MIAMI – A woman recently filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Carnival Corp. after allegedly suffering an injury while aboard a cruise ship owned by the company.
Debora Hutchinson filed the suit May 29 claiming her injuries, including a damaged rotator cuff, were the result of the company’s negligence and that the duty of care owed to her was violated.
The suit claims the injury occurred when Hutchinson stepped off an elevator and tripped over an elevated threshold on July 22, 2017.
Her suit claims the injuries could have been avoided if warning signs had marked the threshold and adds that the design of the threshold was negligent to begin with.
“The incident occurred due to the unsafe design and condition of the elevator area flooring, including the raised threshold, and the negligent failure of Carnival to maintain the area, and Carnival’s negligent failure to correct the dangerous raised threshold and/or warn plaintiff of the aforementioned dangerous condition," the complaint reads.
Hutchinson argues that Carnival is liable because her injury was foreseeable and business owners have a duty to warn their customers of hazards that they’re likely to encounter at their place of business. The complaint also claims that Carnival should have known that the raised threshold was a hazard because of previous incidents on the same ship and other ships.
“Defendant knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known, that its passengers and business invitees, including plaintiff, would encounter the raised threshold in the normal course of their usage of the vessel’s facilities. Defendant, therefore, had a duty to warn of this dangerous condition,” the complaint states.
Hutchinson is seeking damages over $75,000 as well attorney’s fees and other costs. She is being represented by Jessica Quiggle of Billera Law of Boca Raton.