Actual Case $55,000 verdict for the pain and suffering component of the verdict for a man who was injured and sued Royal Caribbean. This is not my case.
However, I have several cruise ship slip and fall cases and Florida slip and fall claims. The injured man claimed that his slip and fall caused a herniated disc and rotator cuff tear.
He claimed that he slipped and fell on a Royal Caribbean gangway (walkway) when it was raining. A gangway is a raised platform or walkway providing a passage.
The total verdict was for more than $55,000 but I want to focus on the amount awarded for pain and suffering because this is what most people want to know.
Understanding a jury verdict in a personal injury case may help you know how much your injury case is worth.
The man was a cleaner and argued that the gangway was way too slippery when wet, and that Royal Caribbean should have given warnings of this danger.
Royal Caribbean argued that the cleaner should have been paying better attention, and said that the man’s injuries were not caused by the fall. The jury found the cleaner to be 30% at fault. The case is Daniel v. Royal Caribbean Cruises. The verdict was in 2008.
My thoughts: I do not know how much money was awarded for the herniated disc vs. how much money was given for the torn rotator cuff.
It is tough to know whether the amounts awarded for pain and suffering were at the low end of the settlement range for a rotator cuff tear that I use as starting point, and the low end of the settlement value that I use as a starting point for pain and suffering for a herniated disc in a Florida accident.
The fact that the cleaner was only found 30% at fault for the accident is very good for him given that it was raining at the time of the accident.
I am not sure how old the cleaner was but the older that you are the more likely Royal Caribbean (or any company that you have a claim against for your injuries) will argue that it is an old rotator cuff tear that you had before the accident.
You can then argue that even if the rotator cuff tear was there before the accident, the accident worsened it.
Slip and fall cases are more difficult when it is raining at the time of the accident. Another case that involved a slip and fall when it was raining was for shopper who was awarded $1,000,000 in pain and suffering along for a knee fracture at Costco when she slipped and fell on the entrance to the store in the rain.
Even if you are not an employee of a cruise ship (like the man was in this case), a passenger still can make a claim for medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering if you can prove that the cruise ship did something wrong that caused your accident and injuries. You should be aware that you have a very short time to make an injury claim against a cruise ship.
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