Legal action against ship’s owners

One year on from the Costa Concordia tragedy, dozens of passengers and crew members are taking legal action against the ship’s parent company for damages.

Costa Concordia disaster: Lawyers to take action against ship’s owners

One year on from the Costa Concordia tragedy that claimed 32 people’s lives, dozens of passengers and crewmembers who survived are taking legal action against the ship’s parent company for damages.

Thirty-six passengers and crew are claiming thousands of euros in compensation from Costa Cruises for physical as well as psychological injuries such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

John Arthur Eaves Jr., an American lawyer representing more than 150 passengers from 10 countries believes Costa Cruises is faced with multi-million dollar compensation bill. He has described the 11,000 euros ($14,350) in compensation to each of the more than 3,000 passengers aboard the stricken vessel as “peanuts”.

The legal team representing the victims say Costa Cruises must be held negligent due to the tradition of “bowing” (taking the ship close to the island’s shore to salute locals).

“[Costa Cruises] knew the practice of navigation close to the coast because it was in the public domain but still such course changes must be recorded in the captain’s logbook,” the lawyers said.

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Source: Metro, written by Stefania Divertito.