A man died during a Carnival cruise. Carnival tried to get the ensuing lawsuit tossed
A Miami federal court judge denied Carnival Corp.’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the family of Jeffrey Eisenmann, who died of a heart attack during a December 2018 cruise.
Wednesday’s ruling means the lawsuit, which accuses Carnival Sunshine crew of callous behavior of keeping Eisenmann from getting proper medical care after the heart attack, must be answered by Carnival on or before Dec. 31.
“We will respond to the complaint by the Dec. 31 deadline and reserve further comment at this time,” read an email to the Miami Herald from a Carnival Cruise Line spokesman.
The Eisenmanns blamed negligence of Carnival Sunshine crew, both medical and non-medical, and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
Carnival said the crew’s conduct wasn’t “outrageous” enough for an emotional distress claim, and that the claim was preempted by the Death On the High Seas Act, which provides compensation for families of people who die by accident or mishap. Marineinjury.com says damages are limited to pecuniary loss, “damages that can be calculated with some degree of precision.”
As for negligence, Carnival’s lawyers said that should be “dismissed as improper ‘shotgun’ pleadings that group multiple theories of liability in each count.”
U.S. District Court Senior Judge James Lawrence King disagreed with Carnival’s emotional distress argument, stating the conduct described in the lawsuit “adequately pleads extreme and outrageous conduct.”
King also rejected the “improper ‘shotgun’ pleadings” argument. He wrote the lawsuit properly “separates the negligence claim and emotional distress claim into seven different rounds.”
The lawsuit filed by Linda Eisenmann, Jeffrey’s wife, and their children, Julie and Ryan Eisenmann, says the ship’s doctor diagnosed Jeffrey Eisenmann, 65, as having a “major heart attack” and definitely needing to be flown to Miami. The ship was docked in Grand Turk, in the Turks and Caicos, which doesn’t have a cardiac unit.
The suit says the Eisenmanns had bought insurance for air transport in case of just such an emergency. Also, the suit alleges, Carnival’s Passenger Bill of Rights states passengers have the right to get off at a dock of “essential provisions,” such as medical care.
But when the Sunshine left Grand Turk two hours after the heart attack diagnosis, all of the Eisenmanns were still aboard. Their suit says the family was told just before shoving off that another passenger had to be medically disembarked before Jeffrey Eisenmann. He died before the ship reached San Juan, Puerto Rico, 21 hours later.
This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 6:02 PM.
