Princess Cruises is being sued by a Texas woman for knowingly exposing her and her husband to the coronavirus.
Princess Cruises being Sued Over Coronavirus
Susan Dorety from Crowly, Texas is suing Princess Cruises over the coronavirus and for knowingly exposing her and her husband Michael to the deadly virus. On February 21 the couple embarked the Grand Princess cruise ship in San Francisco to celebrate their 40th anniversary. The lawsuit, filed April 14, seeks damages for negligence, gross negligence and for other unlawful acts.
Some guests who had disembarked the vessel from the previous voyage had COVID-19 symptoms which also exposed 60 passengers who were remaining on the ship for another cruise.
The cruise line apparently sent an email to passengers on the previous cruise informing them they may have been exposed to COVID-19 after some came down with symptoms. The email was sent out four days into the Doretys’ cruise but yet nothing was sent out to anyone onboard.
Rusty Hardin of Rusty Hardin & Associates of Houston, who represents Mrs. Dorety, said:
“It is shocking to me that a cruise line that had just discharged coronavirus-infected passengers took on board a new group of passengers to then mingle with others who had been exposed. Princess had notice of the dangers, the Doretys did not.”
While the cruise was full of guests enjoying their vacation the virus was spreading onboard. Also, when a crew member with coronavirus symptoms disembarked the vessel in Hawaii there was still no alert to passengers onboard.
Cruise Hive reported in early March of the Grand Princess having 21 confirmed cases of COVID-19 which was the same voyage Mr. and Mrs. Dorety were on. The ship was held off the California coast and guests put into quarantine. Mr. Dorety fell ill and became weak along with shivers and a fever. She did try using the vessel’s emergency number but there was no response.
A doctor did eventually come to check on Mr. Dorety and gave him Tylenol and Tamiflu but was not advised until later they could leave the ship for medical treatment. Sadly Mr. Dorety died in Oakland hospital days later. Mrs. Dorety also had been infected with COVID-19 but recovered.
Mr. Hardin added:
“The behavior of Princess Cruise Lines is all the more outrageous because just a few weeks earlier, one of their ships had a coronavirus outbreak infecting 700 people while docked in Japan. This cruise line company put money ahead of its passengers’ well-being, and it cost Michael Dorety his life.”
Also Read: Princess Cruises Extends Cancelled Sailings Through June 30
Grand Princess did eventually dock at the Port of Oakland and guests were able to disembark by priority. They then had to undergo a 14-day quarantine on land and a government facility. Crew members had to remain onboard for further quarantine and currently, Princess Cruises is working on arranging chartered flights to get thousands of crew members back home across the fleet.
Princess Cruises has already announced a further extension of cancelled cruises through June 30, 2020. The cruise line has been heavily impacted by the pandemic and before the Grand Princess had already been dealing with a major outbreak on Diamond Princess in Yokohama, Japan.
