Chung Chen’s family, who died of coronavirus (COVID-19) After traveling on the Ruby Princess cruise ship, he filed a civil negligence lawsuit against the company seeking compensation in excess of $ 1 million, his attorneys reported Friday.
According to the complaint, Chen, 64, boarded the cruise ship on March 8 in Sydney, Australia, despite the fact that the company knew that passengers from the previous trip had presented symptoms of the new coronavirus, and died on April 4 after returning home. in California.
Chen’s wife Juishan Hsu and their daughter Vivian, 21, also caught the disease, but survived.
This tragic death could have been avoided if the Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival“Choose safety over earnings,” said attorney Debi Chalik.
“As a result, the Chen family was devastated by the death of her beloved husband and father,” she said in a statement.
The lawsuit, filed by a Miami law firm, where the shipping company is headquartered, details that the three traveled by plane to California after the cruise returned to Sydney three days ahead of schedule.
Chalik’s and Chalik’s lawyers said the shipping company undertook the journey knowing of the widespread infection on that ship’s previous voyage.
They detailed that the ship delayed initial boarding for nearly six hours without notifying passengers of the reason.
“Apparently they were trying to clean up the ship and get it ready to set sail again, despite the widespread infection that became apparent on the ship’s previous trip among 200 passengers and crew members who showed symptoms of the virus,” he added.
Without specifically referring to this lawsuit, Princess Cruises noted that the company has been aware of “the difficulties” that the COVID-19 outbreak has caused passengers and crew.
“Our response throughout this process has focused on the well-being of our passengers and crew within the parameters dictated by the government agencies involved and the evolving medical understanding of this new disease,” he said.
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