Doe v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc.

• Decision Date: 09 May 2019
• Docket Number: CASE NO. 18-cv-23398-KMW
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida
• Parties: Jane DOE (T.C.), Plaintiff, v. CELEBRITY CRUISES, INC., et al., Defendants.

389 F.Supp.3d 1109

Jane DOE (T.C.), Plaintiff,

v.CELEBRITY CRUISES, INC., et al., Defendants.

CASE NO. 18-cv-23398-KMW

United States District Court, S.D. Florida.

Entered May 10, 2019

Signed May 9, 2019

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

KATHLEEN M. WILLIAMS, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

THIS MATTER is before the Court on Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres's Report and Recommendation (DE 50) (the "Report") regarding Defendants' joint motion to dismiss the third amended complaint (DE 39). The Report recommends that Defendants' motion be granted in part. Defendant CR SpaClub at Sea, LLC filed objections to the Report. Upon an independent review of the Report, Defendant's objections, the record, and applicable case law, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that:

1. The Report is AFFIRMED and the analysis contained in the Report (DE 50) is ADOPTED and incorporated herein by reference.

2. Defendants' motion (DE 39) is GRANTED IN PART as set forth in the Report.¹

DONE AND ORDERED in chambers in Miami, Florida, this 9^th day of May, 2019.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS

EDWIN G. TORRES, United States Magistrate Judge

This matter is before the Court on Celebrity Cruises ("Celebrity") and CR Spaclub at Sea's ("CR Spaclub") (collectively "Defendants") joint motion to dismiss Jane Doe's ("Plaintiff") demand for punitive damages. [D.E. 39]. Plaintiff responded on February 13, 2019. [D.E. 40]. Defendants filed their joint reply on February 20, 2019. [D.E. 43].¹ Therefore, Defendants' motion is now ripe for disposition. After careful consideration of the motion, response, reply, relevant authority, and for the reasons discussed below, Defendants' motion to dismiss should be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part .

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On or about August 24, 2017, Plaintiff was a passenger aboard the M/S Celebrity Summit , a vessel owned and operated by Celebrity. [D.E. 38]. At that time, CR Spaclub owned and operated a spa on the Summit that offered services for Celebrity's passengers. Id. Plaintiff alleges that, while she was a passenger on the Summit , a crewmember by the name of Carlos Roberto Castro Tadeo (the "Assailant") sexually assaulted and battered her. Id.

Plaintiff filed her initial, four-count complaint on August 21, 2018. [D.E. 1]. She filed an amended complaint three weeks later after a substitution of counsel. [D.E. 13]. On September 19, 2019, Plaintiff filed a second amended complaint to correct a typographical error. [D.E. 21]. Celebrity submitted its answer and affirmative defenses to the second amended complaint on October 12, 2018 [D.E. 23], and CR Spaclub did the same on December 10, 2018 [D.E. 30]. Plaintiff's underlying allegation, up until this point, was relatively straightforward and unchanged:

[t]he Assailant, after calling himself a masseuse and spa director and under the pretense of providing Plaintiff with a complimentary massage, trapped Plaintiff in a small room of the spa and intentionally persuaded Plaintiff to undress and eventually fondled her breasts and vaginal area before she was able to get away.

[D.E. 21, ¶ 17]. Plaintiff demanded compensatory damages, costs, interest, permissible attorney's fees, and other relief deemed appropriate by the Court for (1) Celebrity's negligence, (2) CR Spaclub's negligence, (3) Celebrity's strict vicarious liability, and (4) CR Spaclub's strict vicarious liability. [D.E. 21].

As discovery got underway, however, Plaintiff learned that she may not have been the Assailant's first victim. She claims she obtained a copy of the resume and application that Assailant submitted to CR Spaclub. [D.E. 35]. According to Plaintiff, during the discovery process she became aware that Assailant allegedly engaged in similar conduct while employed as a fitness instructor onboard a Carnival cruise ship in November of 2016 – roughly nine months before she claims she was assaulted.² Id. Based on this information, Plaintiff was granted leave to amend her complaint for a third time. [D.E. 37].

In the third amended complaint, Plaintiff added additional information about the Assailant's alleged similar conduct from November of 2016 and sought punitive damages on each of the four counts. [D.E. 38]. Defendants now seek to dismiss the claim for punitive damages because, in their words, the allegations contained in the third amended complaint do not rise to the level of "intentional wrongdoing" required to obtain such an award in the Eleventh Circuit. [D.E. 39]. We address these arguments below.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

In ruling on Defendants' motion to dismiss, the Court takes the allegations in the complaint as true and construes the allegations in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff. Rivell v. Private Health Care Systems, Inc. , 520 F.3d 1308, 1309 (11th Cir. 2008) (citing Hoffman–Pugh v. Ramsey , 312 F.3d 1222, 1225 (11th Cir. 2002) ). "When considering a motion to dismiss, all facts set forth in [Plaintiff's] complaint ‘are to be accepted as true and the court limits its consideration to the pleadings and exhibits attached thereto.’ " Grossman v. Nationsbank, N.A. , 225 F.3d 1228, 1231 (11th Cir. 2000) (quoting GSW, Inc. v. Long Cnty. , 999 F.2d 1508, 1510 (11th Cir. 1993) ). A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) "is granted only when the movant demonstrates that the complaint has failed to include ‘enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ " Dusek v. JPMorgan Chase & Co. , 832 F.3d 1243, 1246 (11th Cir. 2016) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ).

"While a complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiff's obligation to provide the grounds of his entitle[ment] to relief requires more than labels and conclusions." Twombly , 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (internal citations and quotations omitted) (alteration in original). "To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter." Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). A complaint does not suffice "if it tenders ‘naked assertion[s]’ devoid of ‘further factual enhancement.’ " Id. (quoting Twombly , 550 U.S. at 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955 ) (alteration in original). Factual content gives a claim facial plausibility. Id. ; see also Peterson v. Atlanta Hous. Auth. , 998 F.2d 904, 912 (11th Cir. 1993) ("[A] court's duty to liberally construe a plaintiff's complaint in the face of a motion to dismiss is not the equivalent of a duty to re-write it for [the plaintiff].").

III. ANALYSIS

Defendants' motion seeks to dismiss all of Plaintiff's demands for punitive damages. [D.E. 39]. However, as there is some dispute among the parties, we must first discuss when, exactly, punitive damages may be awarded under general maritime law.

According to Defendants, punitive damages are not available to Plaintiff under general maritime law "except in exceptional circumstances[,] such as willful failure to furnish a seaworthy vessel to a seaman and in those very rare instances of intentional wrongdoing." In re Amtrak Sunset Ltd. Train Crash in Bayou Canot, Ala. on Sept. 22, 1993 , 121 F.3d 1421, 1429 (11th Cir. 1997) ; see also Crusan v. Carnival Corp. , 2015 WL 13743473, at *7 (S.D. Fla. Feb. 24, 2015) ("[T]he Court finds that Amtrak is controlling on this issue, and Plaintiffs in this action may recover punitive damages only upon a showing of intentional misconduct") (citing Terry v. Carnival Corp. , 3 F. Supp. 3d 1363, 1371-72 (S.D. Fla. 2014) ).

Plaintiff, on the other hand, argues that punitive damages are available under general maritime law when a tortfeasor's conduct is willful, wanton, or outrageous, and does not merely apply only under circumstances where there is intentional misconduct. See Atl. Sounding Co. v. Townsend , 557 U.S. 404, 424, 129 S.Ct. 2561, 174 L.Ed.2d 382 (2009). In Atlantic Sounding , the Court found (1) that punitive damages were traditionally available at common law, (2) that the common law tradition of punitive damages extends to maritime claims, and (3) that there is no evidence that claims for maintenance and cure were excluded from the general maritime rule by the Jones Act (or otherwise). See id. at 414-15, 129 S.Ct. 2561.

There has been a split among district courts in the Eleventh Circuit as to whether Atlantic Sounding abrogated Amtrak. Compare Lobegeiger v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc. , 2012 A.M.C. 202, 214 (S.D. Fla. 2011) and Doe v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. , 2012 WL 920675, at *4 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 19, 2012) (finding that Atlantic Sounding abrogated Amtrak and that punitive damages are available in maritime personal injury actions for willful, wanton, or outrageous conduct), with Bonnell v. Carnival Corp. , 2014 WL 12580433, at *3 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 23, 2014) and Gener v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc. , 2011 WL 13223518, at *2 (S.D. Fla. Feb. 2, 2011) (finding that while Atlantic Sounding's "reasoning may be at odds with Amtrack [sic], its holding is not, and the mere reasoning of the Supreme Court is no basis for this Court to depart from clear circuit precedent").

We begin with the familiar principle that the Eleventh Circuit's decisions are binding upon the district courts within this circuit. See 11th Cir. R. 36, I.O.P. (2) ("Under the law of this circuit, published opinions are binding precedent."); see also Martin v. Singletary , 965 F.2d 944, 945 n.1 (11th Cir. 1992) (holding that "the courts in this circuit" have a duty to apply the binding precedent established by published opinions even before a mandate issues). Under the Eleventh Circuit's prior panel precedent rule, a "panel's holding is binding on all subsequent panels" – and, by extension, all district courts within the Eleventh Circuit – "unless and until it is overruled or undermined to the point of abrogation by the Supreme Court or by this court sitting en banc." United States v. Archer , 531 F.3d 1347, 1352 (11th Cir. 2008) (citing ...