Maritime Injury Attorney Blog

I have previously discussed that my firm represented the parents of George Smith, who disappeared during his honeymoon cruise aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the Brilliance of the Seas in June of 2005.

I, along with the parents, went on a relentless mission to try to gather evidence to help solve the mystery. We faced many roadblocks, the main one being the cruise line's reluctance to share information with the Smith family about what happened to their son. The F.B.I. was not allowed to share information as it was always described as an ongoing investigation. The Smith family became very disappointed and disillusioned, and extremely frustrated.

In the meantime, the cruise ship company secretly entered into a settlement agreement with George Smith's wife, Jennifer Hagel Smith. The settlement initially was reached without the participation of myself or the Smith family, and was another significant roadblock hit by the Smith family because it denied them the best opportunity to gather important information, which was the discovery process that was going to take place during a wrongful death lawsuit. The Smith family didn't give up and decided to challenge the settlement agreement the cruise line company had negotiated with the wife. After a long legal battle in the probate court in Connecticut, the cruise line settled with the Smith family and with Jennifer Hagel Smith for a settlement over $1 million, as well as an agreement to provide some additional information that they previously had not agreed to release to the Smith family.

The case still remained a mystery, and the Smith family still was advised that the case was an open investigation with the F.B.I.

I received a call today from somebody from the Today Show advising that the F.B.I. was making an arrest in the case based on a recorded statement that had been obtained. I don't have any further details at this moment.

The delay in any arrest taking place in this matter has been attributed to the inadequate investigation that took place at the time of the reported disappearance being discovered. There were allegations that the cruise ship's actions in the aftermath of learning of the disappearance interfered with an appropriate investigation, and valuable evidence was lost. In addition, the issues regarding who had jurisdiction to conduct the investigation was also a factor in the delay of the F.B.I. getting involved.

Following the disappearance there were Congressional Hearings held which addressed crimes and disappearances aboard cruise ships, how to deal with preventing them, as well as reporting of them and appropriate investigation procedures in order to properly preserve evidence. I testified as an invited maritime expert.

As soon as more details are released regarding an arrest, I will report on it.

Cruise ships are finally showing improvements in their safety measures since the Costa Concordia disaster, as can be seen in an article published earlier today in USA today titled "Elderly cruiser kicked off Seabourn ship for skipping drill."

An 84-year- old woman, along with her 90-year-old husband, was kicked off the Seabourn Sojourn this week. The woman refused to attend the mandatory safety drill that begins at the start of each cruise. According to the article, this was the second leg of a three-part trip for the couple, who had already attended a safety drill on the earlier part of the trip. The husband attended the drill but the wife claimed she was not feeling well.

This was not the first incident reflecting stricter cruise ship policies. At the end of January, Holland America kicked a passenger off its ship for the same reason. The stricter policies follow the Costa Concordia disaster. On that ship, there were almost 700 passengers who had not attended a safety drill practice. Thirty two deaths occurred as result of the capsizing of the cruise ship.

As stated in the USA today article, "under rules established by the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, passenger ships must hold passenger safety drills within 24 hours of embarkation. After the accident, major cruise lines around the world announced they always will hold safety drills immediately after embarkation before ships set sail." Before the Costa Concordia, some companies waited until after the ship already starting the cruise, as was the case with Costa cruises and the Concordia.

Our Miami based maritime lawyers assist crew and passengers who have been harmed at sea.

It was recently reported in Rome that cruise ships are being asked to resume their ''sail-by salutes.'' It stopped after the Costa Concordia disaster, which occurred while the captain was carrying out a "salute" in January of this year. According to an article published in the Telegraph titled "Calls for cruise ship 'sail by salutes' to resume after Costa Concordia tragedy," salutes should be allowed ''safely and securely as it was fundamental to the tourist trade which Italy relies upon, especially in the summer, when it has more than 40 million visitors a year." According to the article, tourism chiefs and hotel bosses are making this request to the cruise industry. They let some time pass since the tragic disaster and are now requesting this practice be resumed.

After the Costa disaster, cruise ships have been criticized for a practice that appears to be more common than was known when we first learned of the Costa Concordia disaster. The cruise ship company, Costa, continues to deny the captain had the permission to do the "salute" or that it was common practice. Notwithstanding the tragedy that occurred with the capsizing of the Costa Concordia, the President of the Federation of Hotel owners of Ischia ,Ermando Mennella, said that "the inchino (salute) should be allowed to continue but obviously with safety and security guaranteed for all. It is fundamental for tourism especially to an island like Ischia and if it does not continue then it will have severe economic repercussions and cost jobs in the long run. For many years now cruise ships and mega yachts have been sailing past Ischia, which has helped promote our island in times of economic crisis and last summer alone more than 7,500 cruise ship passengers came ashore."

The defense of the salute maneuver comes after Italian maritime regulations have restricted the cruise ships to no closer than five nautical miles to shore.

After the Costa incident, CEO Pierluigi Foschi also defended salutes, saying it is a necessary part of cruising and benefits the cruise experience. He forgets 32 people are dead because of this salute and two bodies are still missing from the tragic capsizing.

The towing of the Costa Concordia will start next month. It will cost more than 300 million dollars. In addition Costa Cruises just released a new ship called the Costa Fascinosa. I hope they will figure out a way to make the cruise enjoyable, and to showcase the island of Ischia without jeopardizing the lives of thousands.

Our firm continues to act as safety advocates for those harmed at sea. We are maritime lawyers based in Miami, Florida, and handle all types of cruise ship and boating incidents.

I recently blogged about the boom in cruising and Fox news reported on an interesting issue on Monday titled "Cruise failure leaves Mobile with looming debt." This article highlights the effect one cruise company can have on a city! Carnival Cruise lines stopped going to this seven year old terminal in Mobile, Alabama last year. They relocated their ship to New Orleans. As a result, the city of Mobile was left with a debt problem. According to the article they are faced with a big economic problem, "How to pay for a more than $20 million passenger terminal that's now used for dances and weddings rather than tourist embarkations." For the years that the cruises were coming to this port, the parking charges and other fees by the cruisers helped pay about 2 million per year for this terminal. At the end of the current fiscal year these funds will no longer exist. This is going to leave Mobile with some financial issues. They either need to get a new cruise ship to come to this port or find out another way to use his 65,000 building. The manager Sheila Gurganus is trying to promote the city and this terminal. To pay the utility bills she is currently renting out this building. Starting October 1 the bill will go to the city. According to the spokeswoman for the city, "Barbara Drummond, said officials aren't sure how to pay the mortgage on the 7-year-old terminal when the bill starts going to the city on Oct. 1." They are trying to get a cruise company to come back to Mobile. According to the article if this fails, an additional 1 cent sales tax may be necessary. The problem Mobile faces according to Carolyn Brown, a cruise industry watcher, is "inadequate marketing...The domestic cruise industry is getting more competitive as companies relocate ships overseas, and Mobile has not done enough to promote itself as a potential home port or destination".

One thing for sure cruise ship companies are welcomed by most places because of the big bucks they bring to the economy. This is why the industry is so powerful in Congress. It is hard to get laws passed to hold the industry more accountable because of the fear the industry will place their operations overseas and deny the local United States ports the huge economic benefits the cruise lines bring to the ports they utilize. In fact, when I spoke in the United States Congress about the need for safety reforms in the cruise ship industry, addressing crimes and disappearances on cruise ships, a Florida congressman attacked me by saying the cruise line industry brought a lot of money to the state of Florida. I guess he was suggesting they have friends in Congress, leave them alone. However the poor crewmembers that are overworked and underpaid on the cruise ships need a friend in Congress, not an enemy. Passengers who are injured on a cruise ship, and the family members who have lost a loved one a cruise ship, need a friend in Congress. Instead, the cruise ship companies continue to enjoy very favorable laws, and continue to whittle down the rights of passengers and crewmembers with a stroke of a pen by contracting out of liability for all than can get away with.

Our Miami based admiralty law firm is focused on helping those who need it, victims harmed at sea, passengers and crewmembers.

Some recently interesting developments in the maritime law field.

It was reported that there was a large settlement reached in the case involving a Philadelphia duck boat that was involved in a collision in the Delaware River. The collision caused the boat to sink in the year 2010, killing two Hungarian students who drowned when the amphibious watercraft sank after being struck by a 250-foot barge that was being pushed by a tugboat. The case was pending in a federal court where the owners of the vessels were seeking to take advantage of an outdated and harsh maritime law called Limitation of Liability. The owners of the vessels were seeking to limit their exposure to the value of the vessels after the collision, which was reported to be approximately $1.8 million. However, the settlement is reported to have been $17 million.

The Limitation of Liability law was enacted more than 150 years ago, and remains part of the maritime law of the United States. This federal statute simply has no place in today's maritime world. The Limitation of Liability Act (LOLA) was brought into focus after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion incident that killed nine maritime workers. This ancient and archaic law allows the vessels to limit their liability to the post-voyage value of their vessel. Transocean was relying on LOLA to limits its liability for the Deepwater disaster to $27 million.

In the case involving the duck boat, the amphibious vessel was plowed over by a 250-foot barge being pushed by a tugboat in Philadelphia, and the owners were trying to limit their liability to $1.7 million.

The application of the Limitation of Liability Act results in harsh consequences, and hopefully our Congress will recognize this at some point in time.

Continue reading "Cruise Ship Law News Update" »

On April 23, I wrote about how in March boaters in distress were ignored by the Star Princess.

One of the boaters, an 18-year-old named Adrian Vasquez, survived after 28 days at sea but his two friends died, one only hour after the cruise ship passed. Today it is being reported that the one survivor has filed a lawsuit against Princess Cruise lines for failing to assist, and just driving by.

In the lawsuit it is stated that several passengers aboard the cruise ship spotted the fishermen and notified a crewmember. Despite this information, the cruise sailed on. Vasquez supposedly waved a red T-shirt in hopes of getting attention from the cruise ship. He was clearly in distress. The engine of his fishing boat had failed.

Edna Ramos, the lawyer of Vasquez, says they have proof from witnesses that the cruise ship ignored the fishermen in distress. The lawsuit has been filed in Florida. Based on maritime law, "able vessels must assist those distressed at sea." Princess cruises is defending themselves saying the captain was never notified. According to a statement they released, "because of what we suspect was a case of unfortunate miscommunication, regretfully the captain of the Star Princess was never notified of the passengers' concern. Had he been advised, he would have had the opportunity to respond, as he has done numerous times throughout his career." What does not make sense is how the captain was never notified yet passengers informed a crewmember of the boaters in distress. According to a CNN article, "Vasquez's lawsuit seeks compensation for physical, emotional and psychological injuries that it alleges he suffered as a result of the conduct of cruise line employees."

I have written about the former child supervisor, Paul Trotter, who admitted to police that he sexually abused children onboard the cruise ships he worked for and was arrested in February for these actions.Trotter worked for Cunard Cruise lines and today the 34-year-old man starts his four year sentence for the crime he committed.

Also according to USA TODAY, "The Daily Echo of Southampton, England reports that Paul Trotter of Pontefract, England also will be placed on the U.K.'s sex offenders' register for life and banned from working with children." He admitted to sexual assaulting 13 year old boys between the years of 2007 and 2011. He also admitted to "taking, making and possession of indecent images of the children, who were between the ages of 7 and 13." It is still confusing how he was able to commit these disgusting crimes without detection. According to the president and managing director of Cunard Cruise lines Peter Shanks, they will be changing their recruitment process for youth centers onboard their ships. Maybe something they should have realized much earlier!

In March I wrote a blog about an assistant cruise director for Norwegian Cruise Lines on board the cruise ship Norwegian Star who was arrested for having sexual relations with a 16-year-old passenger. Senad Djedovic, a 29-year-old crewmember, was also found in possession of graphic photos the girl sent him and videos of child pornography. Yesterday the Tampa Bay Tribune informed us that Djedovic has agreed to plead guilty to a federal pornography charge. Senad Djedovic faces up to ten years in federal prison after he agrees to this federal charge of possessing child pornography. On Monday a plea agreement was filed in United States District Court. Djedovic met this 16-year-old girl from Minnesota on a seven-day cruise that went from Tampa to the Caribbean on January 29. It was discovered that the two had a sexual encounter on a staircase and Djedovic was aware of the young girl's age. After the cruise ended they continued with a relationship via emails which included "naughty photos."

Djedovic's crime was discovered after he showed some of his crew members the pictures he received from the 16-year-old passenger.

Our Miami based maritime firm continues to be safety advocates for those harmed at sea and continues to warn parents taking young children on cruise ships not to let their guard down and to closely supervise their children during the cruise.

I previously testified in Congress about safety and security concerns on cruise ships. The hearings led to more hearings and passage of the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act signed into law by President Obama.

Daunting news recently surfaced in regards to al Qaeda plans in a CNN article posted yesterday titled "Documents reveal al Qaeda's plans for seizing cruise ships, carnage in Europe." Through investigations obtained from an Austrian last year, it has been discovered that the terrorist group had plans to seize cruise ships. On May 16 of last year, an Austrian man named Maqsood Lodin was investigated by police in Berlin. The police found in his underpants memory cards and a digital storage device. After several weeks of trying to encode what was in these devices, the German investigators discovered over 100 al Qaeda documents which included some of their plans for future attacks. This included plots to seize cruise ships and initiate attacks in Europe.

Also discovered in these devices were terrorist training manuals. According to the CNN article, "one source says that they are the most important haul of al Qaeda materials in the last year, besides those found when U.S. Navy SEALs raided Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a year ago and killed the al Qaeda leader."

Yassin Musharbash was the first to report on this incident in Germany. He stated how the documents said they would seize the cruise ship and use this action to pressure the public. Musharbash interpreted this to mean that "the terrorists would then start executing passengers on those ships and demand the release of particular prisoners. The plan would include dressing passengers in orange jump suits, as if they were al Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and then videotaping their execution."

Lodin and another man named Yusuf Ocak, who was traveling back to Europe with Lodin, are both on trial in Berlin. They are both pleading not guilty. They both had been on a watch list, which led to their capture. The prosecutors believe that Lodin and Ocak met at a terrorist training camp in Pakistan and were going back to Europe to scout out suicide bombers. This kind of attack, as scary as it sounds, had occurred before. 25 years ago the PLO hijacked a cruise ship, killing an American on board.

It was reported that a cruise ship passenger onboard the Star Princess is still haunted by images from a recent cruise in March aboard the passenger cruise ship Star Princess, owned by Princess Cruise Lines. The haunted images obviously are not what this passenger expected when taking a cruise onboard the Star Princess. I am sure the passenger expected to come back with lots of images, but of pleasant and beautiful experiences during the cruise.

However, the image that is haunting Judy Meredith is her observing boaters that were in distress in a small fishing boat in the open waters off the Pacific Coast of Panama. Judy Meredith, along with other passengers, were looking for seabirds. What they spotted was frantic gestures coming from a small fishing boat that was adrift a couple of miles away. Despite the passengers' efforts to contact the United States Coast Guard through the internet service onboard the ship, and despite reporting the distressed boaters to a crewmember, the passengers are trying to figure out how this large cruise ship failed to initiate any rescue efforts. The Star Princess kept sailing and made no efforts to rescue the distressed boaters.

A commercial fishing vessel then spotted the distressed boat near the Galapagos Islands, but only one survivor was rescued, an 18-year-old named Adrian Vasquez who was alive after 28 days at sea. It was reported that his two friends had died, and sadly, one died only hours after the cruise ship passed.

The cruise ship passenger, Judy Meredith, stated it so well. She was quoted: "This has already been weeks now, and we're just sick about it. It's like you're in a car and you see somebody bleeding in a big car accident and somebody else driving the car won't stop. You see it, you're just haunted by it."

Princess Cruises, which is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines, has issued a statement blaming a "breakdown in communication in relaying the passenger's concern." Princess is taking the position that the bridge was not notified by the crewmember the passenger reported to. Princess said that the captain, Captain Edward Perrin, and the officer on watch, would definitely have taken action if they had been properly notified. Princess stated it has "deep regrets" about the two men who died.

As stated, Princess is owned by Miami based Carnival Corporation, the same company that owns Costa Cruises. This is another in a string of problems that have struck the company in recent times. Will this result in a crumbling of the Carnival empire? MOST LIKELY, NOT.

It's important to note that international law requires that the cruise ship company attempt to rescue these boaters. Specifically, Regulation 33 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Chapter V states:

The Master of a ship at sea which is in a position to be able to provide
assistance on receiving a signal from any source that persons are in
distress at sea, is bound to proceed with all speed to their assistance, if
possible informing them or the Search and Rescue Service that the ship is
doing so. If the ship receiving the distress alert is unable or, in the special
circumstances of the case considers it unreasonable or un-necessary to
proceed to their assistance, the Master must enter in the log-book the reason
for failing to proceed to the assistance of the persons in distress, taking into
account the recommendation of the Organization to inform the appropriate
Search and Rescue Service accordingly.

Princess Cruises has also responded to questions about this law dealing with rescue by stating the following:

"We all understand that it is our responsibility and also the law of the sea to
provide assistance to any vessel in distress, and it is not an uncommon occur-
rence for our ships to be involved in a rescue at sea."

Prince claims to have been involved in more than 30 rescues in the last 10 years.

A representative of the U.S. Coast Guard District 11, which would cover the Pacific waters, indicated that no messages were received from the cruise ship or any of their passengers regarding the boaters being spotted while they were in distress.

Our Miami based maritime law firm represents passengers and crewmembers in personal injury and wrongful death claims against cruise ship companies. We also handle all types of boating accidents.

I continue to receive phone calls on regular basis from attorneys throughout the United States asking whether the one year statute of limitations to file a lawsuit for a cruise ship passenger who has been injured onboard a cruise ship (which include those operated by Carnival Corporation (Carnival Cruise Lines), Celebrity Cruise Lines, Costa Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), Regent-Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCL), and Silver Sea Cruises).

This one year time limitation to file a lawsuit for a cruise ship passenger that has been injured onboard a cruise ship is authorized by a Federal statute. The passenger tickets that contain this one year limitation to file a lawsuit has been held enforceable by our Supreme Court of the United States. Frequently, I receive a phone call from an attorney who wants to refer a cruise ship passenger case but has failed to recognize the one year time limitation, and it has been too late to help the cruise ship passenger. Other times I have received a phone call that an attorney has learned the hard way about the one year time limit when a lawsuit that has been filed is met with a motion to dismiss on statute of limitations grounds.

Not only is there a one year time limitation to file a lawsuit by a cruise ship passenger, there are also conditions in the passenger ticket requiring notice to be given to the cruise ship company of the claim, prior to commencement of the lawsuit. Typically, this a six month notice requirement. In addition, the passenger tickets contain a forum selection clause, requiring the passenger to file their lawsuit in venues chosen by the cruise ship company. The Miami based cruise ship companies, Carnival, Celebrity, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean, require the lawsuits to be filed in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Most of the time, the passenger ticket requires the lawsuit to be filed in Federal court.

In the case of Costa, they have two types of passenger tickets for their cruises. One involves cruises that depart from the United States. They require the lawsuits to be filed in Broward County, Florida. For those cruises that do not touch a United States port, and sail in the European countries, the lawsuit must be filed in Genoa, Italy. Passengers who were onboard the Costa Concordia are faced with a passenger ticket that requires a lawsuit to be filed within one year, as well as for the lawsuit to be filed in Genoa, Italy.

In addition to the many other terms and conditions contained in the passenger contract that will affect the rights of the cruise ship passenger in pursuing an action for personal injury or wrongful death against a cruise ship company, there are also terms and conditions with respect to any claims for baggage loss, or contractual disputes that may exist.

If you are contacted by a cruise ship passenger for a potential personal injury or wrongful death case against the cruise line companies, you must immediately review the passenger ticket to learn of all the terms and conditions. If the passenger does not have his ticket, the passenger tickets can be found online on the websites of the individual cruise ship companies. Sometimes it takes a little navigating to find the tickets, but they are on the websites.

Our firm is a Miami based maritime and admiralty cruise ship and boating accident law firm. I've been handling maritime cases for approximately 30 years.

ABC News reports on its website that the California passenger on a cruise ship, Rick Ehlert, 45-years of age, of Thousand Oaks, California, who I had previously reported about him dropping a stern anchor on the passenger cruise ship the M/S Rymdam, was sentenced to jail for two months. He pled guilty to being drunk onboard the cruise ship when he dropped the anchor during a sailing from Mexico to Florida.

Ehlert also had deployed a life buoy after he dropped the anchor.

The actions of Ehlert could have caused serious damage to the cruise ship's rudder, or punctured it, possibly causing the cruise ship to sink. The cruise ship passenger also has to pay a $7,500.00 fine and attend substance abuse counseling.

In the light of the Costa Concordia's sinking, I am sure Ehlert's reckless actions got the sentencing judge's attention. His explanation as to why he did such a foolish thing: "Many people have asked me why I dropped the anchor. I believe that I was intrigued by the machinery and curious to see if I could operate it. I do remember trying to stop the anchor once it started moving, but it just kept going faster."

The cruise ship involved is operated by Holland American Lines out of Seattle, Washington.

Ehlert's prank was caught on the surveillance cameras aboard the ship and can be viewed through youtube link.

Our firm is a Miami based maritime law firm handling all types of cases involving injuries and death at sea. We handle cruise ship cases as well as all types of boating accidents involving different types of watercraft.

I had previously reported about sexual assaults on cruise ships, including sexual assaults on minors. This has been an ongoing problem on cruise ships for many years, and has called the public's attention to the fact that crimes, including sexual assaults, occur on board cruise ships at a much greater frequency than was known or expected.

Recently, a 29-year-old crewmember, actually an assistant cruise director for Norwegian Cruise Lines working on board the cruise ship Norwegian Star was arrested for having sexual relations with a 16-year-old passenger that was travelling with her parents.

Not only was Senad Djedovic, an assistant cruise director, arrested for having sexual relations with a 16-year-old, the F.B.I. located videos of child pornography on his computer's hard drive. Also alarmingly, they located very graphic e-mails, including sexually-explicit photos, that he exchanged with the 16-year-old passenger. "I miss you big time....you little young girl" is one of the reported messages.

Djedovic had been an employee with Norwegian Cruise Lines for approximately six years, and the incident in question happened aboard the NCL cruise ship the Norwegian Star. He has been arrested for having sexual relations with a minor and possessing inappropriate pictures of the 16-year-old victim as well as pictures of other minors on his computer. He is also facing federal child pornography charges.

Djedovic admitted he knew the age of his victim before he engaged in sexual relations in the stairwell on board the cruise ship during the last night of the cruise.

Continue reading "Another Sexual Predator Identified on a Cruise Ship" »

I reported that on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation held a hearing to look into the Costa Concordia disaster. The hearing was stacked with witnesses who were friends of the cruise ship industry. The hearing was reported as being nothing more than a forum to praise the cruise ship industry, not critique it as it deserves.

Today, March 1, 2012, the Senate Commerce Committee held their hearing entitled "Oversight of the Cruise Ship Industry: Are Current Regulations Sufficient to Protect Passengers and the Environment?"

Chairman Rockefeller started off with a critical line of questions directed right at Christine Duffy from CLIA dealing with why the cruise ship industry can avoid paying U.S. taxes despite making millions of dollars in profits each year while relying on over twenty United States Federal agencies for assistance every time their industry runs into trouble. When asked if she thought this was fair, Ms. Duffy did not have a good answer for the Chairman.

I was a little disappointed to hear that Chairman Rockefeller only briefly discussed the Death on the High Seas Act and other maritime laws that result in passengers not getting adequately compensated for injuries and deaths.

Reports indicate that Senator Amy Klobuchar did take the opportunity to question Ms. Duffy about the Death on the High Seas Act. Although she avoided answering the questions during the hearing, she was requested to submit her answers in writing about what impact DOHSA has on surviving members not sufficiently compensated when their family members are killed aboard cruise ships. These written answers must be submitted for the record.

Ross Klein, who maintains statistics on crimes and disappearances on cruise ships, and often times critiques the cruise ship industry, testified. He did discuss the unfairness of the Death on the High Seas Act, and also discussed the cruise ship companies' use of mandatory arbitration clauses as "job killers for Americans" because they create a disincentive to hire American workers.

I was glad to hear that this particular hearing before the Senate focused more on the true issues that must be looked at - at this time, instead of simply acting as a forum for the cruise ship industry to promote themselves.

There is a link to read the witness testimony and view a webcast of the hearing.

In addition, USA Today News issued an article called Senator Rips Costa Concordia's Parent Company on Taxes.

A very interesting piece of information provided by Senator J. Rockefeller at the hearing when he was questioning the nonpayment of taxes by the cruise ship companies, is found in the USA Today article. Senator Rockefeller was quoted as stating: "The fact is that 1.1% in five years, $11.3 billion in profits is absolutely unthinkable to me," Rockefeller stated. "We're not very happy when they don't pay taxes. To me, it's amazing."

It is amazing that the cruise ship companies enjoy such favorable laws yet continue to lobby Congress on a yearly basis to escape legal liabilities to passengers and crewmembers when their negligence causes injuries or death.

We know that in the wake of the Costa Concordia disaster there's a lot of pressure on Congress to do something, as well as a lot of pressure on the cruise ship industry to show that they are stepping up to the plate to address the problems. The Congressional Hearings are a good platform for both Congress, as well as the cruise ship industry, to at the very least create the appearance that things are being done to address the problems and make the necessary changes. Only time will tell whether this powerful cruise ship industry can be slowed, and whether new safety laws and regulations will in fact be implemented that carry with them the appropriate mechanisms and incentives to make sure they are enforced and followed. There has been a lot of criticism of the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act which was passed after the previous Congressional Hearings addressing cruise ship safety. Some of the criticism is that those particular hearings were prompted by public opinion and the pressure to address problems that existed at the time, but once things calmed down the focus turned away from the cruise ship industry and the legislation that was passed did not have much positive impact. I truly hope this is not the case again. I respect our Congress of course, and truly hope that the cruise ship industry, and their powerful lobbying efforts, will not be sufficient to defeat passage of positive safety laws and legislation, as well as to defeat efforts to do away with the archaic maritime laws that deprive passengers and crewmembers of fair and just compensation when they are injured or killed due to the negligence of a cruise ship operator.

Our firm continues to act as safety advocates for both passengers and crewmembers harmed at sea.

A very interesting article was found in The Telegraph entitled Costa Concordia cruise ship 'was hotbed of sexual harassment'. The article goes on to talk about allegations that the Costa Concordia and other cruise ships that were owned by Costa were hotbeds of sexual harassment, and also for drinking and drug abuse. The statements were made by former crewmembers. The article states that ex-female crewmembers told Italian prosecutors that they saw officers snorting cocaine, drinking to the point of intoxication, as well as harassing female staff. One of the crewmembers was quoted as saying that Captain Francesco Schettino, the commander of the Costa Concordia vessel, "used women as goods to be exchanged".

These allegations are reported to be contained in over 5,000 pages of evidence that have been gathered by the prosecutors in Italy during their investigation into the January 13th Costa Concordia disaster.

One of the crewmembers, who was a nurse aboard a Costa cruise ship who worked with Captain Schettino, said she had to resign because she saw "corruption, drugs and prostitution".

This same crewmember stated she had worked on three different Costa cruise ships, "each one worse than the other".

The other crewmember who was quoted worked on the Costa Concordia in 2010 and said that very often the officers and other crew were drunk. She was quoted as saying that the question was asked "If there's an emergency, who's going to save the ship?" She also claimed that she was "molested" by a crewmember who was on drugs.

These startling allegations, along with the confirmed death toll of 25 from the Costa Concordia disaster, is raising serious questions and concerns about the safety of cruises, and showing the need for stricter laws and regulations of the cruise ship industry. This article, and information comes on the heels of Congressional Hearings looking into the Costa Concordia disaster and what lessons can be learned from it.

I've been handling maritime cases for over 30 years, and I've seen an increasing number of cases involving sexual assaults, and crimes, as well as drug use and excessive consumption of alcohol onboard cruise ships. As the size of the industry has grown to include the many mega cruise ships we hear about, these issues become very serious concerns for the safety of passengers onboard cruise ships. Hopefully the Costa Concordia disaster will bring some good out of it, by prompting these Congressional Hearings focusing on the cruise ship industry. Of course, these hearings must result in the passage of increased regulations and safety laws.

My firm continues to represent passengers and crewmembers who suffer harm at sea, including helping family members who have lost loved ones from an incident occurring onboard a cruise ship. We are currently helping passengers and crewmembers who were onboard the Costa Concordia.