Cruise Line Passenger Slips In Dining Area

Case Overview

This admiralty case involves a woman who slipped and fell while aboard a cruise ship. On the date of the incident, the plaintiff was walking through a self-service dining area of the oceanliner when she slipped and fell on a wet substance on a tile floor, injuring her right knee and both wrists. The area where the plaintiff fell was located near a high-traffic self-service beverage station, as well as a swimming pool being used by passengers on the ship. At the time of the fall, there was no mat or other liquid-absorbent surface in place at or near the beverage station. In addition, passengers were wearing wet bathing suits in the general vicinity, having recently left the nearby pool. There were no signs alerting passengers to exercise caution when walking through this area due to slippery conditions of the floors, and there were also no crew members stationed near the exit from the pool area, or near the entrance to the self-serve dining room, to ensure that passengers did not enter the dining room in wet bathing suits and drip water on the tile floor. A boating expert was sought to opine on the issue.