• Hello visitor!

    We are happy to see you have stopped by and hope you will consider registering with our community. Whether you have a question related to an upcoming cruise or just want to meet other fellow cruisers, you are always welcome!

    Hope to see you on the forums soon!

CARNIVAL TRIUMPH arrested in Galveston

C

Cruisefan

Deckhand
On her arrival on Friday, a judge ordered the vessel held, pending a law suit and counrt hearing. Apparently a german Family who lost members on Concordia, have filed a $10Million suit. The ship was allowed do disembark her passengers then moved to another peir where she will remain until the court hearing,s cheduled ??
read more here >>>>
CruiseFan
 
S

sidari

Deckhand
Stupidity from a Stupid judge who should be sacked! i wonder where the lawyer is from acting for this family ? what is the judge going to do about all the people who will not be getting their holiday? how do these Muppets gets employed! .... :rolleyes:
 
L

lancashire lass

Guest
Well it sounds as if the judge is acting under the law, but I agree with you Dave this is shocking. Not being I lawyer I don't have a clue what this couple are entitled to do but holding a cruise ship at ransom seems a bit much to me.:bigeek:
 
S

sidari

Deckhand
You would have thought that a judge would have had more common sense than to issue an order impounding a ship that was due to sail that day with passengers who have paid Thosands of $ and more when they could have done it other ways! then again many people do not posses any common sense and it is clear that the lawyer, the judge and the US justice system do not.

This was nothing more than a lawyer trying to get one over on Carnival corporation and to try to prove that he or she can make a claim somewhere other than where the cruise ticket says! which in this case is Italy.
 
L

lancashire lass

Guest
Maybe that Judge was grandstanding as well. Who knows !!
 
Ally

Ally

Deckhand
Believe me, there was no grandstanding by anyone...far from it infact.

The lawyer who had the seizure order served, did his/her research...anyone with a pooter and internet could find out what he/she did.

Carnival Corp has a large number of subsidiaries, some are cruise lines, others are "means to an end" companies.

For example....

To flag register the Carnival Cruise Lines ships in Panama, Carnival Corp must have an office in the country and at least one vessel owned by that company....Carnival Corp have two ships owned by registered companies in Panama....

Carnival Triumph - Utopia Cruises Inc
Carnival Destiny - Futura Cruises Inc

Those two ships are OWNED by their respective companies and operated by Carnival Cruise Lines, the rest of the fleet are owned AND operated by Carnival Cruise Lines.

I believe that Triumph was chosen for yesterday's seizure due to the fact that Destiny is running out of Florida which is Carnival Corp's home base, and the judiciary might not be quite so forthcoming when it came to issuing the seizure order.

Triumph runs out of Texas, and thus away from the Corporation and its many lawyers. It may have an easier burden of proof required too.

The judge who granted the order had no choice but to issue it, the US Marshal who served the order had no choice but to do so cos the lawyer in Germany was bang to rights, what was done was 100% legal and legitimate.

Check the details below...

CARNIVAL CORP - 10-K - 20000228 - EXHIBIT_21

CARNIVAL DESTINY

Carnival - Shipbuilding Agreement Utopia & Fincantieri Scroll down page

The lawyers did their homework, they earned their fees on this...very clever by them and it is almost guaranteed that it caught Carnival Corp completely by surprise...they would never have known that this was coming until it formally arrived.

It was a brilliant piece of legal skullduggery really...and Carnival have a problem now, cos they have two ships vulnerable to further similar actions and there is absolutely nothing that they can do to stop it...unless they decide to reflag the entire Carnival Cruise Lines fleet, thus dispensing with the need to have "means to an end" companies in Panama.

The big question now is what is Destiny likely to face next year if the deathsuits are not paid up by the time she gets to Italy for her multi-million refit at Fincantieri next year?

The families of those deceased passengers will be highly annoyed that millions are being spent on a refit when their claims (that are small by comparison) sit on the shelf.

Carnival Corp got caught short this weekend...and it could happen again.
 
S

sidari

Deckhand
If Carnival have any sense the Triumph will not be running out of texas for much longer ad will look at their other ships as well! was the lawyer in Germany from the USA by any chance ? i find it strange that a German lawyer could bring a legal case in the USA!
 
L

lancashire lass

Guest
Sounds as if there might be trouble brewing . Lawyer for sure did his homework.
 
Ally

Ally

Deckhand
sidari said:
If Carnival have any sense the Triumph will not be running out of texas for much longer ad will look at their other ships as well! was the lawyer in Germany from the USA by any chance ? i find it strange that a German lawyer could bring a legal case in the USA!
Click to expand...
The lawyers representing the family in Germany most probably hired an associate in Texas who would work with them on their behalf, Dave.

It was a very clever move and something that Carnival Corp had not considered anyone doing.

They did not see it coming, that was obvious by the reaction on John Heald's Facebook page...he being brand ambassador...initially when Bloomberg broke the story with a couple of lines on their site, someone posted on John's page asking what it was all about, John replied that it was only a rumour and nothing to worry about.

A few hours later that original response was removed from John's page and replaced with an official "its true and we are dealing with it" type message.

Carnival got caught with trousers round their ankles...well and truly. Pat on the back for the lawyer really, he forced their hand...corporates always drag lawsuits out, but you have to give it to this lawyer, he/she was inventive and wouldn't take no for an answer....not many lawyers in caes like this would dare try this....good on'em, caught the company brilliantly.

OK so there were passengers involved aboard Triumph, but there was no way that Carnival wouldn't post bond to free the ship and the lawyer knew that and played them well....sneaky legal skullduggery at its best and this time not a corporation's legal team doing it for once.
 
S

sidari

Deckhand
Ally regardless of where the lawyer came from i still think there were better ways of handling the situation than impounding a ship! lets face it would you be happy to fly to Texas for a cruise only to find out that the ship you are due to travel had been impounded? what is there to stop this happening to other cruise lines and other passengers!

While i agree that the people need to get a fair compensation package, Lawyers playing around with Thousands of peoples holidays is not on!
 
CaroleS

CaroleS

Deckhand
Ally said:
The lawyers representing the family in Germany most probably hired an associate in Texas who would work with them on their behalf.
Click to expand...
That is quite correct, that is what happens and normally for a client to arrest a ship it is the last resort to do this, they can also arrest bunkers (fuel) and cargo as well.

I actually work for shipping lawyers here in the UK :rolleyes: Although have to say I am not a lawyer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top