The following is a description of a personal injury case we have filed. This is a case involving a personal injury aboard the Carnival Triumph, a cruise ship owned by Carnival Cruise Lines.

The Defendant cruise line, Carnival Corporation, owns and operates the cruise ship, Carnival Triumph. Carnival Corporation through its employees on the Carnival Triumph failed to maintain its floor and allowed food to remain on a slick, slippery marble floor surface in the Paris Dining Room, near Table 322. The food on the floor caused the surface of the floor to be slick, slippery, and extremely dangerous. Carnival knew or should have known that that particular floor is prone to having liquid and/or food spills because of its functional capacity as a dining room. Further, Carnival should have cleaned up and dried up the food on the slick, slippery marble surface where passengers are allowed to walk. A Carnival waiter pulled our client out of her seat and onto the dance floor and right into the marble tiled floor, where someone had previously spilled food. The actions of the waiter and the food on the floor made the floor slick and dangerous. As a result of Carnival’s negligence, our client slipped and fell, causing serious, debilitating, and permanent injuries. Our client in this case broke her coccyx and sustained other severe spinal injuries, which required surgery and implantation of hardware. Our client may be required to undergo surgery in the future.

The following is a description of a personal injury case we have filed. This is a case involving a personal injury aboard the Carnival Holiday, a cruise ship owned by Carnival Cruise Lines.

On July 17, 2009, Carnival Cruise Lines escorted our client on a guided tour of the kitchen galley. Our client was guided through the galley and through liquid that was present on the floor by Carnival personnel. Carnival knew that water and other liquid substances collect on the floor of the galley, as did members of the Carnival kitchen staff who were present at the time of the guided tour. Yet, Carnival allowed the liquid to exist on the kitchen galley floor without cleaning it up and thereby posing a slipping hazard to passengers, such as our client, who would be escorted through the galley. In fact, on the day and time of the accident, our client was escorted through the galley and the water by Carnival personnel and slipped and fell suffering severe, debilitating, and permanent injuries.

The following is a description of a personal injury case we have filed. This is a case involving a personal injury aboard the Carnival Pride, a cruise ship owned by Carnival Cruise Lines.

Carnival Corporation, owns and operates the cruise ship, Carnival Pride. Carnival Corporation through its employees on the Carnival Pride failed to maintain its floor and allowed a large area of water to remain on a slick, slippery multicolored floor surface on the Lido Deck of the Carnival Pride, near the pool. The puddle caused the surface onto which it flowed to be slick, slippery, and extremely dangerous. Carnival knew or should have known that that particular floor is prone to having water spills because of its location adjacent to the pool. Further, Carnival should have cleaned up and dried up the large area of water on the slick, slippery multicolored surface where passengers are allowed to walk.

As a result of the Carnival’s negligence, our client, on August 22, 2009, walked into the area and she slipped and fell, causing serious, debilitating, and permanent injuries. Our client in this case broke her right kneecap, which required surgery and implantation of hardware. Since the accident, our client has needed multiple surgeries and will continue to need more in the future.

One passenger onboard the Epic later wrote:

”My son and I were in the show with comedian/magician and they called a CODE ALPHA to a cabin on the 11th deck,” she wrote in her post. ”About 15 minutes later they paged three guests (all with the same last name) to call 00 or go to customer service immediately. About 15 minutes after that the cruise director came on and said we were headed back to Miami because of a medical emergency.”

A Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson reported the death of the 21 year old unnamed male passenger was caused by a heart attack. Other sources have said that a food allergy is what caused the “heart attack.”

Primary Sources:
http://www.emaxhealth.com/1024/man-dies-food-allergic-reaction-aboard-cruise-ship
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/15/1777713/death-forces-ship-to-return.html

Cruise ships — famous for endless buffets and generous meals — serve millions of eggs per year.

Royal Caribbean, for example, uses about 48.3 million eggs-worth of liquid egg product a year in the U.S. market, plus another 10.7 million fresh eggs. The company’s — and the world’s — largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, uses about 32,000 whole eggs on an average weeklong cruise.

As the outbreak has forced the recall of more than half a billion eggs nationwide, the world’s two largest cruise lines — Miami-based Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean International — say their stock is free of the bacteria.

A spokeswoman for Norwegian Cruise Lines said no one was available to comment.

Primary Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ygreen/20100819/sc_ygreen/massiveeggrecallhowtocheckyourcartonforrecalledeggs
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/28/1795952/cruise-lines-are-sailing-through.html

COMPANIES INVOLVED:
- BRITISH PETROLEUM (Leased Deepwater Horizon)
- HALLIBURTON (Oil Services Contractor for Deepwater Horizon)
- TRANSOCEAN LTD. (Owns Deepwater Horizon)

A new microbe may turn out to be nature’s secret weapon in removing oil from the Gulf of Mexico. Researchers discovered the existence of this microbe after taking many samples of ocean water near the spill site.

Scientists discovered the new microbe while studying the underwater dispersion of millions of gallons of oil spilled since the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

Also, the microbe works without significantly depleting oxygen in the water, researchers reported in the online journal Sciencexpress.

“Our findings … suggest that a great potential for intrinsic bioremediation of oil plumes exists in the deep-sea,” lead researcher Terry Hazen, a microbial ecologist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in Berkeley, California, said in a statement.

The data is also the first ever on microbial activity from a deep-water dispersed oil plume, Hazen said.
Environmentalists have raised fears about the giant oil spill and the underwater plume of dispersed oil, particularly its potential effects on sea life. A report just last week described a 22-mile-long underwater mist of tiny oil droplets.

“Our findings show that the influx of oil profoundly altered the microbial community by significantly stimulating deep-sea” cold temperature bacteria that are closely related to known petroleum-degrading microbes, Hazen reported.

Their findings are based on more than 200 samples collected from 17 deep-water sites between May 25 and June 2. They found that the dominant microbe in the oil plume is a new species, closely related to members of Oceanospirillales.

This microbe thrives in cold water, with temperatures in the deep recorded at 41 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hazen suggested that the bacteria may have adapted over time due to periodic leaks and natural seeps of oil in the Gulf.

Primary Sources: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38834330/

COMPANIES INVOLVED:
- BRITISH PETROLEUM (Leased Deepwater Horizon)
- HALLIBURTON (Oil Services Contractor for Deepwater Horizon)
- TRANSOCEAN LTD. (Owns Deepwater Horizon)

Even though some government officials have stated that oil in the Gulf of Mexico is dissipating due to clean up efforts, other scientists and researchers believe the oil is simply settling at the bottom. This oil remaining on the sea floor will affect the creatures at the very base of the food chain and perhaps work its way up the chain to affect other marine life as well.

…researchers at the University of South Florida have concluded that oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill may have settled to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico farther east than previously suspected — and at levels toxic to marine life. Their study is to be released Tuesday, as well, but CNN obtained a summary of the initial conclusions Monday night.

Initial findings from a new survey of the Gulf conclude that dispersants may have sent droplets of crude to the ocean floor, where it has turned up at the bottom of an undersea canyon within 40 miles of the Florida Panhandle, the University of South Florida team said.

Plankton and other organisms at the base of the food chain showed a “strong toxic response” to the crude, and the oil could resurface later, according to researchers.

“The dispersant is moving the oil down out of the surface and into the deeper waters, where it can affect phytoplankton and other marine life,” said John Paul, a marine microbiologist at the University of South Florida.

The University of Georgia study “strongly contradicts” a 2-week-old government report saying that only 26 percent of the oil spilled from the well remains in the Gulf.

Primary Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/17/gulf.oil.disaster/index.html?hpt=T2

COMPANIES INVOLVED:
- BRITISH PETROLEUM (Leased Deepwater Horizon)
- HALLIBURTON (Oil Services Contractor for Deepwater Horizon)
- TRANSOCEAN LTD. (Owns Deepwater Horizon)

Yet another set back has halted the final steps of integrating the new oil relief well with the once leaking BP oil well. Even though just yesterday it seemed this job would be coming to an end, more bad weather has slowed the process.

The threat of bad weather has caused BP to delay work on the relief well that is meant to be the last nail in the coffin of the company’s once-gushing Macondo well.

Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral leading the response effort, said Tuesday that with a storm system developing east of the Macondo site in the gulf, the relief well had been plugged temporarily “out of an overabundance of caution.”

Wednesday’s expected interception of the Macondo well will be delayed at least two to three days, the admiral said, and pumping of mud and cement to finish the job of permanently sealing the well is not expected until Sunday at the earliest.

Primary Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/us/11liability.html

COMPANIES INVOLVED:
- BRITISH PETROLEUM (Leased Deepwater Horizon)
- HALLIBURTON (Oil Services Contractor for Deepwater Horizon)
- TRANSOCEAN LTD. (Owns Deepwater Horizon)

For about a week, the oil has stopped leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. To be certain the oil well at the bottom of the gulf stays that way, worker’s are putting the finishing touches on a relief well that will connect to the initial BP oil well. As of today, it seems the project is going well but there are definite challenges ahead.

The drilling of the relief well began on May 2 and has reached nearly 18,000 feet. Officials for BP have emphasized that intercepting the Macondo well on the first try will be difficult. After a spill off the coast of Australia last August, crews needed five attempts to hit their target.

With under 40 feet to go until the relief well reaches BP’s former leaking well, the wait will soon be up to find out if this plan is a success.

Primary Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/us/10spill.html

COMPANIES INVOLVED:
- BRITISH PETROLEUM (Leased Deepwater Horizon)
- HALLIBURTON (Oil Services Contractor for Deepwater Horizon)
- TRANSOCEAN LTD. (Owns Deepwater Horizon)

After months of concern on the effects of dispersants sprayed in the Gulf of Mexico, the EPA releases their results.

Spraying dispersants on oily water in the Gulf of Mexico to break up the spill does not make the water any more toxic than it was with Louisiana sweet crude alone, the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday. Paul Anastas, the agency’s assistant administrator for research and development, said the toxicity of the mix of oil and dispersant was generally in the range of “moderate,” comparable to the effects of the oil. So while the use of toxic chemicals in the gulf has always been recognized as a trade-off of risks, Dr. Anastas said, the agency’s latest research shows that using dispersants to limit the effects of the BP spill was “wise.” The agency’s conclusion was based on a report dated Saturday relaying the results of agency tests on two species, shrimp and inland silverside, he said. The E.P.A. has yet to investigate the health effects of the breakdown products of the dispersant.

We are fighting… for the safety and security of you and your family. Making cruise lines, other commercial facilities, and products safer and more secure, one case at a time.

CONTACT US AND SEE OUR RESULTS AT: www.hickeylawfirm.com and CALL US TOLL FREE AT 1.800.215.7117.
Primary Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/03latest.html