Costa Concordia: A Case of Negligence?

Crash Information

"The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia partially sank on Friday 13 January 2012 after hitting a reef off the Italian coast. It ran aground at Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, requiring evacuation of 4,197 people on board. At least 11 people were killed, including ten passengers and one crewman; 64 others were injured and 21 are missing. Two passengers and a crew member trapped below deck were rescued. The captain, Francesco Schettino, and first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, were arrested on suspicion of causing the incident after sailing much closer to the shore than permitted." (wiki)

Was this negligence? Attorney Brett Rivkind thinks so. 

"Brett Rivkind, a Miami attorney with nearly 30 years of maritime law experience, expressed shock and dismay “that something like this could happen. There's clear negligence here, there's no question about that, so the thoughts are obviously there’s going to be a lot of legal claims (coming) out of this incident,” he said.

Costa Cruises admits human error was a factor, but Rivkind said there is a significant hurdle to cross before lawsuits can be filed.

"Well, this is Costa Cruise lines and this involves a cruise that originated outside of the United States and didn't touch a United States port, so according to their passenger contract, it would require any lawsuits to be filed in Italy,” he said. While that is a hurdle to a lawsuit, it is not an impossible one, he added." (Miami news)

Imagine if this case were to be tried in the US court system. What must be proven in order to establish negligence and find the Captain liable? Do you think the plaintiffs would be better off suing the Captain or the cruise line? What do you think about this crash overall, as it dominates the headlines today.