Cruise Ship Litigation: Defendants Allowed to Pick Forums, Lower SOLs and not Produce Employee Witnesses
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It’s hard enough to go through the process of filing a law suit against a defendant that stays in one city, state, or country. Things get complicated if you try to proceed against a mobile one. A defendant corporation whose business is travel can be complicated to deal with, and if you have entered into a previous contract with such a corporation, you may be bound by further restrictions. Cruise ship corporations provide a fitting example.
Before you go on a cruise, the ship mandates a specific jurisdiction through your passenger ticket, which has been deemed a contract. This means they get to specify the one and only place (even which Court) where anyone can sue them. The jurisdiction is usually Southern District of Florida (in Miami) for major cruise lines. Passengers are also bound to the jurisdiction, or choice of forum determined by the defendant cruise line. Even though you can fight to move the forum to a location closer to your home using forum non convenient arguments, the cruise line has the advantage. Your ticket is essentially a contract you "negotiated", so if you are injured on your trip and choose to file a suit, you are subject to certain restrictions. For example, the statute of limitation in cases against cruise lines is only one year as opposed to the three usually granted by maritime law or four in Florida negligence cases. This restricted time period makes it difficult to get your affairs in order and decide how to proceed.
Because the defendant cruise line gets to choose the forum, it would seem fair that they should comply with the necessities of the litigation process, like providing their subpoenaed employees as witnesses. However, because of the international travel associated with the cruise ship business, employees are often outside the jurisdiction of the courts. In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Kloster Cruise Limited, the court considered a ship’s business operation within the borders of another country to interfere with its ability to enforce the plaintiff’s subpoenas of employee witnesses. The cost and inconvenience of transporting employees, especially on the short notice that may be allowed before a court date, a defendant may not have to produce their employees at the request of the plaintiff. Even though they have had the opportunity to choose the venue, legal nuances make it difficult for the plaintiff’s necessary witnesses to be brought to court. In other words, a corporation can hide witnesses from you by re-assigning them to foreign details. In a case we have right now, we must travel to eight different ports of call to take depositions on a Saturday or Sunday of the defendant's own employees who they named as potential witnesses. The ports of call are Galveston, Texas, California, New York, UK, Australia, San Juan, Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale. This ends up costing the client a lot of money in the end. Even to arrange a video conference is substantially more expensive on weekends and across continents. Does seem like the Plaintiff should have to pay for this when they didn't choose the forum or Court where the suit is brought.
For all of these reasons, it is important that you contact an attorney who understands the nuances of cruise ship litigation as soon as possible if you are injured. This way, you can ensure that your suit will be filed within the restricted time period and that everything possible will be done to work through the legal restrictions associated with such a case. Meanwhile, legislators must change the laws that allow cruise lines to have the dual advantage of choosing the venue for trial and escaping subpoenas.