Costa Concordia Victims File Lawsuit in Florida Seeking $460 Million

Victims of the Costa Concordia disaster have filed a lawsuit in Florida seeking up to $460 million, as a 17th body has been recovered from the wreck. Fifteen people are still missing, including one American couple. The lawsuit is the first in what is expected to be a number of civil filings by passengers against Carnival Corp., which owns Costa Crociere.

Attorneys for six passengers filed legal paperwork in Miami’s federal court on Friday requesting $450 million in punitive damages and $10 million in compensatory damages. The complaint said plaintiffs were “in terror of catastrophic injury, death, drowning, having been placed in a situation where common sense said the vessel was sinking but the orders from the crew were to return to their cabins.”

Late last week, a Peruvian crew member filed suit in federal court in Chicago, seeking $100 million in damages, and also seeking class-action status to cover all crew and passengers. The lawsuits come as Costa said it is offering 11,000 euros ($14,458) in damages to each of the 3,206 passengers who were not physically injured, plus the cost of the cruise, travel and medical expenses. Some reports put the total cost of that offer at roughly $46 million.

The Seattle law firm of Keller Rohrback LLP is also investigating the Jan. 13 sinking of the Costa Concordia on behalf of victims of the disaster. “It is shocking that a cruise ship disaster of Titanic proportions could happen today,” said Lynn Sarko, attorney for U.S. passengers on the Costa Concordia. “The utter lack of disaster preparedness and accountability on board the ship and in the aftermath of the disaster are unforgivable. Carnival and Costa Cruise Lines must be held accountable.”

The law firm is inviting passengers on that cruise, as well as anyone seeking more information on the investigation, to contact the firm at 800-776-6044 or info@kellerrohrback.com.

But legal experts question whether any lawsuits filed in the U.S. will succeed. Under the terms of the cruise contract signed by passengers, all lawsuits seeking damages must be filed in Genoa, Italy, where Costa is based. Similar attempts to sue in the U.S. despite these contract clauses have been turned away by the U.S. Supreme Court. If the Costa cruise had sailed from a Florida port to the Caribbean, passengers could have sued in a South Florida court, but Concordia sailed out of Rome.

Maritime lawyers reportedly have said Italian law makes it more difficult for some people to recover damages for pain and suffering than in U.S. courts. The Costa cruise ticket also contains a clause limiting the line’s liability for the death or injury of a passenger to about $71,000, although that apparently doesn't apply in cases of recklessness by the captain or crew.

Separately, an Italian consumer group called Codacons has said it plans to file a lawsuit in Miami. The group claims it could win between $164,000 and $1.3 million per passenger, though no lawsuit had been filed at press time.