April 22, 2026 • 16 mins
On the Jim Colbert Show Attorney "Friendly" Ray Traendly of TK Law discusses the story of the nurse who who fell into an "Employee's Only" on a cruise ship while drunk, sued the cruise line and won.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back. I'm Jim. There's Amy Sweezy with us today.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hi there, Thanks, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Monday, I really appreciate it. Today Jack is here with
us as well. Yo.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
And every Monday around this time, our good friend drops
by from TK law one firm for life dot com.
You guys give it up good loud, mister Ray Trendley.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
I appreciate that you all are so generous and kind.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yeah, what's up, buddy, how you doing? Thanks for the Worthers.
First things first, Yeah, he.
Speaker 5 (00:24):
Brought us candy, so we're gonna cheer and clap for sure.
Speaker 6 (00:27):
Absolutely that as part of the strategy.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It was pretty good, right see for yeah.
Speaker 6 (00:33):
Worthers is one of those things that is such an
underappreciated candy. And then you have someone you're like, man,
where has this been all my life?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
But the thing for you? Let me let me help
you out a little bit.
Speaker 7 (00:42):
Though.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Here's the thing, all right.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
You eat a Werthers at thirty five, good looking lawyer,
good suit, the whole nine yards.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
It's cool. I eat a Worthers.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
It's oh, Granddad's gonna give me a card, but four
dollars in it and I don't get the same treatment
with worthers as you get with words. There's even Bradshaw
can eat the words. Amy can eat a Worthers perfectly fine.
I get a worthers laughingstock.
Speaker 6 (01:05):
It's the angry attitude that you're approaching your weathers that's
the problem. You gotta be a little bit more smiley
when you're saying, here, would you like a worthers.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Raise a personal injury attorning here in central Florida, serving
the entire area. TK Law is the firm, one firm
for life. Dot com is the website, and I mean
disciplines from divorce to estate manners to trip and falls,
car wrecks.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
They do it all.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
And they have two offices right there in Longwood, and
of course a new office right there and downtown to
land That's right. So you always come in and kind
of bring us something to talk about. What do you
have first today.
Speaker 6 (01:37):
Buddy man, If I was a better friend, I would
have brought in tequila so we could talk a little
bit about this case that happened on a cruise ship
where a forty five year old neonatal nurse was having
fourteen shots of tequila on the cruise ship and fell
down the stairs in an area that was employee only.
(02:00):
The lawsuit against the cruise line and one okay, wow, okay,
hold on now, yeah, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So did she have the drink package?
Speaker 6 (02:10):
So I believe she had the all you can drink
package from Carnival. And the testimony at the trial was
that they pushed the drinks on you, okay, and that
they have a duty of care and responsibility to make
sure that if you are being overserved, if you are
visibly intoxicated, that somebody either escort you to your room
(02:33):
or make sure you get there safely.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
All right.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Can I ask another question?
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Please?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Is this person ten years old?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
They are not.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
They are a full grown adult, forty four year old
neonatal nurse, a forty four year old educated woman yep,
fell down an employee staircase after drinking fourteen shuts of
tequila while having the drink package.
Speaker 6 (02:52):
She got separated from her friends. She just kind of
wandered off.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And they pushed the drinks on her.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
Well, according to the testimony, they were very liberal with
their pouring, So.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Ray liberal with pouring is different than well drink packages.
Speaker 8 (03:06):
Now and for the past cup, I think maybe past
couple of years.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
They kind of limited.
Speaker 7 (03:10):
It says unlimited, but it's really a maximum of fifteen.
And I guess this would apply. But this was a
couple of years ago, right.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
So this happened in twenty twenty four, Okay, And what
makes this so from a legal.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Standpoint, which makes this really interesting.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
And obviously we could talk about personal accountability in those
types of things, because I think that that was a
very fair conversation to have here. But under Florida law,
we have what's called dram shop laws. And if you're familiar,
if you've ever been a bartender, conceptually the idea is
this establishments serving alcohol are not responsible for what you
do if you consume alcohol unless you're a minor child
(03:45):
or you're a known habitual drunk.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Right, that's Florida law.
Speaker 6 (03:49):
And normally when we see these cases coming out of
Florida on cruise ships, we apply Florida law if there's
a Florida law on point.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
But it's international law, well, or is it based on
where the ship is.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
It's where the ship is is registered.
Speaker 6 (04:06):
And so that's why we see all these cases come
out of the Southern District of Florida is because that's
where they're registered. So what's interesting is we have a
dramshop law in Florida and I haven't been able to
I've requested it, I haven't gotten it back yet. My
guess is what happened At some point in this case
there was a dispute, Oh, whether or not Florida law
applies or federal law applies. And under federal law there
(04:28):
is no such dramshop type law. And so they've applied
this kind of reasonable standard, this duty to protect somebody
who may be harmed on a cruise ship. And there's
a case out of nineteen ninety nine and the case
out of two thousand that specifically deals with these issues,
and they say Florida law should apply. So I'm guessing
(04:48):
that somewhere along the lines, this is why it's so
important that you you get a good lawyer and a
good judge.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Frankly, some are along the lines.
Speaker 6 (04:57):
They made this argument, this judge made a ruling the
Florida law was not going to apply. And now three
hundred thousand dollars judgment is applying to Carnival Cruises for
this negligence case.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So can they appeal this?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Oh, they're absolutely going to appeal it.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, absolutely, So there's no jury in this.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
It's not like let's go after the big corporation attitude.
Speaker 6 (05:18):
So this survived summary judgment and went to a jury,
so a trial, so a juror of their peers heard
the case and determined that Carnival was liable for three
hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
This is a seven person jury, nine person, ten person,
eleven person.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
What kind of jury is this person? Nine? Is it
always that?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Not?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Always depends on capital cases.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, that's what I was wondering.
Speaker 7 (05:41):
Majority of women on the on the jury, and you know,
maybe it was a majority of women in the jury.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
It was and they live in Miami.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, there are residents of Miami.
Speaker 7 (05:51):
Yeah, and so that could factor into women how they
like feeling maybe when they when they intoxicated or in
situations like that needed you know, feeling vulnerable.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Or being predated on.
Speaker 8 (06:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
Well, and we kind of know, I don't know, you
guys are talking about cruise ships earlier today. She just
kind of got me thinking about some of the stuff.
You kind of know, when you're on a cruise ship
you have to be a little bit more careful, right,
I mean the ship isn't stationary, it's moving, right, there's waves,
and so you have to be extra careful.
Speaker 8 (06:25):
Right, the only people walking straight were to the drugs.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
People counteracted the sea with alcohol.
Speaker 6 (06:33):
I spent my twenty first birthday on a cruise ship,
so I have a very specific memory of that.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
But you know, so you know, you have to be
a little bit more safe.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
And so they actually found that she was forty percent
at fault, but that Carnival Cruises was sixty percent at
fault for these damages, which to me is just so surprising,
you know, because.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
That was my next question is like, you know, you're
using leads me to believe that you don't necessarily buy
this decision.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
You think maybe it was not a good decision. Well,
you know, the.
Speaker 6 (07:06):
Jury has to make the decision based off the evidence
they hear. But I think there has to be some
level of accountability more than well, she was a little
bit responsible for what happened here, right, and that's what
we got.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
You know, you think it was argued poorly.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
I don't know. Yeah, you know, they're well not effective.
So let me ask would be the case.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
When you're a logical person, you think about the case. Okay,
a woman goes on a cruise ship. She buys the
all you can drink package right off rip.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
She's there, right off rip.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
You're telling everybody you're there to get loose right now.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I just looked it up.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
You can't buy or get served more than fifteen drinks,
like Jack said, even with an unlimited package.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
They're not supposed to do that.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Now she's saying that on top of that, that they
kind of forced the drinks on her. So that means
that she would have had to have been held down
and had this poured down. Or what she's saying is
is they poured her the alcohol all almost like daring her.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
To take the shot again. Is that is that it
wasn't the same bartender over and over.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
Well, so they talk about the culture at the bar
or the bars on the ships where these bartenders apparently
not getting paid very well and the majority of the
money they make is off their tips, and so they're
incentivized to keep the liquid flowing too. And so they're saying,
you know, the bartender's incentivized they want to tips. The
cruise line itself wants you to spend money, so they're incentivized.
(08:27):
They trying to get you to drink so that way,
you know, go gamble and do all the things that
you were going to do on the ship and spend money,
and that you know, she was almost, in this way
an innocent bystander that was being taken advantage of during
the cruise ship, right, And I.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Just don't buy it.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, I don't either.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
And here the other aspect that I find very interesting
is is you're saying that they're forcing drinks on her,
but she bought the drink package. So theoretically, woittn't the
bartenders want to serve her less and save the and
save the ship money because the more alcohol they're giving her,
she's actually taking more advantage I would think the bar.
Now I understand the tip aspect of it, but a
lot of people who have drink packages really don't tip
(09:03):
like that. Like you don't tip the same as if
you're buying those drinks a la carts because you have
well for me, because we tip all at once with
the one.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Package, like we tip the room with the package.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Because we don't go around every time we buy a
drink and it's eleven dollars, we're thrown on two bucks
for me. It doesn't work like that because when we
buy the drink package.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
We do it all at one time.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Because in one hand, she's saying, you know that they
want all the tips. In the second hand, the cruise
ship is like, well, I can't imagine the cruise ship
incentivizes giving up fifteen shots of liquoric data one patron.
That's costing them more money. I would think they would
want them to serve as few as possible.
Speaker 7 (09:38):
I did, the more drinks. I think they do better
in tips. So on the cruise line I was on,
they would with a drink package, you would still they
would like, bring it up. You have a receipt, you
signed for it, but it doesn't show up on your bill.
But they added eighteen percent to every purchase.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Oh my god, they don't do that. Oh my gosh,
they do not do that. W even they asked my
room number and that's it.
Speaker 8 (10:01):
That was factored into the drink package.
Speaker 7 (10:04):
But then they give you a pen, so if you
want to put an additional tip on that, and that
also goes too the server. So therefore, the more times
they're handing you a receipt with a pen with that
empty timp line, the better chances of them making more
in tips.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I guess maybe it's just a cruise line a cruise
line scenario there.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I think it's different for each cruise line and what they're.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, because on my cruise line there was I mean,
I'm telling you, I got asked twice in seven days
for my card thing. Everything else is just what your
room number, because my card's a certain color, which means
a certain thing. And once they see that color, they
know that I have that certain package. They don't even
bother asking. They just give me the drink, No receipts,
no ringing anything up.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Interesting.
Speaker 7 (10:47):
Yeah, for tracking purposes, everything I had to do, you
needed your card and it would be swiping.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
Experience too as far as cruise ships goes, I feel
like they swept everything, which I thought it was just
for tracking and yeah, making sure they can keep tracking
their inventory and everything.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
So the other thing that's odd to me is the
fact that she fell in an area where she wasn't
even supposed to be right, this is an employee area.
Speaker 8 (11:08):
And doesn't know how she got there.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
Yeah, And that to me seems to be one of
the bigger facts of the case as well, is she
was in a place where she wasn't supposed to be,
and so you know, and again I don't know if
the stairwells are different, you know in those areas where
you know, maybe it's got less carpet.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And they're all very well marked. I mean, these employee
areas are very, very very well marked.
Speaker 8 (11:30):
It says crew only on the door. And believe me,
I was. I wanted to go inside because I want
to see what's back.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
I'd be curious if you know, if it's I.
Speaker 8 (11:38):
Can imagine with a few drinks in me, I mean,
let's go look.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Getting back on the boat from one of our stops,
I made a wrong turn and they snap corrected my
ass like sir, no, it's this way, thank you, like instantly,
and I wasn't even in that path yet, Dode that
took one step toward that place and they shut me
downker Yeah, and Jack's right. Everywhere the crew is supposed
to be clearly marked on the doors crew only.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
It just surprised me that the jury came back with
this verdict. I just I expected to be appealed, and
I would not be surprised if it doesn't get overturned
on appeal.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Wow, it'd be.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Oh sorry, what did you mean about the sixty forty thing?
Speaker 5 (12:17):
Because to me, of course, I think brain chance, probability,
that's where my brain goes. But when you said sixty forty,
is that something the jury does?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Is that something?
Speaker 4 (12:25):
So when is this new?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
By the way, that sixty forty percentage of liability things relatively?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (12:30):
Yeah, So what happens in the jury form when you
get it says, you know, do you find that they're liable?
And if say you say, yes, they're liable, then what
are the damages? And so let's say it's a million
dollars in damages, and then you know portion it out.
So what percentage responsibility was the plaintiff, you know, the
person who got hurt? They say forty percent? Right, so
(12:50):
then she so forty percent comes off the top of
one million dollars, that's six hundred thousand dollars left.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yes, So it's connect and it's connected to the money.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
And it's connected to the money.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, yeah, it's the percentage of life ability the jury
believes that you are in any situation like that, I mean, yeah.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
Yeah, correct, yeah, And so so I could do that
math in my head. So that's why I use those numbers, but.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
I definitely get the idea.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, man, this is crazy. What a precedent to set.
Speaker 6 (13:16):
I mean, it's a big shift from the cases we
saw in the early two thousands, for sure.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Like what a precedent set.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
When I heard this case, at first, I was like, well,
I can see this on land, because you have the
ability to get into a car and kill somebody, including yourself.
But on a cruise ship, the worst thing you do
is stumble into a doorway on your way back, or
I guess maybe stumble into an area and fall down
a staircase.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I guess that's possible as well. But I mean, well, this.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Is self harmed too.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
You know, in the car scenario, you're really worried about
hurting somebody else, Like you get into a car and
you hinting somebody else. I mean, sure, we don't want
you hurting yourself either, But on a cruise ship, it's
not like you're getting behind the wheel this cruise ship
and steering it into an iceberg.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
R But theoretically, had she fallen out of like all
her balcony and really become hurt, I mean, so that
would have been a different scenario to the other. Now,
they would have been also maybe you know, liable for
at least part of her injuries and that and I mean,
how bad were her injuries in the staircase fall.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
She had a cervical neck injury, so okay, it was
a fairly significant neck injury.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
But you know, to your point, what.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
Where's a safe place on a cruise whe where somebody's drunk, Like,
where does it end?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I mean, let me tell you something.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
That could be much more dangerous than the stairway.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I mean, you know all these people, I mean, everybody
in the room's cruise Amy, We was just talking about.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
It a couple of breaks ago.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
When you go to these atrium areas in the middle
of these ships, I mean you can you could fall
forty five feet just off of like an area that
looks down onto the main drag there, the main area
where everybody gathers, usually where the piano bar is and
the marketini bar is in the main gathering area, usually
on the fourth or fifth floor. Well, that thing's open
up until like the six or seventh floor, so it'd
(14:48):
be no problem for you to tumble over that thing.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
In full.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
My guess is that they probably have like a drunk
tank on the cruise ships now where they just stash
you down there and hang out.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
To and by the way, do we also know is
there any video of her behavior? Another thing on cruise
ships is there are video cameras everywhere everywhere, so there's
no video evidence of her behavior. Was she asking for drinks?
Was she was her behavior showing that she was drunk.
A lot of people can handled their liquor quite well.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
I think I saw one of the articles I was
reading that there was some video of her being served.
Whether or not she was, I don't know causing a rocket.
I don't know about the other thing too, dude.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I mean, it's not like this is the first person
a bartender on a cruise ship has ever served. They're
serving a different group of the thousands of people every
eight days.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I mean four days. It could be two days, I
guess three days, it could be.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
And people act differently and hold their liquor differently, so
it's difficult to tell. Maybe they didn't realize that she
was well, she already had twelve shots.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
Well, this is like a day drinking thing too. This
started like two o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
All the way it'sposed to.
Speaker 6 (15:55):
O'clock at night, so you know, to your point, like,
there's not probably one bartender who's serving that one person
over an eight hour period.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, it's rare to say in one place. I mean
one of the things is bar hopping.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
On those cruise you go up to the back deck
to watch the sailway, then you know the front deck
because the steel drum is there.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Then you go downstairs because the rock band's playing.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
You may be a steel drum guy, but you rarely
get a couple of drinks from the same place.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
You're just kind of buzzing around, you know.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Good case man, very interesting. Yeah, you see what happens
on the peel.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah for sure. Right four oh seven nine one six
four one.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
You can always text us at seven seven zero three ones,
take a little break, will come back to a few
more minutes with Ray and Amy and get the hell
out of here.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
On a Monday
Welcome back. I'm Jim. There's Amy Sweezy with us today.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hi there, Thanks, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Monday, I really appreciate it. Today Jack is here with
us as well. Yo.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
And every Monday around this time, our good friend drops
by from TK law one firm for life dot com.
You guys give it up good loud, mister Ray Trendley.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
I appreciate that you all are so generous and kind.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yeah, what's up, buddy, how you doing? Thanks for the Worthers.
First things first, Yeah, he.
Speaker 5 (00:24):
Brought us candy, so we're gonna cheer and clap for sure.
Speaker 6 (00:27):
Absolutely that as part of the strategy.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It was pretty good, right see for yeah.
Speaker 6 (00:33):
Worthers is one of those things that is such an
underappreciated candy. And then you have someone you're like, man,
where has this been all my life?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
But the thing for you? Let me let me help
you out a little bit.
Speaker 7 (00:42):
Though.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Here's the thing, all right.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
You eat a Werthers at thirty five, good looking lawyer,
good suit, the whole nine yards.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
It's cool. I eat a Worthers.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
It's oh, Granddad's gonna give me a card, but four
dollars in it and I don't get the same treatment
with worthers as you get with words. There's even Bradshaw
can eat the words. Amy can eat a Worthers perfectly fine.
I get a worthers laughingstock.
Speaker 6 (01:05):
It's the angry attitude that you're approaching your weathers that's
the problem. You gotta be a little bit more smiley
when you're saying, here, would you like a worthers.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Raise a personal injury attorning here in central Florida, serving
the entire area. TK Law is the firm, one firm
for life. Dot com is the website, and I mean
disciplines from divorce to estate manners to trip and falls,
car wrecks.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
They do it all.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
And they have two offices right there in Longwood, and
of course a new office right there and downtown to
land That's right. So you always come in and kind
of bring us something to talk about. What do you
have first today.
Speaker 6 (01:37):
Buddy man, If I was a better friend, I would
have brought in tequila so we could talk a little
bit about this case that happened on a cruise ship
where a forty five year old neonatal nurse was having
fourteen shots of tequila on the cruise ship and fell
down the stairs in an area that was employee only.
(02:00):
The lawsuit against the cruise line and one okay, wow, okay,
hold on now, yeah, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So did she have the drink package?
Speaker 6 (02:10):
So I believe she had the all you can drink
package from Carnival. And the testimony at the trial was
that they pushed the drinks on you, okay, and that
they have a duty of care and responsibility to make
sure that if you are being overserved, if you are
visibly intoxicated, that somebody either escort you to your room
(02:33):
or make sure you get there safely.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
All right.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Can I ask another question?
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Please?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Is this person ten years old?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
They are not.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
They are a full grown adult, forty four year old
neonatal nurse, a forty four year old educated woman yep,
fell down an employee staircase after drinking fourteen shuts of
tequila while having the drink package.
Speaker 6 (02:52):
She got separated from her friends. She just kind of
wandered off.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And they pushed the drinks on her.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
Well, according to the testimony, they were very liberal with
their pouring, So.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Ray liberal with pouring is different than well drink packages.
Speaker 8 (03:06):
Now and for the past cup, I think maybe past
couple of years.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
They kind of limited.
Speaker 7 (03:10):
It says unlimited, but it's really a maximum of fifteen.
And I guess this would apply. But this was a
couple of years ago, right.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
So this happened in twenty twenty four, Okay, And what
makes this so from a legal.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Standpoint, which makes this really interesting.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
And obviously we could talk about personal accountability in those
types of things, because I think that that was a
very fair conversation to have here. But under Florida law,
we have what's called dram shop laws. And if you're familiar,
if you've ever been a bartender, conceptually the idea is
this establishments serving alcohol are not responsible for what you
do if you consume alcohol unless you're a minor child
(03:45):
or you're a known habitual drunk.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Right, that's Florida law.
Speaker 6 (03:49):
And normally when we see these cases coming out of
Florida on cruise ships, we apply Florida law if there's
a Florida law on point.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
But it's international law, well, or is it based on
where the ship is.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
It's where the ship is is registered.
Speaker 6 (04:06):
And so that's why we see all these cases come
out of the Southern District of Florida is because that's
where they're registered. So what's interesting is we have a
dramshop law in Florida and I haven't been able to
I've requested it, I haven't gotten it back yet. My
guess is what happened At some point in this case
there was a dispute, Oh, whether or not Florida law
applies or federal law applies. And under federal law there
(04:28):
is no such dramshop type law. And so they've applied
this kind of reasonable standard, this duty to protect somebody
who may be harmed on a cruise ship. And there's
a case out of nineteen ninety nine and the case
out of two thousand that specifically deals with these issues,
and they say Florida law should apply. So I'm guessing
(04:48):
that somewhere along the lines, this is why it's so
important that you you get a good lawyer and a
good judge.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Frankly, some are along the lines.
Speaker 6 (04:57):
They made this argument, this judge made a ruling the
Florida law was not going to apply. And now three
hundred thousand dollars judgment is applying to Carnival Cruises for
this negligence case.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So can they appeal this?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Oh, they're absolutely going to appeal it.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, absolutely, So there's no jury in this.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
It's not like let's go after the big corporation attitude.
Speaker 6 (05:18):
So this survived summary judgment and went to a jury,
so a trial, so a juror of their peers heard
the case and determined that Carnival was liable for three
hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
This is a seven person jury, nine person, ten person,
eleven person.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
What kind of jury is this person? Nine? Is it
always that?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Not?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Always depends on capital cases.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, that's what I was wondering.
Speaker 7 (05:41):
Majority of women on the on the jury, and you know,
maybe it was a majority of women in the jury.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
It was and they live in Miami.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, there are residents of Miami.
Speaker 7 (05:51):
Yeah, and so that could factor into women how they
like feeling maybe when they when they intoxicated or in
situations like that needed you know, feeling vulnerable.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Or being predated on.
Speaker 8 (06:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
Well, and we kind of know, I don't know, you
guys are talking about cruise ships earlier today. She just
kind of got me thinking about some of the stuff.
You kind of know, when you're on a cruise ship
you have to be a little bit more careful, right,
I mean the ship isn't stationary, it's moving, right, there's waves,
and so you have to be extra careful.
Speaker 8 (06:25):
Right, the only people walking straight were to the drugs.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
People counteracted the sea with alcohol.
Speaker 6 (06:33):
I spent my twenty first birthday on a cruise ship,
so I have a very specific memory of that.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
But you know, so you know, you have to be
a little bit more safe.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
And so they actually found that she was forty percent
at fault, but that Carnival Cruises was sixty percent at
fault for these damages, which to me is just so surprising,
you know, because.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
That was my next question is like, you know, you're
using leads me to believe that you don't necessarily buy
this decision.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
You think maybe it was not a good decision. Well,
you know, the.
Speaker 6 (07:06):
Jury has to make the decision based off the evidence
they hear. But I think there has to be some
level of accountability more than well, she was a little
bit responsible for what happened here, right, and that's what
we got.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
You know, you think it was argued poorly.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
I don't know. Yeah, you know, they're well not effective.
So let me ask would be the case.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
When you're a logical person, you think about the case. Okay,
a woman goes on a cruise ship. She buys the
all you can drink package right off rip.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
She's there, right off rip.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
You're telling everybody you're there to get loose right now.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I just looked it up.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
You can't buy or get served more than fifteen drinks,
like Jack said, even with an unlimited package.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
They're not supposed to do that.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Now she's saying that on top of that, that they
kind of forced the drinks on her. So that means
that she would have had to have been held down
and had this poured down. Or what she's saying is
is they poured her the alcohol all almost like daring her.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
To take the shot again. Is that is that it
wasn't the same bartender over and over.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
Well, so they talk about the culture at the bar
or the bars on the ships where these bartenders apparently
not getting paid very well and the majority of the
money they make is off their tips, and so they're
incentivized to keep the liquid flowing too. And so they're saying,
you know, the bartender's incentivized they want to tips. The
cruise line itself wants you to spend money, so they're incentivized.
(08:27):
They trying to get you to drink so that way,
you know, go gamble and do all the things that
you were going to do on the ship and spend money,
and that you know, she was almost, in this way
an innocent bystander that was being taken advantage of during
the cruise ship, right, And I.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Just don't buy it.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, I don't either.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
And here the other aspect that I find very interesting
is is you're saying that they're forcing drinks on her,
but she bought the drink package. So theoretically, woittn't the
bartenders want to serve her less and save the and
save the ship money because the more alcohol they're giving her,
she's actually taking more advantage I would think the bar.
Now I understand the tip aspect of it, but a
lot of people who have drink packages really don't tip
(09:03):
like that. Like you don't tip the same as if
you're buying those drinks a la carts because you have
well for me, because we tip all at once with
the one.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Package, like we tip the room with the package.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Because we don't go around every time we buy a
drink and it's eleven dollars, we're thrown on two bucks
for me. It doesn't work like that because when we
buy the drink package.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
We do it all at one time.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Because in one hand, she's saying, you know that they
want all the tips. In the second hand, the cruise
ship is like, well, I can't imagine the cruise ship
incentivizes giving up fifteen shots of liquoric data one patron.
That's costing them more money. I would think they would
want them to serve as few as possible.
Speaker 7 (09:38):
I did, the more drinks. I think they do better
in tips. So on the cruise line I was on,
they would with a drink package, you would still they
would like, bring it up. You have a receipt, you
signed for it, but it doesn't show up on your bill.
But they added eighteen percent to every purchase.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Oh my god, they don't do that. Oh my gosh,
they do not do that. W even they asked my
room number and that's it.
Speaker 8 (10:01):
That was factored into the drink package.
Speaker 7 (10:04):
But then they give you a pen, so if you
want to put an additional tip on that, and that
also goes too the server. So therefore, the more times
they're handing you a receipt with a pen with that
empty timp line, the better chances of them making more
in tips.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I guess maybe it's just a cruise line a cruise
line scenario there.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I think it's different for each cruise line and what they're.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, because on my cruise line there was I mean,
I'm telling you, I got asked twice in seven days
for my card thing. Everything else is just what your
room number, because my card's a certain color, which means
a certain thing. And once they see that color, they
know that I have that certain package. They don't even
bother asking. They just give me the drink, No receipts,
no ringing anything up.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Interesting.
Speaker 7 (10:47):
Yeah, for tracking purposes, everything I had to do, you
needed your card and it would be swiping.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
Experience too as far as cruise ships goes, I feel
like they swept everything, which I thought it was just
for tracking and yeah, making sure they can keep tracking
their inventory and everything.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
So the other thing that's odd to me is the
fact that she fell in an area where she wasn't
even supposed to be right, this is an employee area.
Speaker 8 (11:08):
And doesn't know how she got there.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
Yeah, And that to me seems to be one of
the bigger facts of the case as well, is she
was in a place where she wasn't supposed to be,
and so you know, and again I don't know if
the stairwells are different, you know in those areas where
you know, maybe it's got less carpet.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And they're all very well marked. I mean, these employee
areas are very, very very well marked.
Speaker 8 (11:30):
It says crew only on the door. And believe me,
I was. I wanted to go inside because I want
to see what's back.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
I'd be curious if you know, if it's I.
Speaker 8 (11:38):
Can imagine with a few drinks in me, I mean,
let's go look.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Getting back on the boat from one of our stops,
I made a wrong turn and they snap corrected my
ass like sir, no, it's this way, thank you, like instantly,
and I wasn't even in that path yet, Dode that
took one step toward that place and they shut me
downker Yeah, and Jack's right. Everywhere the crew is supposed
to be clearly marked on the doors crew only.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
It just surprised me that the jury came back with
this verdict. I just I expected to be appealed, and
I would not be surprised if it doesn't get overturned
on appeal.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Wow, it'd be.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Oh sorry, what did you mean about the sixty forty thing?
Speaker 5 (12:17):
Because to me, of course, I think brain chance, probability,
that's where my brain goes. But when you said sixty forty,
is that something the jury does?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Is that something?
Speaker 4 (12:25):
So when is this new?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
By the way, that sixty forty percentage of liability things relatively?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (12:30):
Yeah, So what happens in the jury form when you
get it says, you know, do you find that they're liable?
And if say you say, yes, they're liable, then what
are the damages? And so let's say it's a million
dollars in damages, and then you know portion it out.
So what percentage responsibility was the plaintiff, you know, the
person who got hurt? They say forty percent? Right, so
(12:50):
then she so forty percent comes off the top of
one million dollars, that's six hundred thousand dollars left.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yes, So it's connect and it's connected to the money.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
And it's connected to the money.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, yeah, it's the percentage of life ability the jury
believes that you are in any situation like that, I mean, yeah.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
Yeah, correct, yeah, And so so I could do that
math in my head. So that's why I use those numbers, but.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
I definitely get the idea.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, man, this is crazy. What a precedent to set.
Speaker 6 (13:16):
I mean, it's a big shift from the cases we
saw in the early two thousands, for sure.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Like what a precedent set.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
When I heard this case, at first, I was like, well,
I can see this on land, because you have the
ability to get into a car and kill somebody, including yourself.
But on a cruise ship, the worst thing you do
is stumble into a doorway on your way back, or
I guess maybe stumble into an area and fall down
a staircase.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I guess that's possible as well. But I mean, well, this.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Is self harmed too.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
You know, in the car scenario, you're really worried about
hurting somebody else, Like you get into a car and
you hinting somebody else. I mean, sure, we don't want
you hurting yourself either, But on a cruise ship, it's
not like you're getting behind the wheel this cruise ship
and steering it into an iceberg.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
R But theoretically, had she fallen out of like all
her balcony and really become hurt, I mean, so that
would have been a different scenario to the other. Now,
they would have been also maybe you know, liable for
at least part of her injuries and that and I mean,
how bad were her injuries in the staircase fall.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
She had a cervical neck injury, so okay, it was
a fairly significant neck injury.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
But you know, to your point, what.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
Where's a safe place on a cruise whe where somebody's drunk, Like,
where does it end?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I mean, let me tell you something.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
That could be much more dangerous than the stairway.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I mean, you know all these people, I mean, everybody
in the room's cruise Amy, We was just talking about.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
It a couple of breaks ago.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
When you go to these atrium areas in the middle
of these ships, I mean you can you could fall
forty five feet just off of like an area that
looks down onto the main drag there, the main area
where everybody gathers, usually where the piano bar is and
the marketini bar is in the main gathering area, usually
on the fourth or fifth floor. Well, that thing's open
up until like the six or seventh floor, so it'd
(14:48):
be no problem for you to tumble over that thing.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
In full.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
My guess is that they probably have like a drunk
tank on the cruise ships now where they just stash
you down there and hang out.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
To and by the way, do we also know is
there any video of her behavior? Another thing on cruise
ships is there are video cameras everywhere everywhere, so there's
no video evidence of her behavior. Was she asking for drinks?
Was she was her behavior showing that she was drunk.
A lot of people can handled their liquor quite well.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
I think I saw one of the articles I was
reading that there was some video of her being served.
Whether or not she was, I don't know causing a rocket.
I don't know about the other thing too, dude.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I mean, it's not like this is the first person
a bartender on a cruise ship has ever served. They're
serving a different group of the thousands of people every
eight days.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I mean four days. It could be two days, I
guess three days, it could be.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
And people act differently and hold their liquor differently, so
it's difficult to tell. Maybe they didn't realize that she
was well, she already had twelve shots.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
Well, this is like a day drinking thing too. This
started like two o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
All the way it'sposed to.
Speaker 6 (15:55):
O'clock at night, so you know, to your point, like,
there's not probably one bartender who's serving that one person
over an eight hour period.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, it's rare to say in one place. I mean
one of the things is bar hopping.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
On those cruise you go up to the back deck
to watch the sailway, then you know the front deck
because the steel drum is there.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Then you go downstairs because the rock band's playing.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
You may be a steel drum guy, but you rarely
get a couple of drinks from the same place.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
You're just kind of buzzing around, you know.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Good case man, very interesting. Yeah, you see what happens
on the peel.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah for sure. Right four oh seven nine one six
four one.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
You can always text us at seven seven zero three ones,
take a little break, will come back to a few
more minutes with Ray and Amy and get the hell
out of here.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
On a Monday
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