Carnival cruise passenger wins $300K lawsuit after being over-served alcohol

Carnival Cruise Line must pay US$300,000 to a former passenger after a federal jury in South Florida found that the company was negligent in serving a woman at least 14 shots of tequila in an eight and a half hour period before she fell down stairs and suffered a possible traumatic brain injury.

The Miami federal jury decided in favour of Diana Sanders, a 45-year-old nurse from Vacaville, Calif, and awarded her $300,000 (about $411,315 CAD) in damages, according to the Miami Herald.

“This was an aggressively defended case that could have, and should have, settled years ago,” Sanders’ lawyer Spencer Aronfeld said in an email to Global News. “At trial, Diana took full responsibility for her consumption of alcohol; Carnival refused to take any corporate responsibility for serving her 15 shots of tequila (between 15 and 30 ounces) in just over eight hours.”

“This is an amount that Carnival’s own literature acknowledges can lead to coma or death.  The human body can only metabolize approximately one ounce of alcohol per hour. Although Diana was visibly inebriated and badly intoxicated, the servers continued to provide drink after drink after drink,” Arnofeld added.

Arnofeld said that Sanders was “visibly inebriated” and “badly intoxicated” as “the servers continued to provide drink after drink.”

“Ultimately, she passed out, fell down a flight of stairs, and was found unconscious in the crew area. She suffered a head injury, bruising and PTSD,” he continued. “She has no recollection of how she got there, and Carnival ‘failed to save’ the crucial CCTV footage of her from the time she left the Casino Bar until she was found 30 minutes later, five decks below.”

Arnofeld hopes the verdict “will encourage Carnival and all cruise lines to rethink and restructure their all-inclusive drink packages, which we believe encourage both over-consumption and the over-service of alcohol.”

A spokesperson for the cruise company told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it respectfully disagrees with the verdict and believes there are grounds for a new trial and appeal, which it plans to pursue.

According to the lawsuit, Sanders was a passenger aboard the Carnival Radiance on Jan. 5, 2024, when she was served at least 14 tequila shots between approximately 2:59 p.m. and 11:37 p.m.

Carnival Cruise Line’s Cheers! drink package limits guests to a maximum of 15 alcoholic drinks per 24-hour period, beginning from 6 a.m.

Sanders experienced a fall sometime between 11:45 p.m. and 12:20 a.m. that caused her to suffer a concussion, headaches, a possible traumatic brain injury, back injuries, tailbone injuries, bruising and other injuries, according to the complaint.

The jury agreed with Sanders’ argument that Carnival’s crew members had a duty to exercise reasonable care for the safety of its passengers, including “the responsibility … to supervise and/or assist passengers aboard the vessel who Carnival knew, or should have known, were engaging, or were likely to engage in behavior potentially dangerous to themselves or others abroad the vessel,” the Miami Herald reports.

When asked what percentage of Sanders’ injury was caused by each side, the jury decided 60 per cent was Carnival’s fault, with the other 40 per cent on Sanders.

Aronfeld said jurors were presented with evidence of 30 minutes of missing surveillance video from the time Sanders left the Casino bar until she was found unconscious in a crew-only area.

Sanders’ lawyers also argued that once she became visibly intoxicated on the ship, the Carnival bartenders should have stopped serving her.

During the 17 months of legal proceedings, Carnival attempted to dismiss the lawsuit, suggesting that Sanders “fails to identify any crew member who over-served her or which bar she consumed alcohol at for Carnival to have the ability to identify its bartenders,” according to court filings.

“Therefore, the over-service of alcohol count should be dismissed for failure to sufficiently identify a negligent employee,” the docs added.

Following the verdict, Aronfeld posted a TikTok video with Sanders, explaining their experience during the case and trial.

“Waking up after blacking out and going to the crew and asking them for help and asking them to tell me what happened was extremely frustrating. They gave me conflicting information. They treated me like a criminal. I was very concerned that they wouldn’t tell me exactly what happened to me,” Sanders said.

When the jury returned the verdict in Sanders’ favour, she said it “felt amazing.”

Sanders’ lawyer said that “over-service of alcohol cases are extremely difficult.”

“Passengers have a responsibility to drink responsibly. But cruise lines also have a responsibility to serve responsibly and when you serve somebody who is visibly intoxicated, repeatedly drink after drink after drink, it can lead to disastrous consequences,” Aronfeld said.

Global News has reached out to Carnival Cruise Line for further comment.

In a separate case that is still ongoing, the fiancée of a man who died on a cruise ship filed a wrongful death lawsuit last year against Royal Caribbean, alleging it negligently served him at least 33 alcoholic drinks and was liable for his death after crew members tackled him to the ground and stood on him with their full body weight.

Passenger Michael Virgil, 35, was detained by security in December 2024 after he allegedly physically assaulted crew members and threatened other passengers in a drunken rage aboard the Navigator of the Seas.

Accusations about the events leading up to his death say cruise ship staff “negligently” over-served Virgil alcoholic drinks “in a matter of hours,” even though he was clearly intoxicated, according to court documents filed in Miami, where the cruise company is based, CBS News reported.

According to the lawsuit, he became agitated after getting lost while trying to locate his cabin. He was confronted by security staff who reportedly tackled him to the ground, subduing him “with their full body weight.”

In video footage obtained by Fox, Virgil appeared to attempt to kick down a door to a room where a crew member was hiding, screaming profanities, before being held down by security.

At the request of the captain, Royal Caribbean crew injected Virgil with haloperidol, a medical-grade substance used to treat psychosis. Virgil was also pepper sprayed, the lawsuit says.

The father “ultimately died in the care of Royal Caribbean staff and crew members,” it added.

In a statement given shortly after the incident, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said an investigation was ongoing: “We are saddened by the passing of one of our guests. We offered support to the family and are working with authorities on their investigation.”

— With files from Global News’ Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press