MIAMI (Reuters) - A fifth crewman died of injuries suffered in a boiler explosion aboard a cruise ship docked in Miami and an injured worker filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the ship's owner, lawyers and company officials said Wednesday.

The explosion killed four crewmen Sunday and injured 20 aboard the steam-powered SS Norway, which had just returned to Miami from a seven-day Caribbean voyage.

The ship's owner, Norwegian Cruise Line, said a fifth crewman died Tuesday but did not identify him. The four who died earlier, and several of the injured, were Filipinos.

All 2,135 passengers were safely evacuated from the ship. The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the cause of the blast.

Attorneys for one injured crewman, Abdi Comedia, sued NCL and its parent company, Star Cruises, in a state court in Miami Tuesday, accusing them of negligence.

The blast tore apart the boiler room and spewed superheated steam, burning Comedia over much of his body, the lawsuit said. Comedia is seeking $1 billion in punitive damages and $1 million for medical bills and lost wages.

His lawsuit, filed by attorney William Huggett, said the vessel's steam boiler system was old, dangerous and improperly maintained and that the multinational crew was undertrained, overworked and unable to understand engine room bosses because they spoke different languages.

It said the owners should have known an accident was likely because the boilers' pressurized steam can reach 900 degrees Fahrenheit, and that most ships switched to safer, more reliable diesel propulsion long ago.

"The SS Norway is an ancient, dangerous vessel with a long history of safety problems, which should have been sent to the scrap yard years ago," Huggett wrote in the lawsuit.

The company denied the allegations, calling the lawsuit baseless and the attorney who filed it opportunistic and self-serving, alluding to a news conference at his client's hospital bedside.

"It is also extraordinary that Huggett, whose lawsuit displays a spectacular ignorance of the technology of ships, could imagine that he has determined the cause of the accident on board the SS Norway in less than 48 hours" when the NTSB has said its investigation may take a year, NCL said.

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
It said the owners should have known an accident was likely because the boilers' pressurized steam can reach 900 degrees Fahrenheit, and that most ships switched to safer, more reliable diesel propulsion long ago.

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Indeed some of the very NEWEST ships in the world have steam turbines as part of gas turbine/steam turbine co-generation plants!

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"The SS Norway is an ancient, dangerous vessel with a long history of safety problems, which should have been sent to the scrap yard years ago," Huggett wrote in the lawsuit.

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Oh really. If she is so "ancient" and "dangerous" how come it took so long for something to happen?

I'm sorry, but I really doubt that NORWAY was a death-trap... And I really hope that this whole thing doesn't spiral out of control. Perhaps NCL is partially at fault, but it is ridiculous to immediately attribute the accident to their negligence and the age of the ship when an investigation has barely even started!

[ 05-29-2003: Message edited by: cruiseny ]

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"The SS Norway is an ancient, dangerous vessel with a long history of safety problems..."

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I always thought reliability and safety were supposed to be some of the BENEFITS of steam turbine drive on ships- you know, the reasons old Mr. Vlasov insisted on turbines for Fairsky. Steam is supposed to be smoother, quieter, and more reliable. Diesel burns less fuel, requires less space, and can be operated by less crew.

(Not that there's anything wrong with either system, just that each has its benefits, and if oil prices hadn't gone so out of control in the last 30 years maybe a few more steamers would have been built other than Pacific Sky.)

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Originally posted by cncservo:
Since the employees of the ship were at work can they sue their employer for negligence. In some states you cannot sue your employer for negligence unless it is determined there was a problem and mamagement knew of the danger and did nothing about it.

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I think one primary concern is just what jurisdiction this comes under... Bahamas (flag state), Bermuda (domicile of Star Cruises), Florida (location of the ship, and of NCL's head offices), Hong Kong SAR (location of Star Cruises head offices) Philippenes (nationality of the crew member)...

It's a lot more complicated than your average industrial accident.

[ 05-29-2003: Message edited by: cruiseny ]

I’ve no idea what price lives should be valued at, 1 million, 10 million, or 1 billion? They are just numbers.

The reality is widowed mothers, loss of income for life, trauma for those bereaved and children without fathers, assuming the crew were all male?

Explosions do not discriminate! There might have been more deaths. Members of the public might have died. They were obviously put at risk.

Somebody was negligent.

[ 05-30-2003: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
Somebody was negligent.

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Originally posted by Britanis:
Even the latest nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers use steam turbines, not to mention shoreside electrical plants, both of the nuclear and non-nuclear variety.

I always thought reliability and safety were supposed to be some of the BENEFITS of steam turbine drive on ships- you know, the reasons old Mr. Vlasov insisted on turbines for Fairsky. Steam is supposed to be smoother, quieter, and more reliable. Diesel burns less fuel, requires less space, and can be operated by less crew.

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
Somebody was negligent.

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I have to say I disagree there... This accident could well have happened with nobody being negligent at all. Not all accidents result from negligence... That's why they're called "accidents".

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Originally posted by cruiseny:

I have to say I disagree there... This accident could well have happened with nobody being negligent at all. Not all accidents result from negligence... That's why they're called "accidents"...
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Yes, and suppose it was the fellows co-workers who were negligent. It's irresponsible to lay all the blame at NCL's door.

I don't mean to sound insensitive, but the first thing I thought of when I heard the sum was Dr. Evil saying; One biiilllion dollars". The amount is that ridiculous.

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Originally posted by empressport:
I though George Bush had propose some tort reform to limit these kind of outrageous punitive damages.

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Just because he proposed it doesn't mean it got through...

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Originally posted by cruiseny:

I'm not a big Bush fan myself but I have to say I think there should be a limit on this sort of thing.

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Doug, you mean the Toxic Texan.
In the USA there are 4 stages to a lawsuit:

Discovery
Interrogatories
Deposition
Trial

Trail lawyers work on contingency only. They have to front expenses for a case. If they lose, they are out. Many will not take frivolous cases. But there are shysters out there and professional plaintiffs.

At the end of any of these stages a lawsuit can settle. Most slip and fall is settled in discovery. Most medical malpractice settles or gets thrown out during the interrogatories. Large awards go thru a deposition. It is always cheaper to settle than go to trial. Trial is the last resort and is expensive and risky on both sides.

The lawyer is suing for a billion, most lawsuits settle. The costs of research, expert witnesses, medical expenses etc. all come out of the settlement which can dry up an award. If the jury or judge does not like the plaintiff, plaintiff loses all. If he hates the defendant, he loses all.

Big awards you hear about on the news are rare, that is why they make the news. A judge can lower the award a jury sets.

Since this is a newsworthy case, I believe it will go to trial. If it were not, the parties and insurance companies would settle and not risk losing all. A judge usually presides a "settlement conference"

If no trial, I bet they will settle for $2 million.

Nathan, you are an attorney can you elaborate?

[ 05-30-2003: Message edited by: desirod7 ]

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Originally posted by desirod7:
Doug, you mean the Toxic Texan.

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Oh no, not another political discussion ...

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I bet they will settle for $1 million.

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Originally posted by PamM:

Accidents happen whether someone was negligent or not.

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Apart from acts of god like earthquakes, lightening etc. accidents can normally be attributed to a person or more often than not a group of people, making errors - cumulative causation.

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Originally posted by desirod7:

Doug, you mean the Toxic Texan.
In the USA there are 4 stages to a lawsuit:

Discovery
Interrogatories
Deposition
Trial

Trail lawyers work on contingency only. They have to front expenses for a case. If they lose, they are out. Many will not take frivolous cases. But there are shysters out there and professional plaintiffs.

At the end of any of these stages a lawsuit can settle. Most slip and fall is settled in discovery. Most medical malpractice settles or gets thrown out during the interrogatories. Large awards go thru a deposition. It is always cheaper to settle than go to trial. Trial is the last resort and is expensive and risky on both sides.

The lawyer is suing for a billion, most lawsuits settle. The costs of research, expert witnesses, medical expenses etc. all come out of the settlement which can dry up an award. If the jury or judge does not like the plaintiff, plaintiff loses all. If he hates the defendant, he loses all.

Big awards you hear about on the news are rare, that is why they make the news. A judge can lower the award a jury sets.

Since this is a newsworthy case, I believe it will go to trial. If it were not, the parties and insurance companies would settle and not risk losing all. A judge usually presides a "settlement conference"

If no trial, I bet they will settle for $2 million.

Nathan, you are an attorney can you elaborate?

[ 05-30-2003: Message edited by: desirod7 ]

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95 to 98 percent of cases filed never make it to trial. From my perspective, about half are settled, the other half are dismissed through dispositive motions (i.e., the defendant convinces the judge that the plaintiff has no case). Depositions and interrogatories are part of the "discovery" process.

In a personal injury case, a good rule of thumb for evaluating a case (at least in my part of the country), is that a jury typically will award an amount between 3 and 5 times the medical expenses. This takes into account the fact that the Plaintiff's lawyer receives one third as a fee. Unlike other countries, our American system provides that each side pays for its own attorney, rather than the losing side paying the costs of the other's attorney.

Unless evidence surfaces that NCL knew of a problem with the boiler, and ignored it, this really isn't a case where punitive damages would be warranted. Death cases are obviously going to have a higher award (if the plaintiff wins) than a non-death case, but it's pretty rare to see death cases settling for a million dollars. We defend some pretty severe medical malpractice claims, and we've never had a settlement or award anywhere near that. I'd say the families of the dead crew members would be lucky to get $500,000.

[ 06-06-2003: Message edited by: latapx5 ]

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Originally posted by latapx5:
If the Norway is such a death trap, why in the world did they continue to renew there contracts and work on her daily?

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Welcome aboard!