Cruise Ship Passenger Dies Due To Negligence, Carnival Cruise Line Wants Lawsuit Dismissed

In a setback to Carnival Cruise, a Miami federal court judge refused its motion for dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the family of Jeffrey Eisenmann who died of a heart attack during a Carnival cruise in December 2018.

The lawsuit accused the Carnival Sunshine crew of callous behavior and refusal of access to better care by keeping the patient on board after the heart attack. It failed to airlift the dying passenger, the family alleged.

The ruling mandates Carnival must answer before Dec. 31, per latest news.

Reacting to the legal challenge, Carnival Cruise Line spokesman told Miami Herald that it will “respond to the complaint by the Dec. 31 deadline and reserve further comment at this time.”

The Eisenmann family blamed the Carnival Sunshine crew for causing the death and alleged “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

Carnival's resolution argued the conduct of its personnel was never “outrageous” to cause any emotional distress.

The Death On the High Seas Act mandates cruise lines have to compensate families of passengers dying in accidents.

On the charge of negligence, Carnival’s lawyers wanted the lawsuit's dismissal on the ground of “improper ‘shotgun’ pleadings that group multiple theories of liability in each count.”

But the U.S. District Court Senior Judge James Lawrence King was not swayed and dismissed claims of Carnival saying the conduct had been described “adequately and pleads it as extreme and outrageous.”

The lawsuit alleges denial of airlifting service

The lawsuit by Linda Eisenmann, Jeffrey’s wife accused that despite the ship’s doctor diagnosing that Jeffrey, 65 suffered a “major heart attack” and needs to be flown to Miami, the assistance never came.

When this suggestion came in, the ship was at Grand Turk, where no cardiac unit was available. It left Grand Turk after two hours, keeping Eisenmann on board.

The family was told that another passenger had to be disembarked before considering Jeffrey's case. Before the ship reached San Juan, Puerto Rico, nearly 21 hours later, and Jeffrey's death happened.

The suit said it was a denial of airlifting despite Eisenmanns having an insurance cover to meet air transport expenses during an emergency.

Also, Carnival’s Passenger Bill of Rights is explicit that passengers can go off at a dock of “essential provisions,” such as medical care.

Meanwhile, Carnival Cruise Line added the 27th cruise ship named Carnival Panorama to the fleet. Its inaugural cruise was held last week and it became the first new ship of Carnival to mark a start on the West Coast in 20 years.

Among the grand features of Carnival Panorama include Sky Zone trampoline park replacing IMAX found in other Vista-class ships, per Cruise Fever report.

Meanwhile, CNN reported the rise of Dubai as the Miami of the East in terms of cruise demand. Some 7,000 miles east of Miami, Dubai, it said Dubai has made its claim as a new capital of cruising.

Dubai's Mina Rashid Cruise Terminal is quite popular and attracted 850,000 visitors with cruise deals in the 2018/19 season.

In this winter season stretching from October to April, Dubai cruise is aiming one million visitors for the first time.

Brilliant winter sunshine and easy access to European airports have made Dubai a great retreat for cruisers to escape the cold winter, the report added.