Last week, a 27 year-old visitor filed a lawsuit towards Princess Cruises and Park West Gallery alleging that an artwork auctioneer raped her on the Sky Princess cruise ship. The lady contends that an worker of the artwork concessionaire, Park West Gallery, raped her in a closet on the ship whereas she was drunk. The Daily Beast first reported the alleged crime.
Allegations within the Lawsuit
The younger lady subsequently realized that she contracted HIV through the shipboard rape. The Daily Beast reported yesterday that the go well with alleges that:
” . . . she was shoved right into a closet by the assailant, who raped her. Despite being too intoxicated to combat him off, the plaintiff repeatedly stated no in line with the lawsuit; days later, after experiencing irregular signs, she went to get examined by medical professionals and was recognized with HIV in February of 2022. ‘Plaintiff did not have any type of sexual contact with another person since early 2020,” thereby confirming that the rape led to plaintiff’s HIV prognosis, the go well with states.’”
The visitor is represented by Miami maritime lawyer Michael Winkleman of the Lipcon regulation agency.
Cruise Line Face Strict Vicarious Liability for Shipboard Crimes
Under governing U.S. maritime regulation, homeowners and operators of cruise ships could also be legally accountable when ship staff of the cruise line or shipboard concessionaires commit crimes towards passengers on the ship. In Doe v. Celebrity Cruises, 394 F.3d 891 (eleventh Cir. 2004), the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal held that beneath federal maritime regulation, a cruise line is strictly liable when a crew member sexually assaults a passenger throughout a cruise, whether or not the cruise firm employed the rapist or whether or not the cruise ship concessionaire employed the crew member which is the case right here..
According to the Daily Beast, Park West Gallery operates on over 90 luxurious cruise vessels run by Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Princess Cruises and others.
The lawsuit alleges that each Princess Cruises and the artwork concessionaire have been negligent, and that the cruise line was vicariously responsible for the prison conduct of the artwork auctioneer.
If the visitor proves {that a} non-consensual crime occurred, Princess Cruises can be legally chargeable for the shipboard rape despite the fact that it didn’t instantly make use of the assailant nor did it have discover that he may commit the crime.
Shipboard Rapes Are the Most Frequent Crimes on Cruise Ships Reported to the Department of Transportation
Sexual assaults are the commonest crimes on cruise ships reported to the Department of Transportation (DOT). In 2010, Congress handed the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act which required, for the primary time, that cruise traces should report sure crimes, together with sexual assaults, that occur on their ships.
From January 2019 by March 31, 2021 (when the cruise trade was shut down on the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic), there have been 100 and twenty-nine (129) rapes reported on U.S. primarily based cruise ships in line with the DOT crime information. Of this quantity, there have been fifty-three (53) rapes on Carnival Cruise Line ships, thirty-three (33) rapes on Royal Caribbean operated cruise ships, seventeen (17) rapes on NCL ships and 4 (4) rapes on Princess Cruises ships reported to the DOT. Most such alleged intercourse crimes on cruises go unprosecuted.
Our agency has dealt with over 100 and twenty-five instances the place girls and youngsters have been sexually assaulted throughout cruises.
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Image credit score: Sky Princess – antonio / Flicker marantoni, CC BY 2.0 commons wikimedia (cropped).