Final week, a 27 year-old visitor filed a lawsuit towards Princess Cruises and Park West Gallery alleging that an artwork auctioneer raped her on the Sky Princess cruise ship. The lady contends that an worker of the artwork concessionaire, Park West Gallery, raped her in a closet on the ship whereas she was drunk. The Each day Beast first reported the alleged crime.
Allegations within the Lawsuit
The younger girl subsequently realized that she contracted HIV throughout the shipboard rape. The Each day Beast reported yesterday that the go well with alleges that:
” . . . she was shoved right into a closet by the assailant, who raped her. Regardless of being too intoxicated to struggle him off, the plaintiff repeatedly stated no based on the lawsuit; days later, after experiencing irregular signs, she went to get examined by medical professionals and was recognized with HIV in February of 2022. ‘Plaintiff didn’t have any sort of sexual contact with one other particular person since early 2020,” thereby confirming that the rape led to plaintiff’s HIV analysis, the go well with states.’”
The visitor is represented by Miami maritime lawyer Michael Winkleman of the Lipcon legislation agency.
Cruise Line Face Strict Vicarious Legal responsibility for Shipboard Crimes
Beneath governing U.S. maritime legislation, house owners and operators of cruise ships could also be legally accountable when ship staff of the cruise line or shipboard concessionaires commit crimes towards passengers on the ship. In Doe v. Celeb Cruises, 394 F.3d 891 (eleventh Cir. 2004), the Eleventh Circuit Court docket of Enchantment held that underneath federal maritime legislation, a cruise line is strictly liable when a crew member sexually assaults a passenger throughout a cruise, whether or not the cruise firm employed the rapist or whether or not the cruise ship concessionaire employed the crew member which is the case right here..
In keeping with the Each day Beast, Park West Gallery operates on over 90 luxurious cruise vessels run by Royal Caribbean, Celeb Cruises, Princess Cruises and others.
The lawsuit alleges that each Princess Cruises and the artwork concessionaire had been negligent, and that the cruise line was vicariously responsible for the felony conduct of the artwork auctioneer.
If the visitor proves {that a} non-consensual crime occurred, Princess Cruises will likely be legally accountable for the shipboard rape though it didn’t immediately make use of the assailant nor did it have discover that he may commit the crime.
Shipboard Rapes Are the Most Frequent Crimes on Cruise Ships Reported to the Division of Transportation
Sexual assaults are the commonest crimes on cruise ships reported to the Division of Transportation (DOT). In 2010, Congress handed the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act which required, for the primary time, that cruise strains should report sure crimes, together with sexual assaults, that occur on their ships.
From January 2019 via March 31, 2021 (when the cruise trade was shut down on the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic), there have been 100 and twenty-nine (129) rapes reported on U.S. based mostly cruise ships based on the DOT crime information. Of this quantity, there have been fifty-three (53) rapes on Carnival Cruise Line ships, thirty-three (33) rapes on Royal Caribbean operated cruise ships, seventeen (17) rapes on NCL ships and 4 (4) rapes on Princess Cruises ships reported to the DOT. Most such alleged intercourse crimes on cruises go unprosecuted.
Our agency has dealt with over 100 and twenty-five circumstances the place girls and youngsters have been sexually assaulted throughout cruises.
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Picture credit score: Sky Princess – antonio / Flicker marantoni, CC BY 2.0 commons wikimedia (cropped).