Janet Kelly’s story should have been a tale of healing, fun, and merriment with close friends. Instead, she suffered a nightmare beyond that which she already knew. After losing her 18 year old daughter and enduring the hardships of her husband’s incapacitating heart attack, Janet and a few close friends and neighbors decided to embark on a relaxing cruise, to help ease her from her mental baggage. This was February, 2000. On the last night of this cruise, Janet was served a drink from the cruise bartender that had been drugged. Janet instantly felt the frightening mental and physical repercussions of the drugs, and was led to a location marked “Crew Members Only” by the bartender, where he raped her in a bathroom stall.
Janet took her situation to the local authorities immediately upon arriving in her home town. They claimed that the FBI had jurisdiction over crimes at sea, so the case was then sent their way. The FBI took months to investigate and interview the bartender, and did not prosecute him on the claim that they did not have enough evidence. They did have evidence in the possession of Janet’s clothing, a rape kit, and the bartender’s identification, however. Janet was shocked and appalled. She felt extremely let down by her home criminal justice system, so she took her case to civil law. She filed a lawsuit against the cruise company and managed to have the cruise line fire the bartender, finally receiving justice for the malicious acts against her.
Sadly, more of these cruise line incidents happen than one might expect, with 3 out of 4 offenses being sexual, usually involving women under 21. Thanks to people like Janet and hundreds of other international cruise victims, a light is being shed on these issues which could lead to tighter security and less victimization on cruise lines. Emphasis is also being placed on policies concerning consumption of alcohol, employment, jurisdictional investigation, incident reporting, and incident management in the cruise line industry.
If you or someone you know has had an incident like Janet’s, or any other kind of cruise ship litigation, please feel free to contact a personal injury attorney such as Best and Anderson Attorneys at Law in Orlando, Florida.
