In K.T. v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., No. 17-14237 (July 24, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a District Court Judge’s order in dismissing, for failure to state a claim, an action against the cruise line alleging negligent failure to warn passengers and prospective passengers of danger of sexual assault on cruise ship and failure to take action to prevent physical assault, including sexual assault, suffered by the plaintiff.
According to the Complaint, the plaintiff, a minor, embarked on a 7-day cruise with her 2 sisters and her grandparents. Plaintiff alleged that on the first night of the cruise, a group of nearly a dozen male passengers bought her multiple alcoholic drinks in a public lounge and other public areas of the ship. The plaintiff alleges she became “highly intoxicated” and “obviously incapacitated.” The group of nearly a dozen men then steered the plaintiff “to a cabin where they brutally assaulted and gang raped her.” The plaintiff alleged that everything, except the rape itself, happened in the view of multiple Royal Caribbean crewmembers and allegedly did nothing. Royal Caribbean filed a motion to dismiss, alleging that the plaintiff did not sufficiently allege that Royal Caribbean breached its duty of care or that any breach proximately caused the plaintiff’s injuries.
The appellate court held that the complaint sufficiently alleged that defendant breached duty of ordinary care owed to plaintiff when crewmembers did nothing to prevent large group of men from plying plaintiff, a minor at the time, with enough alcohol to incapacitate her and did nothing to stop the men from leading plaintiff away to a private cabin where she was brutally assaulted and gang raped. The Court also found that allegations in the complaint demonstrated that the cruise line had notice and actual knowledge of dangers that resulted in plaintiff's injuries.
Writing a special concurrence to his own opinion, Chief Judge Ed Carnes stated that generally when a concurring judge agrees with the opinion, “there is nothing else for the author of a majority opinion to say, but here there is…It is self-evident from the allegations of the complaint that but for Royal Caribbean’s breach of its duties of care to K.T. she would not have been brutalized and gang raped…If the allegations are true, Royal Caribbean proximately caused the alleged injuries.” Carnes added that publicly available data reinforces the plaintiff’s allegations that Royal Caribbean knew or should have known about the dangers of sexual assault on its ships. According to the opinion, this is due to cruise lines being required to keep records of all complaints of sexual assaults and other serious crimes since 2010, which are given to the FBI and the Department of Transportation. Carnes noted that the court can take judicial notice of those incident reports.
According to transcripts from oral arguments referenced in the opinion, there were more than 20 sexual assaults on Royal Caribbean’s ships between 2010 and 2015, not counting those which were still under investigation. Carnes said those numbers are likely understated, and yet amount to almost one-third of the number reported by all cruise lines. This information, Carnes wrote, reinforces plaintiff’s claims of negligence, particularly since there have been congressional reports on it.
This opinion is remarkable for drilling down into the facts of a case for purposes of a motion to dismiss. If you are interested in receiving a copy of this decision or have any questions regarding this decision, you may contact us at blog@miamimaritimelaw.co or 3053773700.