While describing the incident as “nightmarish,” a federal appeals court has ruled that Carnival Cruise Lines could not be held liable in the sexual assault of a teenage passenger.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision by a U.S. district judge in the case filed in South Florida.
Shipboard sexual assault of teen girl
The victim, identified by the initials J.F., was on vacation with her parents. Three other teens, identified by the names Zion, Daniel and Jesus, offered to walk with her to check in with her parents late one night. On the way, they stopped at the room of one of the boys. The three boys allegedly sexually assaulted J.F. in the room.
J.F. sued the cruise line, alleging that it had negligently failed to warn her of the danger and prevent the assault, according to Tuesday’s opinion.
Court sides with cruise line
But the three-judge panel said Carnival “did not have actual or constructive notice of the risk that Zion, Daniel, or Jesus would commit sexual assault” and that evidence did not show that Carnival should have known the “particular type of risk” faced by J.F.
“The sexual assault on J.F., as she describes it, was both tragic and depraved,” Judge Kevin Newsom wrote in the opinion joined by Judges Robin Rosenbaum and Stanley Marcus. “But the question here is whether Carnival is responsible. We hold that it is not. Carnival — which oversees a vast fleet of ships, each the site of countless human interactions — couldn’t have known about or foreseen the attack. Accordingly, it can’t be liable.”
