Lawsuits alleging negligence by Princess Cruises for failing to warn about the possibility of contracting the coronavirus are part of what likely will be a multitude of COVID-19 related litigation, a tort reform advocate says.
The daughter of a couple traveling on the Grand Princess filed suit in the Central District of California on March 9 while her parents were still on board. The Grand Princess left San Francisco on Feb. 21, and on its return got held off the coast as passengers and crew were tested for COVID-19.
Other negligence suits have followed.
“The cruise line lawsuits being filed are just the first in what will likely be a tidal wave of litigation in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic,” Bailey Griffith, public affairs manager for the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA), said in an email response to the Northern California Record.
“Already, we've seen class action lawsuits filed against manufacturers of hand sanitizer. We have two big areas of concern with regard to who trial lawyers may target next. First, the healthcare workers and hospitals who lack supplies and are working to prioritize care within an overstressed system; second, the manufacturers who are rapidly shifting their businesses to create the products needed to fight this virus. Thankfully, there are solutions to protect each of these groups through legislative action like we saw with the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, or by executive order like we saw last week with Gov. Cuomo in New York and now this week by Gov. Pritzker in Illinois."
The executive orders seek to shield health care personnel from negligence litigation.
“ATRA is committed to working toward solutions with our elected leaders to ensure that frontline heroes don’t become the next target of trial lawyers who would take advantage of a public health crisis,” Griffith added.
On March 12, Princess Cruises announced it was suspending operations for two months. Roger Frizzell, a spokesperson for parent company Carnival Corp., told the Record by email, “Coronavirus has recently become a global epidemic, but originally it had only surfaced in China and later in parts of Asia. In fact, the WHO did not issue a travel alert, except for China, until much later.”
“The cruise industry took immediate actions to enhance the health and safety boarding protocol including the implementation in late January of a new restriction that prevented anyone from boarding if they had visited China within the previous 14 days,” Frizzell added.
That protocol was quickly broadened to include Hong Kong, Macao, Italy and other parts of the world, Frizzell said.
Unlike other public gathering places, Frizzell added, “cruising already required a health screening questionnaire by guests before being permitted to board [and] had in place rigorous onboard cleansing and sanitation procedures that includes regular cleansing and sanitation of public traffic areas with a sanitizer called Virox that is said to kill coronavirus on contact with[in] 30 seconds.”
Frizzell concluded, “We have continued to communicate with our cruisers with each enhancement implemented and provide regular and open communications directly as well as on each of our brand websites.”