Even before they got back on dry land, a Florida couple have filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million damages as passengers of the coronavirus afflicted ship Grand Princess.
The Princess Cruises ship began disembarking passengers in Oakland after 21 people were confirmed with coronavirus.
Ronald and Eva Weissberger claim the line was negligent in its screening process.
The suit says at least 62 passengers onboard the current cruise were also on the previous sailing where two people had the virus.
"Incredibly, not one of those 62 passengers or crew members who were mixing and mingling with the infected prior passengers were ever examined until being tested for the virus wo weeks after the ship sailed," it said.
"It would only stand to reason, that having experienced such a traumatic outbreak on board one of its vessels less than a month prior to the current voyage on board the Grand Princess, that the defendant would have learned to take all necessary precautions."
The Grand Princess is a sister ship to the Diamond Princess which was quarantined last month off the Japan coast.
More than 700 on the ship contracted the virus.
"Our response throughout this process has focused on the well-being of our guests and crew within the parameters mandated on us by the government agencies involved and the evolving medical understanding of this new illness," the company said.
Legal experts don’t expect the plaintiffs to be successful and will have a hard time proving negligence given the way the virus incubates, but many more lawsuits will likely be filed all the same.
"It’s almost an act of god, this virus. "It’ll be difficult to articulate a duty the cruise line could’ve had given the nature of a pandemic," said San Francisco lawyer Jason Lohr.
