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Costa Concordia Captain Claims Ship Hit Uncharted Rocks

The Costa Concordia captain claims he hit uncharted rocks. As this story suggests, these waters are well known and it would seem patently absurd the ship hit anything uncharted.  There will be physical evidence of the Costa Concordia's collision on the rocks which will conclusively establish that what sank the ship was on the charts.  As noted in the news report, there will surely be criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits against Carnival Cruise lines and its affiliate together with the Captain, Francesco Schettino, to achieve some level of justice for what may turn out to be criminally negligent conduct.

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Preliminary Analysis of How The Costa Concordia May Have Went Down

The CNN story is a good preliminary analysis of what may have happened causing the ship to list and ultimately list and then sink. The significant fact is that had there been a prompt assessment of the ship damage the evacuation could have occurred long before it became so difficult for the lifeboats to be boarded and launched. The analysis demonstrates there should have been more than adequate time to have everyone evacuated from the ship before it filled with water, listed, and began sinking.

It would seem once there was any evidence of a hole below the waterline that orders should have been given for all passengers to go on deck and get ready to abandon ship. The investigators will come up with a similar analysis to determine the reasons for the seeming delay in the order to abandon the Costa Concordia.

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Missing & Deceased Passengers on the Costa Concordia Named: Two United States Passengers Still Missing

Costa Concordia Disaster:   Lawyers, cruise ship experts and the press continue to investigate the cause of the Costa Concordia cruise ship accident.  Authorities have now released details of the passengers still missing after the Carnival cruise line Costa Concordia cruise ship accident, including 2 from the United States, Barbara Heil and Gerald Heil.  There is still no count for the number of people injured in the accident. Minor physical injuries are likely in the hundreds and emotion injuries likely in the thousands. Our cruise ship accident attorneys have worked with dozens of passengers injured in cruise ship accidents like this one.  Often the emotional scars are life changing.

• 12 of the victims are German - Elisabeth Bauer, Horst Galle, Christina Mathi Ganz, Norbert Josef Ganz, Gabriele Grube, Egon Hoer, Margarethe Neth, Inge Schall, Siglinde Stumpf, Brunhild Werp, Josef Werp and Margrit Schroeter.

• 5 Italians are missing - Dayana Arlotti, William M Arlotti, Maria Dintrono, Maria Grazia Trecarichi, and Luisa Antonia Virzi.

• 4 French victims are still missing - Michael M Blemand, Jeanne Gannard, Pierre Gregoire, and Mylene Litzler.

• 3 crew member victims have not been found - Italian Girolamo Giuseppe, Russel Terence Rebello from India and Erika Fani Soriamolina of Peru.

• Crew member Sandor Feher, from Hungary, died inside the vessel.

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Can a Lawsuit in the Costa Concordia Cruise Liner Crash be brought in the United States?

Victims of the Costa Concordia Cruise Liner accident are wondering whether or not they can file a lawsuit and claim damages in the United States, given the fact that the ship is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines here in the United States.  Reportedly, there were 125 passengers on board.  The passage contract for the Concordia Cruise Ship specifies Italy as the venue for any litigation, but these passage contract venue provisions are subject to challenge in court.  Given the relative large number of U.S. passengers reportedly on board, 125, it is extremely likely that this issue will come up before a U.S. Court in Miami, Florida.  It may be extremely inconvenient and cost prohibitive for United States victims of the cruise liner accident to file their cases outside the United States.  It may also be more convenient to litigate in Miami, Florida, where Carnival typically specifies venue for these cruise ship accidents, given the large number of United States victims who will be seeking compensation and damages, including potential punitive damages, for what appears now to be, at a minimum, gross negligence, reckless disregard for safety and perhaps even intentional misconduct by the captain, Francesco Schettino. 

If you have a question about your rights as a passenger who was on the Costa Concordia Cruise Ship, contact one of our cruise ship attorneys for more information.  An experienced cruise ship lawyer can help you understand:

1. What your rights to compensation may be as a victim of the Costa Concordia Cruise Line disaster. 
2. Whether or not you have to suffer a physical injury in order to receive compensation and damages.
3. What constitutes a “physical injury” under maritime law, and whether or not that provision in the passage contract is enforceable?
4. The potential punitive damages which you might be able to recover as a result of the gross negligence, reckless and potentially intentional misconduct by the captain and crew.  
5. Where your case may be filed, albeit, Italy or Miami, Florida.
6. What your rights as a family member may be if your loved one died on the Costa Concordia Cruise Ship as a result of the listing and eventual sinking of that vessel. 

Swiss Survivors of the Costa Concordia Disaster Detail Events

The Telegraph article below indicates more aggravating circumstances that will cost dearly Carnival Cruise Ships who owns the company that operated the Costa Concordia.  Swiss survivors detail that the Celine Dion’s Titanic theme from the latest movie was playing as the cruise ship hit the rocks.  It also references in related articles that the captain, who is accused of abandoning the ship before making sure that all of the passengers were evacuated, claims that he tripped and fell into a lifeboat as the reason for his early exit from the disaster.  Swiss survivors detail in the article the complete lack of any crew assistance in launching the lifeboats and providing any assistance in abandoning the ship.  The only help appeared to be kitchen staff.  One Swiss survivor commented that they had never seen such a display of incompetence, unawareness and irresponsibility related to the conduct of the crew in the face of the disaster.

The pending criminal charges against the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, who claims to have tripped and fallen into a lifeboat for his escape and the pervasive claims of incompetence and lack of any assistance in evacuating the ship, will surely weigh in favor of passenger claims for punitive damages against Carnival Cruise Line’s operating subsidiary Costa Cruises.   Crew ship lawyers and attorneys will surely seize upon the abundance of information suggesting criminal gross negligence that occurred relative to the grounding and sinking of the ship together with the lack of organization in the evacuation of the sinking ship.

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Michigan Couple Survives Costa Concordia Disaster

A Port Huron, Michigan area physician and his wife survived the Costa Concordia Italian cruise ship disaster and are back in the United States discussing their harrowing experience. 

In a recent story in The Times Herald | Port Huron, the couple described how they attempted several times to leave the ship in a lifeboat, but were instructed to get out of the boat by the cruise ship staff several times; suggesting a delay in the evacuation of the ship.  The couple describes sitting in a lifeboat in 40-degree weather with little or no assistance from the cruise ship line or American Embassy during the ordeal.  Mr. and Mrs. Ledtke described the experience as a “conglomeration of errors”, suggesting that there is no reason that anyone should have died.  It will be interesting to ultimately know further detail from the Ledtkes concerning the conglomeration of errors by Costa Cruises that led to the deaths of so many people.  Two Americans remain among the missing from the disaster.  It will be worth further investigation concerning all of the reasons for the delays in getting the passengers off the ship before it capsized.