Over the course of 8 1/2 hours, a Northern California nurse jumped between bars on a Friday night while on a Carnival Cruise vacation.
While the ship toured Baja California, Diana Sanders of Vacaville tried tequila shots (14 or 15 in total) at six taverns, tequila houses and pubs on the ship, according to court documents.
Shortly after his last drink, a “staggering and stuttering” Sanders tripped down some stairs, according to court documents. He said he suffered serious injuries and filed a lawsuit against Florida-based Carnival Corp., alleging the ship's crew was negligent and over-served drinks.
A Miami-Dade County jury agreed with the 45-year-old this month, holding Carnival 60% liable for negligence and handing Sanders a $300,000 verdict.
“It felt amazing,” Sanders said of the victory. “So, I was very happy when I saw the jury of my peers and I felt that the whole time they saw clearly what the defense was trying to do, how they tried to smear my character.”
Carnival did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday.
The lawsuit says Sanders was served approximately 14 alcoholic drinks between 2:58 p.m. and 11:37 p.m., while Sanders' attorney, Spencer Aronfeld, said in a social media post that his client drank 15 drinks.
While the number may be in dispute, Sanders' actions were not questioned.
She was said to be “slurring, had alcohol on her breath, and acted in a belligerent manner while in view of crew members attending to her,” according to the lawsuit.
While trying to go down some stairs, Sanders fell sometime between 11:45 p.m. and 12:20 a.m., according to court documents.
Sanders suffered injuries, including a concussion, headaches, possible traumatic brain injury, back and tailbone injuries, and extreme mental anguish.
“Waking up after passing out and going to the team and asking them for help and asking them to tell me what happened was extremely frustrating,” Sanders said in a social media post. “They gave me conflicting information. They treated me like a criminal. I was very worried that they wouldn't tell me exactly what happened to me.”
The lawsuit stated that it was Carnival's responsibility to “monitor and/or assist passengers aboard the ship who Carnival knew, or should have known, were engaging, or were likely to engage, in behavior potentially dangerous to themselves or others aboard the ship.”
The lawsuit adds that crew members continued to serve Sanders “well past the point at which she became visibly intoxicated.”
“Passengers have a responsibility to drink responsibly, but cruise lines also have a responsibility to serve responsibly,” Aronfeld he said in a social media post.. “When you serve someone who is visibly intoxicated, drink after drink repeatedly, it can have disastrous consequences.”
