Strict Liability Governs Cruise Ship Crew Member's Assault of Passenger
January, 2005
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently held that a cruise ship line was strictly liable for its crew member's sexual assault on a passenger. Doe v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc., 394 F.3d 891 (11th Cir. 2004).
Facts
In July, 1999, plaintiff Jane Doe was a passenger on a one-week round-trip cruise from New York City to Bermuda. Plaintiff was in her early twenties and was accompanied by five friends and four parents. The group was assigned to a table in the ship's dining room and were waited on by a crew member, Baris Aydin. Defendant Aydin lived aboard the cruise ship and worked as a waiter. He served the same set of passengers at dinner every night for the length of the cruise and was paid solely by passengers' tips. At the end of each cruise, Aydin's assigned dinner passengers filled out evaluations and these evaluations determined how many passengers and tables he was assigned for future cruises. Under this “tipping system,” Aydin was not paid by the cruise line and thus, Aydin's income was solely dependent on the satisfaction of his customers.
On the third day of the cruise, one of Doe's friends asked Aydin for a suggestion of a place to go out in Bermuda, a scheduled port-of-call for the ship on that day. Aydin suggested a disco club and that night, Doe and her friends went to the club and spent the evening dancing and drinking with Aydin and two other male crew members. After the club closed around 3:00 A.M., Doe's group of friends and the three crew members went outside and congregated with other club patrons near the cruise terminal, which was close to the club. Aydin escorted two of Doe's friends back to the ship and when he returned, found Doe lying on the ground due to her intoxication. Aydin offered to help Doe find a bathroom back at the club. The club, however, was closed and Aydin escorted Doe to a nearby park, very close to the cruise terminal, and the alleged sexual battery ensued. Afterwards, Aydin and Doe walked onto the ship and Doe went to her room. Doe's friends found her and took her to the infirmary where the ship's doctor administered a rape kit and Doe filed a report with the ship's security personnel. Doe was flown home from Bermuda on a flight paid for by the cruise line.
The cruise ship's policy only prohibited crew members from fraternizing with passengers while on-board the ship, but not when passengers and crew left the ship at ports-of-call during the cruise.
The case was tried to a jury, which returned a verdict for plaintiff on her sexual battery claim, awarded her $1 million in compensatory damages, and allocated fault equally among all of the defendants, including Aydin.
Analysis
On appeal, one of the issues raised by defendants was whether a cruise line, as a common carrier, is strictly liable for a crew member's assault on its passengers during transit. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's decision on this issue and upheld the majority rule that a common carrier, such as a cruise line, is vicariously liable for the intentional torts of its employees. The Court stated that a common carrier is bound to protect its passengers and has an “unconditional responsibility” for its employees' misconduct. Due to the special carrier-passenger relationship, common carriers “owe a non-delegable duty to protect their passengers from crew member assaults and thereby safely transport their cruise passengers.”
Defendants argued that alternatively, even if the strict liability standard governs crew member assaults during a cruise, it did not apply in this case because the alleged sexual battery occurred while Aydin was off-duty and off the ship and therefore, the special carrier-passenger relationship was severed at the time of Aydin's assault. The Eleventh Circuit rejected this argument, determining that the carrier-passenger relationship continued between defendants and Doe during the scheduled stop at the Bermuda port for several reasons. The stop in Bermuda was a scheduled port-of-call and thus, an integral part of the on-going cruise as five of the seven nights of this particular cruise were to be spent in Bermudian ports. Vacationers choose cruise ship vacations because they want to visit those places where the cruise ship stops and thus, the ports-of-call provide passengers with the “cruise experience” for which they are paying. This particular incident began when the cruise ship was on navigable waters when Aydin was assigned to be Doe's waiter and subsequently suggested that Doe's group visit the club and did not end until Aydin and Doe returned to the ship after the sexual battery in the park. Further, the Court determined that defendants have a pecuniary interest in off-duty crew members socializing and escorting passengers in a port-of call because it promotes the success of their “tipping system.” Therefore, the Court held that the interaction between Aydin and Doe was not outside the scope of the on-going carrier-passenger relationship or the scope of the on-going cruise.
Learning Point:
This case makes clear that when a crew member sexually batters a common carrier's passenger, the non-delegable duty owed by the carrier to protect its passengers from crew members during the transit is breached, and thus, the carrier will be held strictly liable.
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