Will cruise passengers be victimized again – by forced arbitration

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As they suffered in sweltering heat, walked through sewageand defecated in plastic bags, some of the passengers aboard the CarnivalCruise Lines ship Triumph probablywere thinking “At least when we finally get home we can sue the b-----ds.”

The Carnival Triumph in happier times
(including working toilets)

Well, they can try – andsome already have.  But the U.S.Supreme Court has made it a lot harder than it should be. 
It appears that Carnival is far better prepared to preventlawsuits than it was to contain the damage aboard the Triumph.  In thefine print that comes with every ticket, there is a clause that bars mostlawsuits.  Instead, passengers must gointo forced arbitration.  In addition,when passengers buy a ticket for a Carnival Cruise they give up their right tobe part of a class-action suit – though again, onelaw firm is going to try anyway.
As we explained in aprevious post to this blog, and in our 2011 report, Arbitration Activism, this means thedeck is stacked against the passengers at every turn.  And in keeping with its role as “The 1% Court” the Supreme Courtmajority has upheld forced arbitration, and the ban on class actions, in oneoutrageous case after another.
The Carnival Cruise fine print makes exceptions forindividual suits in cases of “personal injury, illness or death.”  In one of the suits brought so far, apassenger cites severe dehydration and bruises suffered while on “aggressivefood lines.”    
But passengers whose suffering extended only to enduringheat, stench, limited food and no toilets may be out of luck.  As for the validity of any class action,presumably Carnival could appeal all the way to the Supreme Court – and we knowwhat that is likely to mean.
IT’S EVEN WORSE FORTHE CREW
There is another group that endured worse suffering than thepassengers.  AsJosh Eidelson points out in Salon, even when nothing goes wrong, conditionson cruise ships can be hell for the crew. And there is almost nothing they can do about it.
Citing the work of Prof. Ross Klein, the author of ParadiseLost at Sea: Rethinking Cruise Vacations, Eidelson writes: 

Carnival is technically registered inPanama, a country whose laws Klein charges “have been changed to satisfyCarnival’s needs and interests. Because Carnival means a fair amount of moneyto their national treasury.” Effectively, for cruise workers, says Klein,“there aren’t any real labor regulations.” (He noted that one lawsuit that was brought against Carnival inthe U.S. ended with a settlement requiringfuture such disputes be pursued through an arbitration system, effectivelyrequiring potential worker plaintiffs to shell out tens of thousands of dollarsin transportation and legal fees.)[Emphasis added.]