A man died during a Carnival cruise getaway. Carnival tried to get the following lawsuit tossed
A Miami federal court judge was able to deny the motion of Carnival Corporation to dismiss the lawsuit filed the family of the departed Jeffrey Eisenmann who died due to heart attack on December 2018 cruise.
The lawsuit filed accuses the Carnival Sunshine crew of heartless behavior of keeping the late Jeffrey Eisenmann from getting the necessary medical care after the unfortunate incident. This accusation must be answered by the Carnival Corporation no later than December 31. The Carnival Cruise Line spokesperson was able to deliver an email to the Miami Herald stating that they will provide further comments on the filed complaint by December 31.
The family of Eisenmann blamed the negligence of the Carnival Sunshine Crew not only on the medical side but also on the non-medical aspects. In addition to that is the intentional infliction of the emotional distress following the said incident.
The Carnival Corporate defended their crew saying that their conduct wasn’t offensive enough for the said emotional distress claim being filed by the Eisenmann family. Besides, the said claim was preempted by stipulated Death on the High Seas Act. This law includes compensation for the families of the person who died by either accident or mishap while onboard certain ship.
James Lawrence King, the U.S District Court Senior Judge disagreed on the statement given by the Carnival that it’s not outrageous enough to file the emotional distress argument. Also, he rejected the improper shotgun pleadings dispute. His conclusion regarding this is that lawsuit properly differentiate the negligence claim and emotional distress.
The lawsuit was initiated by Linda Eisenmann, Jeffrey’s wife together with their children, Ryan and Julie Eisenmann. They state that the onboard ship doctor was able to diagnose Jeffrey Eisenmann which is 65 years old, of having a major heart attack. With that, it needs to be flown as soon as possible to Miami. However, the ship was currently docked in Grand Turk specifically in Turks and Caicos. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a cardiac unit.
The suit also declares that the Eisenmanns had bought insurance for air travel in case such an emergency will occur. Besides, it also alleges the Carnival’s Passenger Bill of Rights which denotes that the passengers have the right to get off at certain dock of essential provisions which is associated with medical care. The Carnival Sunshine left the Grand Turk at approximately two hours after the heart attack diagnosis wherein all of the Eisenmanns were still onboard. The deceased family was told that there’s another passenger that needs to be medically embarked before Jeffrey Eisenmann. Unfortunately, he died before the ship reached the next port, San Juan in Puerto Rico which is exactly 21 hours later.