NorCal Nurse Wins $300K Jury Award
- A Northern California nurse was awarded $300,000 after being overserved 15 shots on a cruise ship. - She received 15 tequila shots over about eight hours, then fell into a crew-only area, jurors found. - A jury awarded damages for negligence; the cruise line faces increased scrutiny over crew service policies (patch.com).
A Miami federal jury awarded $300,000 to a Vacaville nurse after finding Carnival negligent for overserving her tequila on a 2024 cruise. (abcnews.com) Jurors ruled for Diana Sanders, 45, after a trial over what happened aboard the Carnival Radiance on January 5, 2024. Court reports cited by multiple outlets said she was served at least 14 shots of tequila between about 2:58 p.m. and 11:37 p.m. before a late-night fall. (usatoday.com) The fall happened after Sanders entered a crew-only area and went down a stairway, according to the lawsuit and trial coverage. The jury found Carnival 60% responsible and Sanders 40% responsible, according to reports on the verdict. (yahoo.com) The case turned on a basic negligence question: whether ship staff should have stopped serving a passenger who was visibly intoxicated. Coverage of the verdict said Sanders alleged she was slurring her speech, smelled of alcohol and was acting belligerently while crew members kept serving her. (nbcbayarea.com) Cruise lawsuits are often filed in South Florida because major cruise lines write that forum into their passenger contracts, and Carnival is based there. That is why a Northern California passenger’s case ended up before a Miami federal jury. (usatoday.com) The sailing itself was a short Baja Mexico trip on the Carnival Radiance out of Long Beach, with Ensenada as the port call. Carnival still markets that route as a three-day itinerary from Long Beach. (carnival.com) Carnival’s own CHEERS! package says guests can have up to 15 alcoholic drinks in a 24-hour period, and the company says crew may refuse service for any reason. The same policy says responsible alcohol service rules apply. (carnival.com) Carnival said it “respectfully disagrees with the verdict” and believes it has grounds for a new trial and appeal, according to NBC and other reports. Sanders’ lawyer, Spencer Aronfeld, argued the verdict showed cruise lines can be held liable when staff keep serving an obviously impaired guest. (nbcbayarea.com) For now, the verdict does not rewrite cruise alcohol policy on its own. But it leaves Carnival fighting a negligence judgment built around one night, one passenger and a drink count the jury decided should have stopped sooner. (abcnews.com)
