NorCal Nurse Wins $300K Cruise Injury Suit

A Miami federal jury awarded $300,000 to a Vacaville nurse after finding Carnival negligently overserved her tequila before she fell down a ship staircase. (abcnews.com) Jurors found in April 2026 that Diana Sanders, 45, was served at least 14 shots of tequila over about 8 hours and 39 minutes on the Carnival Radiance on January 5, 2024. Court records cited by multiple outlets say the drinks were served between 2:58 p.m. and 11:37 p.m. at six bars on the ship. (usatoday.com) Less than an hour after her last drink, Sanders fell down stairs and suffered a concussion and what reports described as a possible traumatic brain injury. The jury ruled in her favor on April 10, and the verdict was entered on the docket on April 13. (cbsnews.com) The case turned on a basic negligence question: whether a cruise line has a duty to stop serving a passenger who is visibly intoxicated. The jury said yes here, assigning 60% of the fault to Carnival and 40% to Sanders. (cruiselawnews.com) That split matters because cruise injury cases are usually governed by federal maritime law, not the bar-liability rules that vary from state to state. In maritime cases, passengers must generally show the operator failed to use reasonable care under the circumstances. (cruiselawnews.com) Sanders sued Carnival in 2024, arguing that bartenders kept serving her despite visible intoxication and that the company was responsible for the injuries that followed. Her lawyer, Spencer Aronfeld, said after the verdict that the case took about 18 months of litigation. (cbsnews.com) Carnival said it “respectfully disagrees with the verdict” and plans to appeal. The company has not publicly accepted the jury’s finding that its crew acted negligently. (cruiselawnews.com) For now, the verdict leaves Carnival with a six-figure judgment tied to one night of shipboard drinking and one fall that a jury said the line should have helped prevent. (usnews.com)