Jury Awards $300,000 to Woman Who Drank 14 Tequila Shots on Carnival Cruise Ship
A Miami federal jury awarded Diana Sanders $300,000 after finding Carnival corporation liable for injuries she sustained from being over-served alcohol on a Carnival Radiance cruise. The six-person panel found that Sanders was served at least 14 shots of tequila over about eight and a half hours and that Carnival crew should have cut her off or supervised her more closely. The verdict allocated 60% of the fault to Carnival and 40% to Sanders, and the award exceeded the initial request of $250,000.Sanders, a 45-year-old nurse, was on the January 5, 2024 voyage and reportedly suffered a fall late at night, resulting in a concussion and other injuries.Carnival representatives saeid they disagree with the verdict and will pursue a new trial and appeal, arguing that Sanders did not adequately identify the crew member or the bar involved and that there is insufficient proof she was intoxicated, while Sanders claimed Carnival initially refused access to video evidence. The case illustrates that overservice claims rarely go to trial, and an appeal is anticipated.
A woman who sued Carnival Corp. for serving her too much alcohol was awarded $300,000 by a jury in Miami last week, after the company was found liable for injuries she sustained while overly intoxicated.
The Miami Herald reported that a six-person federal jury found the company liable after learning the plaintiff was served at least 14 shots of tequila over an eight-and-a-half-hour period, making Carnival Corp. responsible for the injuries she suffered while onboard the ship.
The award exceeded the original $250,000 request that was made during the trial, according to the woman’s attorney, Spencer Aronfeld, who spoke with the news outlet.
He said cases like these rarely go to trial and that it’s even more unlikely for a big company to be found liable.
“It’s hard to get to trial, period,” Aronfeld explained. “I’ve had many overservice cases that have settled, but none that went the full distance.”
A representative for the cruise company said Tuesday that “Carnival Corporation respectfully disagrees with the verdict and believes there are grounds for a new trial and appeal, which it will pursue.”
The jury said crew members had a duty to exercise caution in the interest of passenger safety and should have cut her off.
This included “the responsibility… to supervise and/or assist passengers aboard the vessel who Carnival knew, or should have known, were engaging, or were likely to engage in behavior potentially dangerous to themselves or others aboard the vessel,” according to court documents.
When asked to outline the percentage of blame between the cruise company and the plaintiff, the jury wrote that 60 percent lies with Carnival Cruise and 40 percent lies with the woman, Diana Sanders.
Sanders, 45, works as a nurse and was reportedly a passenger on the Carnival Radiance ship back on Jan. 5, 2024.
She was served the alcohol from around 3:00 p.m. until a little after 11:30 p.m. local time.
“Due to her inebriated state that was caused by this over-service of alcohol… D.S. suffered a severe fall” between 11:45 p.m. and 20 minutes past midnight, the complaint stated.
The fall resulted in “severe injuries, including, but not limited to, a concussion, headaches, a possible traumatic brain injury, back injuries, tailbone injuries, bruising, and other injuries.”
CBS News reported that Sanders said the cruise company “gave me conflicting information.”
“They treated me like a criminal. I was very concerned they would not tell me exactly what happened to me,” she claimed.
Sanders said she filed the lawsuit because the company wouldn’t give her access to video evidence of what happened.
“Come to find out they had all the tapes right before but nothing afterwards, and they will not show us what happened that day,” Sanders added.
An appeal indeed appears likely, however, given the defense’s argument that Sanders failed to “identify any crew member who over-served her or which bar she consumed alcohol at for Carnival to have the ability to identify its bartenders,” according to court filings.
“Therefore, the over-service of alcohol count should be dismissed for failure to sufficiently identify a negligent employee.”
Carnival’s attorneys also argued that Sanders “does not sufficiently allege that any crew member knew or should have known that Plaintiff was intoxicated.”
“There are no allegations regarding Plaintiff stumbling, sleeping at a bar, slurring her words, or exhibiting any other intoxicated-like behaviors,” they concluded.
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