Posted by Editor | Posted in Personal Injury News
The mother of a Canfield, Ohio man who fell off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship nearly a year ago and was never found again has filed a personal injury lawsuit seeking in excess of $15,000 in damages from the cruise line. A Vindy.com story details how Susan DiPiero filed her wrongful-death lawsuit earlier this week in Miami, Florida on the behalf of her 21-year-old son Daniel DiPiero’s estate, and his father and three sisters. Daniel DiPiero had just started vacationing with friends on the Mariner of the Seas vessel en route to the U.S. Virgin Islands from Miami on May 14th of last year before his untimely death. His friends reported him missing the following day, and a surveillance video later revealed that Daniel fell over a rail early in the morning hours of May 15th.
Among its many claims, this wrongful death lawsuit alleges Royal Caribbean of negligence. It turns out that DiPiero had been drinking throughout the day from a bottle of liquor that he and friends smuggled on the ship and at night in various bars on the vessel. DiPiero was cut off from drinking at one of the ship’s bars and then went to another establishment where he was served more alcohol. Records revealed that DiPiero was served five drinks during a four-hour period that night. The surveillance footage clearly showed DiPiero sleeping on a deck chair for about two hours, waking up and then leaning and falling over a fourth-deck rail at about 2:15 a.m.
Susan DiPiero’s personal injury lawsuit said that crew members never took the effort to make sure that her son made it back to his cabin and also alleged Royal Caribbean of negligence for several reasons. To begin with, the suit said that while the cruise line sold alcohol as a normal part of its business, it failed to prevent injury or death in a much more dangerous environment at sea. As one example, the lawsuit alleged that there was no deck watch, precautions and warnings to let patrons know of the dangers of being on an exterior deck at night while the ship was moving about the sea. It further claimed that the ship let Daniel get so intoxicated that he became a danger to himself and only exacerbated the problem by serving him more alcohol.
Royal Caribbean declined comment on the allegations in the suit and extended its sympathy to the family and friends of Daniel DiPiero. We’ll keep you updated on any more developments with this personal injury case.
