The Houston Chronicle released a feature on LM&W covering our class-action lawsuit against Carnival for the Feb. 10 fire that erupted in the vessel’s engine room, leaving the ship without power and those onboard in dire conditions.
The lawsuit was filed on Feb. 18 in United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, on behalf of passengers Matt and Melissa Crusan, of Oklahoma, and over 100 other victims who were subjected to horrendous and unsanitary conditions aboard the vessel from Feb. 10 -14, including non-working toilets, overflowing sewage and human waste, as well as were given meager and spoiling food.
Michael A. Winkleman, a trial and appellate attorney at our firm, explained that the majority of Triumph victims who have joined the class-action are from Texas, where the ship originally set sail from.
Our suit claims that Carnival Corp. was aware that the Triumph was prone to mechanical problems, yet negligently allowed the vessel to sail with over 3,000 passengers onboard. As a result of the fire knocking power out across the ship, passengers “…were generally forced to live in squalid conditions that created a severe risk of injury, illness and/or disease,” reads the suit.
The feature in the Houston Chronicle also details how our class-action suit notes that Carnival’s decision to tow the Triumph to Mobile, instead of the much closer port of Progreso, Mexico, caused those onboard – both passengers and crewmembers – to endure unnecessary extra time aboard the vessel amidst deplorable conditions.
