A federal court in Miami, Florida recently granted pre-judgment interest totaling $2,134,229.90 (calculated at $1,157.93 per day) on a jury verdict awarded to a woman who was raped aboard a Carnival cruise ship. This verdict, amounting to $10,200,000, was reached two years ago on July 18, 2022, after a crew member assaulted a young passenger on the Carnival Miracle. The information was reported by the New York Post and the Daily Mail.
Overview of the Case by Jane Doe
The key facts of the case are outlined in part by a federal magistrate’s ruling, which addressed several pre-trial motions filed by both parties, documented in the case of Jane Doe v. Carnival Corporation d/b/a Carnival Cruise Line (USDC FL case number 19-247660). Among other details, the ruling indicates:
“Jane Doe was a passenger on Carnival’s vessel, the Carnival Miracle, and in the early hours of December 2, 2018, she alleges that Fredy Anggara, a Carnival crew member from Indonesia, raped her in a storage closet.”
The lawsuit filed by Jane Doe’s lawyer adds further specifics, noting that:
- The incident took place on “December 1, 2018”;
- This was Jane Doe’s “first cruise” as a resident of Washington State;
- On the cruise’s final night, Jane Doe encountered a CARNIVAL employee at the top of a stairwell (as seen in a photo provided during discovery).
- After reaching the stairwell’s top, the employee lured Jane Doe into a maintenance closet, entered with her, locked the door, raped her, and ejaculated on her. Afterward, he unlocked the door and let her leave.
- Jane Doe hurried back to her cabin, but the assailant followed her, asking to return to her room, which she refused.
- Once in her room, she broke down in tears and informed her friend about the assault.
- Jane Doe, along with her friend, sought help to report the incident.
- Following the assault, she experienced hyperventilation and panic attacks.
- She found Carnival employees to report the crime.
- The cruise staff put Jane Doe in a wheelchair and transported her to the ship’s medical facility, where they utilized a rape kit and provided preventive medication for sexually transmitted diseases.
- Jane Doe endured significant humiliation after the examination, walking past numerous passengers waiting to disembark, dressed only in a t-shirt due to not being given fresh clothing.
- After the cruise, Jane Doe attempted to follow up with CARNIVAL regarding the employment status and any disciplinary action taken against the assailant. However, CARNIVAL did not respond.
The Washington Post reported on the trial, highlighting allegations and the victim’s damages:
“The lawsuit contends that Carnival is liable for the rape due to its failure to monitor dimly lit public areas of the ship, making women vulnerable to attacks. It argues that the company should have exercised reasonable care for its guests given the history of numerous assaults, batteries, and rapes committed by staff against passengers on its cruise ships.”
In court documents addressing inquiries from Carnival Corporation’s legal team, the plaintiff conveyed how the assault has impacted her life. “I have depressive episodes,” she stated. “I suffer from anxiety, particularly in public settings. My ability to engage intimately with someone has been affected.”
“At my lowest moment, I contemplated suicide,” she admitted in the documents. “I had a plan, visiting friends to create lasting memories for them and writing notes for everyone. I was hospitalized.”
Carnival’s Defense
During legal proceedings, Carnival responded to the rape allegations through corporate representative Suzie Vasquez, asserting that “sexual assaults on Carnival cruise ships are very, very rare.” They also claimed that the victims had consented to engage in sexual acts with the crew member in the closet, a narrative the jury evidently rejected.
Contrary to Carnival’s assertion, evidence suggests that sexual assaults on its ships are frequent; in fact, Carnival reports the highest numbers of rapes and sexual assaults among cruise lines, with incidents exceeding those in half the states within the U.S. In a statement from the Department of Transportation, the data for 2023 revealed that Carnival continues to lead in reported physical and sexual assaults on the high seas.
Expert Testimony – Dr. Ross Klein
Prior to the trial, Carnival attempted to prevent testimony from Dr. Ross Klein, a recognized cruise industry expert and author of the well-known CruiseJunkie website. Dr. Klein has previously testified before Congress regarding crime on cruise ships. Jane Doe’s lawyers aimed to elicit Dr. Klein’s insights about Carnival’s awareness of potential assaults, specifically regarding Mr. Anggara’s history.
Carnival sought to block Dr. Klein’s testimony, which aimed to establish that:
- The cruise industry, especially Carnival, has recognized the prevalence of rapes and sexual assaults aboard its vessels.
- Carnival failed to analyze crime data to create effective prevention strategies against such incidents.
- Promotional materials for Carnival cruises mislead guests into a false sense of security, downplaying the risk of sexual violence onboard.
- Given Carnival’s awareness of past sexual incidents, rapes were, to some extent, predictable.
In a ruling denying Carnival’s motion to exclude Dr. Klein’s testimony, the federal magistrate affirmed his qualifications, the reliability of his methodology, and the relevance of his insights for the jury’s understanding.
Sexual Assault Cases Against Carnival Cruise Line
According to DOT statistics outlining cruise-related crimes, there were over 100 reported sexual assaults on cruise ships in the year leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the counts categorized as follows:
- Carnival Cruise Line: 43 victims (37 passengers)
- Royal Caribbean: 31 victims (20 passengers)
During a 2007 congressional hearing on cruise ship crimes, a senior FBI official disclosed that federal prosecutions for sexual assaults at sea occur in only 7% of cases. This low prosecution rate is attributed to the FBI’s historical hesitance to engage in sex crime investigations aboard cruise ships, the cruise industry’s propensity to downplay incidents, and the potential destruction of evidence on board.
Congress has scrutinized the issue of sexual violence on cruise ships. However, the cruise industry’s trade organization, CLIA, argued that crime rates should reflect the total yearly number of passengers instead of the average daily population on cruise ships. Congress rejected this notion, deciding instead to base per capita crime statistics on the average number of passengers on board at any time, not the inflated annual figures.
As a result, Congress determined that the rate of sexual assaults on Carnival Cruise Line was nearly 40 (39.6) per 100,000 passengers, calculated using 43 reported sexual assaults over the 12 months leading up to the end of 2019, divided by an average of 108,500 individuals onboard. This rate is significant, surpassing those of states such as California, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Georgia, as well as the United States’ national average of approximately 27 per 100,000.
Reports from the Department of Transportation note that sexual assault allegations are the leading type of offense onboard, with 82 allegations documented in 2018 and 101 in 2019.
Carnival’s Discovery Violations
Additionally, the court issued sanctions against Carnival regarding the delays exceeding a year and a half in releasing footage from a security officer’s body-worn camera, which included critical interviews with the victim. The court determined that these sanctions were necessary to compensate Jane Doe and her legal team for their difficulties in acquiring evidence that should have been provided much earlier in the process.
Representation by Daniel Courtney
Jane Doe is represented by Miami attorney Daniel Courtney. This verdict underscores the gravity of the case and the extent of the victim’s suffering.
The Jury’s Verdict
This case highlights the precariousness of Carnival’s assertion that a young woman on a vacation would willingly consent to enter a closet with a stranger for sexual acts. The jury responded unfavorably to this narrative, particularly in light of Carnival’s support for the unfounded claim that shipboard rapes are “rare,” when data reveals that the cruise line has more sexual assaults than numerous states in the U.S.
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Image credits: Carnival Miracle – Master0Garfield – CC BY-SA 4.0 commons / Wikimedia (top); CRUISEMAPPER (bottom); Fredy Anggara – Daily Mail.
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