Princess and Carnival Sued by Over 60 Passengers for Coronavirus Exposure

After thousands of cruise ship passengers were sickened by coronavirus, and dozens of them died, it was only a matter of time before the affected passengers began to sue the cruise lines that negligently exposed them to the virus. Dozens of cruise passengers filed one such lawsuit Tuesday.

CBSNews.com reports that over 60 passengers of the Grand Princess cruise ship filed suit against Princess Cruises, and it’s parent company Carnival Cruise Lines, alleging that the companies failed to protect them from coronavirus. This suit follows an earlier lawsuit that passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship filed for similar reasons.

The CBSNews.com report says that in the complaint the plaintiffs allege that Carnival negligently failed to warn them that previous passengers have contracted coronavirus and sailed aboard the vessel. Though the company had warned those who had disembarked from the ship’s prior voyage that they may have been exposed coronavirus, it failed to notify those who were currently aboard the ship, the lawsuit claims.

In a statement, Carnival asserted that “Princess Cruises has been sensitive to the difficulties the COVID-19 outbreak has caused to our guests and crew. Our response throughout this process has focused on the well-being of our guests and crew within the parameters dictated to us by the government agencies involved and the evolving medical understanding of this new illness.”