we can begin discussing your claims immediately.

Source:

web.archive.org/web/20230401080805/https://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-cruise-ship-go-cart-lawsuit-20230330-7kcpqj3urfgu5cgs3n2zrj4lqm-story.html