According to the Times cruise ship companies are liable only if the management screwed up, which is why they are hanging this cretin out to dry. In normal cases workers are seen to be acting for the company. Now, the article goes on to say that it might be problematic to consider the captain as just a guy. Having some busboy set fire to the ship is another matter.
They also talked about the contract all cruise passengers sign, which basically says “not my fault - tough” in response to any calamity.
A woman in my wife’s writing group is closely related to the two missing Americans. She basically expect to be going to Minnesota for the funeral soon.
If the Italian government wants to save money on a trial, they can turn this clown over to survivors, heirs, and Carnival stockholders.
I think they were playing “The Whole World Turned Upside Down.”
Anyone seen anything about the state of Costa bookings? I sure as hell would have my doubts about a line having that turkey as a captain.
And there’s something else. Being legally allowed to captain a ship does not mean that you will get a job doing it.
My husband captained his first cargo ship for a small Danish-flagged company when he was not even 30. Once he got a job with his current employer (also Danish and the biggest shipping company in the world) he had to return to being a second mate as he did not have the required years of experience for them to give him that kind of responsibility.
With cruises and tankers it is usually even more strict. It is not the same being the master of a ship with a crew of less than 20, all trained to get themselves out of harm’s way than to take charge of a large group of “civilians” some of which are not able-bodied or are children. By the time a navigator makes it to captain of a cruise or tanker he is usually less than two decades from retirement age.
I find it very hard to believe that a master in today’s ships has the freedom to change the agreed-upon course without previous authorization. Specially not a cruise ship. In the old days they were really masters, now they are more like “glorified bus drivers” (in the words of another captain I know). Of course it depends on the owner’s policy. When I was in the business my employer (and my husband’s at the time) allowed the first mate to design the ship’s loading plan, whereas in his new company not even the captain decides that on his own.
Another point against Captain Wrongway is that he was not shanghaied into that position. When you decide to do that job you know the huge responsibility it is. FWIW my husband says that despite the significant difference in pay he would not consider captaining a cruise or a tanker. Schettino would have almost certainly never made the news if he were sailing a barge up some river somewhere instead. Or who knows…
The fact that passengers sign a waiver does not mean liability does not exist. Various statutes limit or void contractual liability caps (such as 46 USC 30509).
Italian law most likely contains some similar provisions.
As I have said in another thread elsewhere, the officers of this ship are culpable in this tragedy.
The master of the ship miscalculated his set course so that his ship hit a HUGE boulder that lodged itself in his hull. This happened while he was having dinner and wine with a passenger.
Instead of calling for abandon ship, he turned the ship around and (apparently) deliberately grounded it on a sand bar and thereby saved the ship and the folks onboard.
But, the evacuation was apparently ‘Titanic’ level chaotic with really bad coordination from the crew (along with the fact that the passengers hadn’t been given any evacuation training ahead of time) and that led to a really difficult time for a lot of people. According to reports, children were taken from their fathers. “Women and children, first”.
And then those dorks jump ship and row on shore.
It is like a freaking movie.
Don’t tell me there aren’t phones ringing off the hooks in Hollywood right now.
I believe he’s stated that he intended to pass close to the island - as he’d done during previous voyages - but ordered the turn too late. That implies he was on the bridge at the critical time - dinner+wine must have been earlier (or, as some accounts suggest, later).
So this Capt. Schettino was an unlikely hero? No Titanic-esque flooding compartments, water rising in the hold, water gushing down the grand staircase.
And no Jack Dawson and Rose whatshername parting on the lifeboat deck.
If the ship hadn’t been rn aground, would the death toll been immense?
The Times article may have been referencing decisions regarding liability of cruise operators to employees. As employers, under US law they’d enjoy workers’ compensation immunity.
Do you know of cases where passengers were able to break the terms of their passage agreement with the cruise line? That is what I am discussing here. Italy may sue Costa for damage to the rock, but that is not at issue since neither the rock nor Italy signed an agreement.
And, as I said, the people quoted say it is far from clear that the Captain would not be held as a representative of the company, so that his failings are the failings of the company. In the non-maritime world an employee who promises something promises it for the company even if not explicitly authorized to do so. I’ve been taught to be very careful about this.
If you have United States case law saying that these contracts can be broken, I’d be very happy.
**Voyager **your post wasn’t very clear. Are you saying the passenger contracts say that the owners are only responsible if their shore management, but not the ship’s staff, stuff up? You seemed to be implying the Times was suggesting some wider principle.
And I’m not sure how much US case law is going to have to do with it.
Shore staff wasn’t mentioned - cruise line management as a corporation was.
Oh, and the Times article wasn’t talking about compensation for this incident, but the general terms of contracts under US law. Two Americans are still missing, and it would be interesting to see which law it falls under. I would assume the Europeans are not covered by US law. And under US law, the company would not have liability for damage caused by a waiter. Like I said, the expert was unsure about the captain. Is there another case of a captain being as directly responsible for a disaster as this one?
I know that European law on air travel is more liberal in compensating passengers who are delayed than US law, but I don’t know about cruise contracts.
When I pick up my NCL tickets I’m going to have to read the fine print.