On February 10th the Carnival Triumph’s engine room caught fire fire and was quickly extinguished. No one was burned. No one choked and gasped for air. No one died. No family members mourned the loss of their loved ones or buried their dead.
Three weeks later there is a litigation frenzy with lawyers from New York to Miami to Mississippi suing Carnival for billions of dollars.
And you wonder why people hate lawyers.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like the cruise lines. As a former National Transportation Safety Board chairman said, the cruise lines are an "outlaw industry" which suffers from "bad actors."
But suing Carnival if you are not physically injured or seriously sick is wrong, as I have said in other articles.
There are a hoard of lawyers out there soliciting your business who will sue Carnival whether you have bothered to see a doctor or not. Just Google "Triumph cruise lawyer" and see the long line of lawyers asking you to call them, such as:
"Carnival Triumph Lawsuit Attorney" – Video – New York lawyer asking for one billion dollars!
"Carnival Triumph Cruise Ship Lawyer" – Video – Florida lawyer who filed class action lawsuit.
What are these attorneys advocating? None of these lawyers have ever gone to Congress advocating the rights of cruise passengers or crew members injured at sea. Is this just about money?
Contrast this latest Carnival fire on the Triumph with the last fire where a passenger was killed on the Carnival-owned Star Princess cruise ship (above right). Georgia resident Richard Liffridge died when he and his wife, Vicky, tried to crawl down a burning smoke filled hallway as the fire engulfed the ship.
As explained in the LA Times article "Cruise Industry’s Dark Waters:"
"Victoria Liffridge recalled that she and her husband crawled along a passageway filled with thick, black smoke as flames shot above their heads. It was "like being in an oven," she said. The couple became separated. ‘The last words I heard him say were, "Vicky, don’t let me die, she said. Victoria Liffridge crawled to safety, only to be told later that her husband had not survived. When she identified his body it was covered in soot from head to toe."
Mr. Liffridge left behind his wife, four children and many grandchildren.
We represented the Liffridge family. Richard’s daughter, Lynnette, joined the International Cruise Victims organization and testified before Congress regarding the cruise ship fire. She demanded changes to protect future cruisers. She later boarded the same cruise ship where her father died and made certain that the ship was retrofitted with sprinkler systems and heat detectors which were lacking from the ship’s balconies where the fire started which killed her father.
Will anyone of the inconvenienced passengers on the Triumph call on their Congressional representatives and ask for a Congressional hearing about cruise ship safety like Lynnette did? Will anyone travel to Washington D.C. at their own expense to hold the cruise lines accountable? Will anyone demand changes on the cruise ships to protect the public? Will anyone work behind the scenes and board the Triumph and see with-their-own-eyes if anything has been done to ensure the safety of the next families who will cruise on the ship?
Or is this just a lawsuit money-grab for a few thousand dollars and a free Carnival cruise?
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