Miami, Florida, is known as the cruise capital of the world. It is the world’s busiest cruise port, welcoming millions of passengers annually. Florida is also home to several other major cruise ports, serving as home bases for cruise lines and popular stops for many ships and itineraries.
While the state holds jurisdiction over its land-based activities, the laws governing its waters are under federal maritime jurisdiction. Any accident on these vessels would be subject to maritime law, not standard Florida personal injury law.
Injuries, accidents and claims
There are certain facts about Maritime law that make it different from standard personal injury law. These include:
- The statute of limitations: Maritime law typically allows three years to file a claim. Florida’s standard personal injury law gives four years. With this shorter window, injured cruise passengers, crew members or maritime workers may need to act quickly to have that opportunity to file a claim before the deadline expires.
- Recovering losses: Maritime law may allow the injured to receive punitive damages in certain cases. However, these are often unavailable in standard personal injury claims.
- Comparative negligence rules: Maritime law uses pure comparative negligence. Injured parties can recover damages even if they were partially at fault for the accident. Florida’s standard personal injury law, however, bars recovery if the plaintiff is more than 50% at fault.
- Liability standards: Maritime law introduces concepts like “unseaworthiness” and “maintenance and cure.” These don’t exist in standard personal injury cases. For example, a cruise ship company might be liable for injuries caused by an “unseaworthy” vessel.
In simple terms, “unseaworthiness” means the ship wasn’t safe for its crew to work on or passengers to travel on. If someone gets hurt because of this, the ship’s owner might have to pay for the injury, even if they didn’t do anything wrong on purpose. However, there are exceptions to this rule, such as when the owner can prove they were unaware of the unsafe condition.
Understanding the difference
These differences change how the legal system handles injuries and accidents at sea. For example, maritime law, not regular personal injury law, governs a slip-and-fall on a cruise ship. Understanding these differences can help one better understand and navigate the legal process.