On May 22, 2010, Jacqueline Veverka, a female passenger from Bayonne, New Jersey, boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise ship for a trip to Bermuda. The following day, while en route to Bermuda, she slipped on a puddle of water on the ship’s deck and broke her hip. She was admitted to the ship’s infirmary until the ship docked the following morning, after which she was transferred to King Edward Hospital in Bermuda. That same day, at her own request and against the advice of her surgeon, she was flown to a hospital in New Jersey for hip replacement surgery.
On May 24, 2012, Veverka filed a civil action against Royal Caribbean in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, a full two years after her injury. She brought claims for negligence, breach of contract, tortious interference with contractual relations, breach of good faith and fair dealing, and violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (NJCFA). After discovery, Royal Caribbean filed a motion for summary judgment, which the District Court granted. The Court entered judgment on Veverka’s negligence and breach of contract claims for untimeliness under the cruise ticket’s statute of limitations clause. It entered judgment on the NJCFA and breach-of-good-faith claims for failure to demonstrate unlawful conduct and bad faith, respectively. Finally, it granted judgment on the tortious interference claim for failure to demonstrate that Royal Caribbean had knowledge of Veverka’s insurance agreement with Medicare.
Veverka appealed the decision claiming five errors on appeal: (1) the Banciella affidavit should have been excluded for failure to comply with the self-executing disclosure requirements of Federal Rule 26; (2) Royal Caribbean’s statute of limitations defense should have been denied as waived; (3) the record contains disputes of material fact, which preclude summary judgment; (4) the District Court failed to give Veverka notice before sua sponte dismissing her breach of contract claim; and (5) the District Court misconstrued her NJCFA claim by failing to consider whether she was entitled to relief for being “forcibly disembarked” from the cruise ship. None of these arguments were found to be meritorious. The U.S. Courtof Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the District Court’s holding.
The case was handled by William F. Clair and Michael J. Dono.