Fadraga v. Carnival Corporation

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedApril 30, 2024
Docket1:23-cv-23503
StatusUnknown

This text of Fadraga v. Carnival Corporation (Fadraga v. Carnival Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fadraga v. Carnival Corporation, (S.D. Fla. 2024).

Opinion

United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

Mercedes Fadraga, Plaintiff, ) ) Civil Action No. 23-23503-Civ-Scola v. ) In Admiralty1 )

Carnival Corporation, dba ) Carnival Cruise Lines, Defendant. ) Order Denying Motion to Dismiss and Granting Motion to Join Plaintiff Mercedes Fadraga seeks to recover damages from Defendant Carnival Corporation, doing business as Carnival Cruise Lines, for injuries she suffered when hot soup spilled on her, while aboard Carnival’s ship, resulting in second- and third-degree burns on her legs. (Am. Compl., ECF No. 17.) In her complaint, Fadraga sets forth a claim for general negligence (count one) as well as a claim for negligent failure to warn (count two). (Id.) Carnival, in response, argues the Court should dismiss the complaint because Fadraga fails to (1) plead facts showing that Carnival had notice of the risk-creating condition; (2) allege that the risk-creating condition was not open and obvious; and (3) set forth factual allegations establishing proximate cause. (Mot., ECF No. 20.) Carnival also complains that Fadraga’s complaint is a shotgun pleading and improperly sets forth a claim for vicarious liability. (Id. at 14–16.) Fadraga opposes Carnival’s motion (Resp., ECF No. 24), to which Carnival has replied (Reply, ECF No. 25). After careful review, the Court denies Carnival’s motion (ECF No. 20). At the same time, in denying Carnival’s motion to dismiss—and therefore requiring Carnival to answer the complaint—the Court also grants Carnival’s motion for leave to join additional parties (ECF No. 26).

1 The Plaintiff has alleged that both she and the Defendant have Florida citizenship. Accordingly, there is no diversity jurisdiction over this case, as the Plaintiff suggests in her complaint. (Am. Compl. ¶ 3.) As such, the Court strikes the complaint’s demand for a jury trial and exercises its admiralty, and not diversity, jurisdiction over this case. See Beiswenger Enterprises Corp. v. Carletta, 86 F.3d 1032, 1037 (11th Cir. 1996) (noting that, “as in all admiralty cases, there is no right to a jury trial”); Barry v. Shell Oil Co., No. CIVA 13-6133, 2014 WL 775662, at *3 (E.D. La. Feb. 25, 2014) (“As Plaintiff’s claims here are solely based on general maritime law and there is a lack of diversity among the parties, there is no way for Plaintiff to have a trial by jury in this Court.”). 1. Background2 In December 2022, Fadraga was a passenger aboard Carnival’s ship, the Conquest. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 9, 10.) Before the ship set sail, Fadraga and her traveling companions went to the ship’s “Deck 9” to have lunch. (Id. ¶ 10.) Fadraga says that “soup was provided to her at the buffet by Carnival” but also says that one of her companion’s carried the soup back to Fadraga’s table. (Id. ¶¶ 16, 17.) The bowl of soup was so hot that it was nested into a second bowl— Fadraga does not say by whom—so that it could be carried. (Id. ¶ 17.) At some point, it’s not clear from the complaint when, as Fadraga was sitting at the table, the soup spilled, landing on her legs, soaking her pants, and immediately resulting in blistering and significant burns. (Id. ¶ 18.) Previously, in October 2019, another passenger on the Conquest was burned by scalding hot water from a beverage center. (Id. ¶ 21.) And before that, in March 2019, on a different ship, the Horizon, a crewmember handed a minor a slice of pizza with scalding hot cheese that slipped off and burned the passenger’s arm. (Id. ¶ 20.) According to Fadraga, industry standards require that soup not be served at temperatures that can cause burns. (Id. ¶ 13.) She believes the soup exceeded these standards because she suffered second- and third-degree burns as a result of the spilled soup. (Id. ¶ 14.) Fadraga seeks to hold Carnival responsible for her injuries, claiming Carnival was negligent in serving such hot soup and that Carnival failed to warn her that the soup was so hot. 2. Legal Standard When considering a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the Court must accept all the complaint’s allegations as true, construing them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Pielage v. McConnell, 516 F.3d 1282, 1284 (11th Cir. 2008). A pleading need only contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). “[T]he pleading standard Rule 8 announces does not require detailed factual allegations, but it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quotation omitted). A plaintiff must articulate

2 This background is based on the allegations in Fadraga’s complaint. For purposes of evaluating Carnival’s motion, the Court accepts Fadraga’s factual allegations as true and construes those allegations in the light most favorable to her per Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. “The plausibility standard is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id. “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Id. Thus, a pleading that offers mere “labels and conclusions” or “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action” will not survive dismissal. See Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555. “Rule 8 marks a notable and generous departure from the hyper-technical, code-pleading regime of a prior era, but it does not unlock the doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with nothing more than conclusions.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679. 3. Analysis A. Carnival fails to persuade that Fadraga’s allegations are insufficient to imply Carnival had notice of the risk-creating condition. At the heart of Fadraga’s complaint is her allegation that Carnival breached its duty of care by serving unreasonably hot soup at its buffet that burned her when a bowl of it was spilled on her legs. In response, Carnival urges dismissal, arguing, primarily, that the complaint fails to allege facts showing that Carnival had either actual or constructive notice of the hazardous nature of the soup. In particular, Carnival says Fadraga’s notice allegations are defective because they (1) don’t even show the existence of a risk-creating condition in the first place; (2) fail to set forth facts showing the hazardous condition existed for a sufficiently lengthy time period; (3) don’t establish substantially similar incidents that occurred previously; and (4) only vaguely reference safety standards without explaining either how Carnival violated those standards or how those standards connect to Fadraga’s injuries. After careful review, the Court disagrees with Carnival and finds Fadraga has sufficiently alleged notice—albeit barely. As both parties acknowledge, under maritime law, a shipowner owes a passenger a duty of ordinary reasonable care under the circumstances. Keefe v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Beiswenger Enterprises Corp. v. Carletta
86 F.3d 1032 (Eleventh Circuit, 1996)
Pielage v. McConnell
516 F.3d 1282 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
Kermarec v. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique
358 U.S. 625 (Supreme Court, 1959)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
FindWhat Investor Group v. FindWhat. Com
658 F.3d 1282 (Eleventh Circuit, 2011)
Thomas Frasca v. NCL (Bahamas), Ltd.
654 F. App'x 949 (Eleventh Circuit, 2016)
Irina Tesoriero v. Carnival Corporation
965 F.3d 1170 (Eleventh Circuit, 2020)
Michelle M. Newbauer v. Carnival Corporation
26 F.4th 931 (Eleventh Circuit, 2022)
Lugo v. Carnival Corp.
154 F. Supp. 3d 1341 (S.D. Florida, 2015)
Donnie Holland v. Carnival Corporation
50 F.4th 1088 (Eleventh Circuit, 2022)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Fadraga v. Carnival Corporation, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fadraga-v-carnival-corporation-flsd-2024.