A woman will receive $300,000 after winning an unusual lawsuit in Miami against Carnival

A federal jury in Miami ruled in favor of Diana Sanders, a 45-year-old nurse residing in Vacaville, California, and ordered Carnival Cruise Line to pay her $300,000 in damages after determining that the company acted with negligence.

The reason? To serve at least 14 shots of tequila in less than nine hours aboard one of their ships.

The verdict was recorded in the court file on April 13 and exceeds the $250,000 the plaintiff had requested during the trial, as confirmed by her attorney Spencer Aronfeld in statements to the Miami Herald.

The incident occurred on January 5, 2024, aboard the Carnival Radiance, a ship operating from Los Angeles on short routes to Mexico.

According to the lawsuit, Sanders was served at the casino bar on the ship between approximately 2:58 p.m. and 11:37 p.m., a period of eight hours and 39 minutes during which she consumed at least 14 tequila drinks.

Between 11:45 p.m. and 12:20 a.m. the following day, Sanders suffered a fall that caused him a concussion, headaches, a possible traumatic brain injury, injuries to the back and coccyx, bruises, and other wounds.

She was found unconscious in an area restricted exclusively to the ship's crew.

A key element of the case was the presentation to the jury of evidence concerning 30 minutes of missing surveillance video recordings, covering the time from when Sanders left the casino bar until she was found unconscious.

The six-person jury determined a shared responsibility: 60% blame for Carnival and 40% for Sanders herself.

The plaintiff's lawyers argued that the ship's waiters should have stopped serving her alcohol once she was visibly intoxicated, noting that bartenders on cruises typically do not cut off drink service as bars on land do.

This case is not the only one of its kind: recently a court also ordered the company to pay $344,051 to a 62-year-old passenger under similar circumstances.

The lawsuit also targeted the company's business model directly.

The plaintiffs noted that the Carnival CHEERS! package allows passengers to consume up to 15 drinks per day, and that, to maximize revenue, Carnival deliberately designs its ships to ensure there are alcohol service stations in every corner of the ship.

This type of litigation also affects other shipping companies: a woman filed a before he passed away.