The world’s largest cruise company, Carnival Corp., has been found liable for injuries a Miami woman suffered while onboard during a fall, and been ordered to pay her nearly $350,000 in damages.

A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami issued the ruling earlier this month. The decision is unusual, as lawsuits against cruise companies seldom go to trial.

The plaintiff, Vivian Ruiz Rondon, a Miami resident, tripped and fell while on board the Carnival Celebration ship on May 12, 2023. She did so while walking into a threshold, an elevated piece of metal between passenger hallways and the ship’s doors.

She was awarded damages of $344,051.24 — a hefty sum, but far less than the nearly $14 million initially requested.

“Rondon undoubtedly deserves some damages,” Judge Roy Altman wrote in his Sept. 4 ruling.

“The Defendant, after all, agrees that she suffered three sets of serious injuries from her fall: a fractured right arm; a dislocated right shoulder; and partial tears to two rotator-cuff tendons (the subscapularis and the infraspinatus.)”

Carnival and victim’s repsonses

“We are considering the judgment, as well as the available options, to determine next steps,” a Carnival Corporation & plc spokesperson said in emailed statement to the Miami Herald when asked for reaction to the outcome.

The ruling against Doral-based Carnival on liability was “crystal clear,” John H. Hickey, the plaintiff’s lead attorney and founder of Miami-based Hickey Law Firm, said in an interview with the Herald. “My client feels vindicated.”

But he acknowledged that on the amount of damages, “the judge didn’t see it our way.”

Carnival Celebration passenger

Vivian Ruiz Rondon, 62 and a Miami resident, planned for a relaxing cruise to the Caribbean in May 2023. The Carnival Celebration ship, which holds as many as 5,200 passengers, called PortMiami its home port, and sailed to the Eastern and Western Caribbean.

On May 12, 2023, she was onboard, at sea.

Doorways throughout cruise ships at the ends of hallways usually have a threshold, a metal plate that sits on a doorframe. The threshold is supposed to be secured to the floor.

When carpet is on both sides, it should be aligned. If not, gaps can emerge between the carpet and threshold.

“Carnival ... allowed a large gap to exist between the carpet and the threshold on Deck 12 on board the Carnival Celebration on May 12, 2023,” the plaintiff said in their original complaint, filed on Jan. 19, 2024.

And it didn’t mark the area as “dangerous” or block it off. It was too small to see if you were walking, Rondon alleged.

“As a direct result, Rondon tripped and fell,” the complaint said. “Her right sandal and foot got trapped in the large gap between the carpet and the metal of the loose open doorway threshold causing Rondon to fall.”

As she fell, “her sandal stayed trapped in the gap between the carpet and the threshold. Rondon extended her right arm out in front of her to try to catch her fall. (She) was unable to catch herself and instead fell forward onto her right arm and shoulder and hit her forehead on the ground.”

Throughout the case, Carnival’ attorneys maintained the cruise line wasn’t at fault and passed off blame to Rondon.

Represented by attorneys at Fowler White Burnett, P.A., the company said in a court filing that, “Carnival and its crew members did not owe Plaintiff a duty to warn because the alleged dangerous condition was open and obvious, and Plaintiff could have and should have perceived same through the use of her own senses.”

They argued, “Plaintiff’s own negligence was the sole proximate cause of her injuries and damages.”

This case is significant because while cruise companies typically use a similar defense, it’s not common for them to lose in court. It’s not common that complaints against them even make it to trial. Companies prefer to reach settlements, in part because such agreements are required to be kept confidential.

“The normal practice is to settle,” Martin Davies, Niels F. Johnson chair in Maritime Law and director of the Maritime Law Center at Tulane University Law School, said in an interview with the Herald.

Over 90% of civil cases do so, including those against cruise companies, said Davies, who wasn’t involved with this case. “The number of cases that go to trial is very small.”

In slip-and-fall cases, there are no independent official statistics maintained. So it’s unclear if it’s a growing problem.

Hickey, the plaintiff’s lead attorney, said they’re aware of at least eight other cases on the Carnival Celebration between its first voyage from PortMiami on Nov. 21, 2022, and Rondon’s cruise.

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