Veverka v. Royal Carribean Cruises, Ltd., No. 12-3070, 2015 WL 1270139 (D.N.J. Mar. 18, 2015)
Hamilton, Miller & Birthisel’s William F. Clair, who represents the firm’s Florida and New York Tri-state areas, successfully defended a passenger cruise line in a slip and fall case.
The plaintiff was a passenger on a Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (“RCL”) vessel, when she slipped and fell, sustaining injuries. Two years after the incident, she sued RCL alleging counts for negligence, breach of contract, violations of New Jersey’s consumer protection laws, breach of good faith and fair dealing, and tortious interference with her contractual relationship with Medicare for failure to reimburse medical expenses. RCL moved to enforce the contractual one year limitation period for bringing suit.
The court determined the provision in the plaintiff’s ticket contract limiting the time to bring a personal injury suit to one year after the date of incident was valid and enforceable, despite the plaintiff’s allegation she never received the ticket. The court dismissed the plaintiff’s negligence and breach of contract counts as a matter of law.
The court also rejected the plaintiff’s arguments that RCL violated consumer protection laws and breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing. Both allegations were premised on the assertion that RCL failed to provide a safe environment, failed to reimburse the plaintiff for expenses, and failed to provide adequate medical care. The court held that the plaintiff raised no genuine issue of material fact, and noted that the allegation of failure to maintain the premises spoke to negligence and not bad faith.
Finally, the court granted RCL summary judgment on the tortious interference claim because the plaintiff failed to show RCL had “specific knowledge” of the contractual relationship, as required under New Jersey law.