A man suffered a life-changing injury when he slipped and fell, sustaining a torn rotator cuff while aboard a cruise ship in 2023.
The incident happened as the man, his wife and grandchild were walking in a dining area that had recently been mopped, but not dried. There were no signs or cones that would have prevented him from walking in the area or alerted him to the hazard at the time he fell. As a result, he suffered a torn rotator cuff that doctors later determined would require surgery.
Surgical Intervention
An MRI scan performed shortly after the incident showed that our client suffered multiple, full-thickness tears of various tendons in his right shoulder. His doctors noted that he could “barely lift his arm away from his body,” due to the pain and limited mobility from his injury.
Despite treatments — such as administering nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cortisone injections — our client continued to be in daily, severe pain. It was determined that surgery would be the best possible route to allow our client some semblance of the life he had before this incident.
Two months after the incident, our client underwent surgery where doctors found he had a “complete tear of the subscapularis with retraction medially, as well as tears in the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles.” The supraspinatus is a smaller muscle that helps stabilize the shoulder joint and assist with lifting the arm, while the infraspinatus is a thicker, triangular muscle that stabilizes the joint and aids in rotating the arm externally.
Despite surgical intervention, our client remained in significant pain and his range of motion continued to be severely limited. Today he lives in near-constant pain with daily tasks as simple as dressing in the morning becoming difficult due to his injury.
A confidential settlement was secured for our client by Carlos A. Fabano and Evan Robinson, Trial Attorneys at the firm.
Leesfield & Partners
As a personal injury law firm in a city with a cruise ship port that has been nicknamed the “cruising capital of the world,” Leesfield & Partners have seen their fair share of injury cases aboard ships. From shocking medical malpractice cases that have led to amputations to horrific and preventable crimes aboard ships. Leesfield & Partners’ attorneys approach each case with respect for the lives that have been altered by these corporations’ negligence and with a dogged persistence to achieve the best possible outcome for our clients. In decades of personal injury practice, the firm has been on the leading national edge of cruise ship litigation, having recovered millions of dollars in record verdicts and settlements for injured clients.
Premises Liability
Premises Liability is a legal principle that involves the responsibility of property owners and/or management companies to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition. When a hazard that the property owner or management company knew or should have known about causes an injury to a guest on the property, then that entity can be held liable for any damages caused by their failure to remedy . Under this legal principle, these entities have a duty of care, meaning they must adequately maintain their property in a condition that is reasonably safe for visitors and address any issues that have the propensity to cause an injury in a timely manner. If these hazards – wet floors, badly lit areas, unstable paving stones – are not addressed and someone is injured, then the injured party may be able to claim that the property owner or management company was negligent in their duty of care to guests.
As common carriers, cruise ships have a nondelegable duty to protect those aboard from foreseeable harms. This includes ensuring that their ships are well-maintained and hazard free as to avoid injuries such as the one incurred by our client and to protect passengers and crew members from foreseeable crimes. In nearly five decades of personal injury practice, however, Leesfield & Partners has seen the various ways in which cruise lines will try to deflect this responsibility as a way to skirt liability.
Previous Cases
One tragic case handled by Leesfield & Partners involves the death of an 8-eight-year-old when she was separated from her family aboard a ship. As the little girl leaned over an interior balcony railing, the inadequately installed barrier gave way, and she plummeted to her death.
The firm secured a confidential settlement in that case.
A $500,000 recovery was obtained by attorneys with the firm for a client who slipped and fell in a premises liability case aboard a cruise ship.
In another case involving a child who was severely injured aboard a cruise ship, Leesfield & Partners attorneys secured a multi-million-dollar recovery for the boy and his family. The child in that case, a boy, was playing basketball when he dove to catch an out-of-bounds ball. The boy sadly collided with a steel, unpadded grommet and suffered severe head injuries as a result.
The firm also handled a tragic shore excursion that resulted in the death of a Rochester, New York, family’s son. The young man was killed in a vehicle collision while on a shore excursion linked to the cruise line they were vacationing with. The cruise line in that case allowed a driver with multiple driving infractions to be behind the wheel and did not ensure that the bus they were using to carry passengers was adequately maintained.
The young man in that case was ejected from the bus in the crash and died from his injuries. A $3 million settlement was secured for the grieving family in that case.