Today – Earth Day – is special because our maritime law firm works in a specialized area of the law. Everything we handle is related to the world’s oceans and seas. Earlier today, our superstar legal intern, Caitlin Burke, wrote an excellent article entitled Earth Day – Spotlight on Cruising – A Dirty Business.
We know that
Caitlin Burke returns as a guest blogger today to discuss environmental issues and the cruise industry. We have written many articles about cruise ships and the problem with pollution.
Black water, gray water, oily bilge water, sewage, bunker fuel, smokestack exhaust . . . all discharging and billowing out of cruise ships and into
KBTX in Texas reports that as Carnival’s Ecstasy cruise ship was returning to port in Galveston, the cruise ship listed heavily in order to avoid hitting a buoy which had come loose in the Gulf of Mexico.
Carnival claims that the buoy was mostly submerged and not detected by radar.
According to a passenger, "the ship was shuddering .
Six months ago, I launched Cruise Law News. My goal was to be the go-to source for breaking "cruise law" news with articles filled with with my own unabashed opinion regarding the cruise industry.
The first month I had 964 people stumble upon the blog. I was ecstatic! Thirty people a day actually looked at my blog and took the time to read a few
In a stunning and unexpected end to the trial involving the death of P and O Cruises passenger Dianne Brimble, the prosecution dropped a manslaughter charge against fellow cruise passenger Mark Wilhelm.
Australia’s Herald Sun reports that Wilhelm pled guilty to supplying the date rape drug GHB to Ms. Brimble in exchange for being released from the manslaughter
Just when you think you have seen everything, a story like this comes along.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against a brokerage firm, alleging that it stole $120 million from clients in a series of fraudulent schemes. The money would be diverted into the pockets of some of the principals of the firm to buy luxury
Newspapers in Australia are reporting that the re-trial of Mark Wilhelm, the man charged with the death of cruise passenger Dianne Brimble on the P and O cruise ship Pacific Sky, began today,
Ms. Brimble died in Mr. Wilhelm’s cabin on the P and O cruise ship seven years ago. Ms. Brimble’s death was attributable
The Diario newspaper in Aruba reports on a passenger from Princess Cruises’ Caribbean Princess cruise ship who died in an accident ashore in Aruba.
The unidentified passenger rented a four wheel ATV (all terrain vehicle) and collided with what the newspaper reports is a Dodge Ram pickup truck.
The Cruise Critic website includes several comments by passengers on the cruise who saw
This is reason no. 6 in the series: Top 10 Reasons Not To Cruise
The last place you want to become ill or injured is on a cruise ship far away from a U.S. port.
Cruise ship medical care is limited. Ship doctors are usually from foreign medical schools. The shipboard facilities are often inadequate and the
WRAL television in North Carolina published a story today which reveals how cruise lines protect themselves from passenger claims by severely limiting the passenger’s rights in the cruise tickets.
Entitled "Cruise Passengers Have Few Rights," the article addresses the plight of a family in North Carolina who purchased a family cruise to Grand
This is reason no. 5 in the series: Top 10 Reasons Not To Cruise
If you are retired or a child and die on a cruise ship due to the cruise ship’s negligence, the cruise line will consider your life to be worthless under current maritime law.
Your family will face a law called the Death on
The Alaska Senate approved a measure today which will lower Alaska’s head tax on cruise ship passengers by at least $11.50 a passenger – from $46 to $34.50.
Count this one as a big win for Carnival and it subsidiaries – Princess Cruises and Holland America Line – which are the major polluters of Alaska’s waters.
In exchange for
This is reason no. 4 in the series:Top 10 Reasons Not To Cruise
The primary reason our law firm is in business is because cruise lines mistreat cruise passengers after they have been seriously injured or victimized aboard a cruise ship.
Over 99% of our clients have never filed a lawsuit before, and probably over 50% of our clients
The Vancouver Observer published an interesting article today which addressed, as the newspaper called it, the "moral dilemmas associated with cruise tourism."
The article was entitled the "Cost of Cruising," by Dr. Ross Klein. In addition to addressing the effects of cruise pollution, it raised the issue of crime aboard cruise ship – particularly sexual
This is reason no. 3 in the series: Top 10 Reasons Not To Cruise
In law school, I learned that evidence of a felony or a crime involving dishonesty can be introduced at trial to be considered by the jury to assess a person’s credibility. The same rule of evidence applies equally to corporations, like cruise lines.
Would you do business
The Greenwich Time newspaper reports that a trial scheduled for tomorrow in the disappearance of George Smith IV has been postponed.
The case arises out of the highly publicized disappearance of George Smith who was sailing on Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship, the Brilliance of the Seas, in July 2005.
A year later, the Smith family filed a lawsuit against Royal Caribbean which was dismissed
This is reason no. 2 in the series: Top 10 Reasons Not To Cruise
Imagine owning a business where one of your employees drugged and raped a patron. What would you do?
Would you interrogate the victim before calling the police? Would you tape record the victim without her permission? Would you demand that the victim prepare
It finally happened. After 8 years, my Blackberry finally died. Not a natural death mind you, but due to my negligence in leaving it on a lawn chair Friday evening after I enjoyed a glass of wine with my spouse.
Our sprinkler timer kicked on Saturday morning and, after a 20 minute water cycle, my friend was soaked to
