Easterwood v. Carnival Corp.
| Decision Date | 01 December 2020 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 19-cv-22932-BLOOM/Louis |
| Parties | MINDY EASTERWOOD, Plaintiff, v. CARNIVAL CORPORATION, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida |
THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon Plaintiff Mindy Easterwood's Motion for Summary Judgment on the Issue of Duty Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 56, ECF No. [76] ("Plaintiff's Motion"), and Defendant Carnival Corporation's Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. [82] ("Defendant's Motion"), (collectively, the "Motions"). The Court has carefully reviewed the Motions, all opposing and supporting submissions, the record in this case, the applicable law, and is otherwise fully advised. For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiff's Motion is denied and Defendant's Motion is granted in part and denied in part.
On July 16, 2019, Plaintiff initiated the instant action against Defendant for personal injuries she sustained while onboard Defendant's cruise ship. ECF No. [1] ("Complaint"). The Complaint alleges that, on June 7, 2019, while walking on the pool deck of the Carnival Paradise cruise ship, Plaintiff stepped on what appeared to be mechanical grease, slipped, and fell, thereby sustaining serious injuries. Id. ¶¶ 9-11, 14. Based on these allegations, the Complaint asserts a single count of maritime negligence against Defendant, alleging that Defendant breached its duty of care by failing "to provide a non-skid deck, keep that deck area clear of black grease and/or oil and to employ lifeguards or pool attendants to carry out frequent inspections so as to warn of slippery areas, and remove grease and oil." Id. ¶ 12; see generally id.
With regard to the instant Motions,1 Plaintiff has filed its Motion, ECF No. [76], along with its corresponding Statement of Undisputed Facts, ECF No. [77] ("Plaintiff's SMF"). Defendant filed its Response, ECF No. [101] ("Defendant's MSJ Response"), and its Response to Plaintiff's SMF, ECF No. [102] ("Defendant's SMF Response"). Plaintiff also filed a Reply, ECF No. [113] ("Plaintiff's MSJ Reply"). Likewise, Defendant has filed its Motion, ECF No. [82], with its corresponding Statement of Material Facts in Support of its Motion, ECF No. [81] ("Defendant's SMF"). Plaintiff filed a Response, ECF No. [95] ("Plaintiff's MSJ Response"), together with its Response to Defendant's SMF, ECF No. [96] ("Plaintiff's SMF Response"). Finally, Defendant filed a Reply in support of its Motion, ECF No. [109] ("Defendant's MSJ Reply"), and a Reply Statement of Material Facts, ECF No. [108] ("Defendant's SMF Reply").
Based on the parties' respective statements of material facts in support of and in opposition to the Motions, along with the evidence in the record, the following facts are not genuinely in dispute unless otherwise noted.
On June 7, 2019—the same day as Plaintiff's accident—another passenger on the Carnival Paradise, Christy Baker ("Ms. Baker"), reported falling in the same spot on the pool deckapproximately one hour before Plaintiff's accident. ECF No. [81-3] at 7:15-20. Ms. Baker testified that, immediately after falling, she was escorted by an unknown crewmember down to the infirmary, which was closed at the time. Id. at 17:13-18. At the infirmary, Ms. Baker was approached by Nurse Amanda Hulley ("Nurse Hulley"), who was on call. Id. at 16:8-14; ECF No. [81-6] at 50. Ms. Baker reported pain in her wrist, and Nurse Hulley's medical report notes that Ms. Baker's wrist exhibited "no obvious deformity" and "no swelling." ECF No. [81-6] at 50. Nurse Hulley applied an ACE bandage to Ms. Baker's wrist and asked that she return to the infirmary at 3:00 p.m. to be seen by the doctor, but she never returned. Id. at 50-51.
The medical report notes that Ms. Baker "stated she slipped and fell on lido deck," and characterizes Ms. Baker's injury as "non-urgent." Id. At her deposition, Ms. Baker indicated that she thought she slipped on a puddle of water, ECF No. [81-3] at 8:1-3, and she denied ever having seen any kind of oily black substance in the area where she and Plaintiff fell, id. at 19:12-16. Ms. Baker also testified that she never reported the incident to security and was never questioned by any security personnel regarding the location or cause of her fall. Id. at 10:2-6, 17:13-24. Indeed, no official incident report was ever created for Ms. Baker's accident. See ECF No. [100-3] ¶ 9.
Nurse Hulley and Assistant Chief Security Officer Riemar Castano Seruelas ("ACSO Seruelas") both testified that the protocols for reporting injuries to security required that the doctor, after examining an injured passenger, call security to investigate the accident and create an incident report whenever the passenger injury requires more than first aid. ECF No. [81-6] at 27:10-18, 40:9-41:2; ECF No. [81-7] at 93:14-94:17; see also ECF No. [100-3] ¶ 5. Further, Defendant's Litigation Representative submitted a Declaration, stating that:
because Ms. Baker's incident, which involved a minor wrist injury, did not require treatment beyond first aid, the investigation protocol was not triggered. To wit, Ms. Baker did not seek medical attention from the onboard doctor after receiving treatment amounting to first aid by Nurse Hulley. Ms. Baker did not return to theMedical Center to receive treatment from the onboard doctor nor did Ms. Baker inform any Carnival personnel that she sustained a severe injury. Carnival's shipboard investigators did not create an Accident Report, take witness statements, have Ms. Baker prepare a passenger injury statement, take photographs in order to assist legal counsel, nor did they preserve CCTV footage of Ms. Baker's incident because it had no reason to anticipate litigation would ensue from Ms. Baker's incident.
Upon being treated by Nurse Hulley, Ms. Baker returned to the Lido Deck. ECF No. [81-3] at 16:13-14. Shortly thereafter, she witnessed Plaintiff's accident in the same area that she had previously fallen. Id. at 16:15-19.
On June 7, 2019, within an hour of Ms. Baker's accident, Plaintiff was walking on the Lido Deck by the pool, when she stepped on some type of slippery substance, that was "not sunscreen," and fell. ECF No. [81-2] at 40:7-8, 42:22-24, 56:10-22, 57:11-12. Plaintiff testified that she had previously visited the Lido Deck and the pool area before the date of her incident and had not slipped or fallen. Id. at 42:22-43:9. Nonetheless, Plaintiff explained that, on the day of her accident, she slipped and fell after stepping on something slippery and oily, which she later identified as a dark black substance that seeped through her bathing suit. Id. at 56:10-57:12.
The CCTV footage of Plaintiff's fall depicts Plaintiff walking across the Lido Deck heading toward a dark brown spot on the floor that bordered the pool. The video also depicts the manner in which Plaintiff slipped and fell on the teakwood deck. ECF No. [89].
Nurse Hulley responded to the scene of Plaintiff's accident to administer medical assistance, and she testified that she eventually escorted Plaintiff up to the infirmary, while keeping Plaintiff's injured leg immobilized. ECF No. [81-6] at 18:20-25. Nurse Hulley also prepared a medical report on Plaintiff's injury, which prioritized the incident as "urgent," described the various steps Nurse Hulley performed in administering medical treatment, and recorded her notesand observations. See ECF No. [97-5]. The medical report reflects that the doctor was immediately notified of the emergency and treated Plaintiff. Id. at 5. Plaintiff's Accident Injury Report and Passenger Injury Statement are also appended to the medical report. See id. at 12-13.
During his deposition, Plaintiff's husband, Craig Easterwood, testified that he had not previously seen any black oil on the Lido Deck, nor had he observed any crewmembers working with any sort of motor oil in the pool area. ECF No. [81-4] at 23:11-24:1. However, immediately following Plaintiff's fall, Craig Easterwood observed the presence of a black oily substance smeared across Plaintiff's legs and on the pool deck floor, which was still there when he returned to the area approximately thirty minutes later to investigate. Id. at 25:20-27:25. Nurse Hulley, on the other hand, testified that she could not recall seeing any black oily substance on Plaintiff's bathing suit while she was in the infirmary following her accident. ECF No. [81-6] at 58:23-59:6. ACSO Seruelas testified that he inspected the pool deck area shortly after Plaintiff's accident, but stated that he had never seen brown or black oil, grease, or other material come off the deck. ECF No. [81-7] at 35:24-36:3, 56:1-20, 68:6-22.
In June 2020, Plaintiff underwent gastric bypass surgery to address a number of different health factors, including her diabetes, morbid obesity, and worsening acid reflux. ECF No. [81-5] at 26:17-25. Plaintiff's Primary Care Physician, Jacquelyn Terry, D.O. ("Dr. Terry") testified that Plaintiff suffered from a number of pre-existing conditions, including GERD, acid reflux, and issues with weight gain, which pre-dated her accident on the Carnival Paradise. See ECF No. [97-3] at 19:8-10, 149:15-153:7. Plaintiff's bariatric surgeon, Peter Adams, M.D. ("Dr. Adams"), testified that his recommendation that Plaintiff have the gastric bypass surgery was based in part on her body mass index score indicating that she was morbidly obese, and her medical history, which included a number of significant comorbidities. ECF No. [97-4] at 14:14-17:2.
The standard of review on cross-motions for summary judgment does not differ from the standard applied when only one party files such a motion. See Am. Bankers Ins. Grp. v. United States, 408 F.3d 1328, 1331 (11th Cir. 2005). A court may grant a motion for summary judgment "if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter...
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