After the Italian cruise ship, Costa Concordia, crashed in January, the Carnival Corporation reached a settlement agreement with cruise passengers. After the boating accident sparked a number of personal injury lawsuits, the company has agreed to pay each passenger $14,500 (11,000 euros) plus reimbursement for their expenses including the cost of the cruise.
The personal injury lawsuits surrounding the Costa Concordia cruise ship has prompted Carnival Corporation to reach an agreement with consumer groups in Italy, France, Spain and Germany as Carnival Corporation was sued for the first time in the U.S. over the wreck of the Italian cruise ship.
A U.S. complaint was filed in federal court last week by a crewmember alleging negligence and breech of contract. Gary Lobaton, the crewmember responsible for the lawsuit, is seeking a class action to represent all victims of the boating accident.
Concordia's Captain, Francesco Schettino, has been under house arrest since January 17th for allegedly causing the wreck and abandoning the ship. The Captain has stated repeatedly that he was asked to navigate the vessel close to the island to salute Giglio. Although, Italian newspapers state the salute was not authorized.
Schettino is likely to face criminal charges, as Italian attorney Giulia Bonginorno is set to file a complaint on behalf of his clients who are not satisfied with just financial compensation. Bonginorno aims to ask prosecutors to investigate the captain's responsibilities as well as all other responsibilities.
As of now, there are 18 confirmed missing from the Concordia accident near the Italian coastline. The vessel contained about 4,200 passengers and crew and occurred just hours after leaving a port near Rome. According to a Costa spokeswoman, the compensation Carnival is offering is actually higher than the current indemnification limits. However, families of the victims injured and killed will be offered additional compensation.
It is estimated that about 85% of passengers will accept the offer, including expenses, which will correlate to about 42 million euros; however, Italian consumer groups are advising clients to hold out. Several U.S. personal injury firms are putting together a class action lawsuit seeking 125,00 euros per person and more than 1 million euros for serious or death related cases. Carnival has insurance coverage of up to $3 billion.
