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| Photo by Susan J. Young |
One Costa Concordia accident lawsuit filed by more than 1,000 businesses on Giglio, Italy, against Carnival Corporation and its Costa Cruises brand was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenbaum in Fort Lauderdale, FL, last week.
As Carnival Corp. had requested, the judge dismissed the $75 million class action lawsuit, citing a “Forum Non Conveniens” doctrine. In other words, the judge ruled that legal action was more appropriate to be handled in Italy rather than the United States.
The businesses claimed the accident has damaged the island’s tourism, property values and environment.
Travel Agent had previously laid out the legal stumbling blocks to the success of any potential U.S. filing, in this earlier news analysis story: www.travelagentcentral.com/ocean-cruises/news-analysis-lawsuits-target-carnival-corp-us-but-will-they-succeed-37029.
The ruling could set a precedent for how other Costa Concordia lawsuit cases are handled. Several other lawsuits have been filed in the U.S. by survivors of the January accident, as well as relatives of the 32 people who died. But, there are no decisions on jurisdiction as yet on those cases.