RCI loses 'trumpet lawsuit'

[jleq]

http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2010/06/jury-awards-17-million-to-trumpeter-who-hurt-arm-on-royal-caribbean-ship/97637/1?csp=34travel

[FLACRUISER99]

I knew I should have been a sewer! Unbelievable

[LBumb]

wow

[Poorplaya]

Thats just lame, all people do these days is want to sue everyone for everything, lol, just pathetic in my eyes.

[cruising_knc]

Thats just lame, all people do these days is want to sue everyone for everything, lol, just pathetic in my eyes.

So if you were injured on your job, and lost your ability to do your job, you wouldn't sue?

[PeterPan]

So if you were injured on your job, and lost your ability to do your job, you wouldn't sue?

 

It would depend on a number of things that are not addressed in your question. i.e., what sould my company do for me, etc. Also, in the case of the trumpet player, I'm fairly certain he is still able to do something to earn a wage.

[Schooner Bar Girl]

The working conditions on the ships are often not the best and are unsafe at times. When these problems are ignored than accidents happen. Job safety is important and when it is over looked than the company needs to buck up and pay for any injury that results from unsafe working conditions.

 

Personally I am happy that he won his lawsuit. His career changed as a result of the fall and he sued as a result of his injuries. The jury had the evidence from both sides and it was the jury that awarded him $1.7 million. This is no different from an accident happening on land and the employee getting paid for his injuries from workers compensation. The cruise line should be similarly insured.

[PrincesScuba]

I knew I should have been a sewer! Unbelievable

Why? Are you talented at disposing of waste?

[wolv4life]

The working conditions on the ships are often not the best and are unsafe at times. When these problems are ignored than accidents happen. Job safety is important and when it is over looked than the company needs to buck up and pay for any injury that results from unsafe working conditions.

 

Personally I am happy that he won his lawsuit. His career changed as a result of the fall and he sued as a result of his injuries. The jury had the evidence from both sides and it was the jury that awarded him $1.7 million. This is no different from an accident happening on land and the employee getting paid for his injuries from workers compensation. The cruise line should be similarly insured.

 

The irony is, if RCCL complied with US labor laws, then worker's compensation statutes may have preempted this lawsuit from going forward. Can't feel sorry for them in this case.

[grod19]

So if you were injured on your job, and lost your ability to do your job, you wouldn't sue?

 

That depends, if I fell due to unsafe working conditions then yes I probably would sue, however if I fell because I am a clutz then no I wouldn't.

 

Not enough info to pass judgement on who is correct in this case.

[rxmurphy]

Maybe he slipped on a starfish.

 

/I keed, I keed

[PeterPan]

The irony is, if RCCL complied with US labor laws, then worker's compensation statutes may have preempted this lawsuit from going forward. Can't feel sorry for them in this case.

 

And are you willing to pay substantially more for your cruise? People on here are already griping about cruise prices being too high......:rolleyes:

[wolv4life]

And are you willing to pay substantially more for your cruise? People on here are already griping about cruise prices being too high......:rolleyes:

 

That's not what I'm saying. I know that RCCL saves itself billions each year by avoiding US labor laws. Sometimes in cases like these it actually hurts them, but most of the time it helps them. So what I'm saying is don't feel sorry for RCCL in this instance. By avoiding US labor laws they save billions, so losing 1.7 million to a lawsuit is chump change in the grand scheme.

[KMagz]

If you're a cruise ship musician, haven't fallen far enough already?

[Poorplaya]

So if you were injured on your job, and lost your ability to do your job, you wouldn't sue?

 

If that happened to me and it was my fault then no, if my employer was to blame, then probably. This just seems to be happening more and more, because people blame their employers for their stupid mistakes, and then get millions of dollars for it.

[wolv4life]

If that happened to me and it was my fault then no, if my employer was to blame, then probably. This just seems to be happening more and more, because people blame their employers for their stupid mistakes, and then get millions of dollars for it.

 

You're making an unjustified assumption that the mistake was made by the injured man and not by RCI. Slip and fall cases are not as easy to win as the news outlets make them sound. If this gentlemen had just been careless, then it's very unlikely his case would even have made it to trial.

[Ocean Boy]

The working conditions on the ships are often not the best and are unsafe at times. When these problems are ignored than accidents happen. Job safety is important and when it is over looked than the company needs to buck up and pay for any injury that results from unsafe working conditions.

 

Personally I am happy that he won his lawsuit. His career changed as a result of the fall and he sued as a result of his injuries. The jury had the evidence from both sides and it was the jury that awarded him $1.7 million. This is no different from an accident happening on land and the employee getting paid for his injuries from workers compensation. The cruise line should be similarly insured.

 

How can you be happy about the outcome when you have zero facts as to how the plaintiff was injured? Just because a jury decided to move 1.7 million dollars from one bank account to another means nothing more than that they could have been feeling either generous, sympathetic, or going to teach some big bad company a lesson. Of course, they might have just wanted to get home to start their weekend and coughed up some money and called it a day.

[Ocean Boy]

You're making an unjustified assumption that the mistake was made by the injured man and not by RCI. Slip and fall cases are not as easy to win as the news outlets make them sound. If this gentlemen had just been careless, then it's very unlikely his case would even have made it to trial.

 

When someone can win a suit because of a burn from a hot cup of coffee I would say it is getting easier all the time to win ridiculous cases. I am waiting for the followup where someone sues because their coffee was cold and as a result their whole day was just ruined.:rolleyes:

[Ocean Boy]

Wonder where they got the $1.7 million figure from. As a trumpet player he was probably only earning scale.

And he may have only been good at the low end.

 

And for the record, I have no clue how this posted ahead of the person that I quoted.

[KMagz]

Wonder where they got the $1.7 million figure from. As a trumpet player he was probably only earning scale.

[Poorplaya]

When someone can win a suit because of a burn from a hot cup of coffee I would say it is getting easier all the time to win ridiculous cases. I am waiting for the followup where someone sues because their coffee was cold and as a result their whole day was just ruined.:rolleyes:

 

That was basically what I was trying to get at, thanks for seeing where I was trying to come from.

[Captain Jake]

How can you be happy about the outcome when you have zero facts as to how the plaintiff was injured? Just because a jury decided to move 1.7 million dollars from one bank account to another means nothing more than that they could have been feeling either generous, sympathetic, or going to teach some big bad company a lesson. Of course, they might have just wanted to get home to start their weekend and coughed up some money and called it a day.

 

 

How can anyone be upset that RCI lost?:confused:.You have zero facts that RCI WAS NOT wrong.If a employee gets hurt on the job its the employers duty to pay for lost wages

:cj

[KMagz]

And he may have only been good at the low end.

 

Perhaps if he'd conducted himself a little differently on stage this could have been avoided.....

[Captain Jake]

That was basically what I was trying to get at, thanks for seeing where I was trying to come from.

 

but no proof this was a silly lawsuit.The man was injured on the job.I doubt that he caused himself to slip:rolleyes: .If RCI settled years ago the damages would have been much less.Keep in mind 40% goes to the lawyers.

:cj

[Ocean Boy]

How can anyone be upset that RCI lost?:confused:.You have zero facts that RCI WAS NOT wrong.If a employee gets hurt on the job its the employers duty to pay for lost wages

:cj

 

Did I say that I was upset that RCI lost? I asked how the poster could be happy that the plaintiff won not knowing the facts of the case. I am neither happy nor upset as I am aware that I have zero facts. But I was pointing out that jury awards can happen for reasons other than facts. Just because a jury coughed up the money is not reason enough, in my book, to be happy for the plaintiff. Give me the facts and I'll make a decision.