Lapidus v. NCL America LLC

924 F. Supp. 2d 1352, 2013 WL 646172, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23532
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 14, 2013
DocketCase No. 12-21183-CIV
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 924 F. Supp. 2d 1352 (Lapidus v. NCL America LLC) 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
Lapidus v. NCL America LLC, 924 F. Supp. 2d 1352, 2013 WL 646172, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23532 (S.D. Fla. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING, IN PART, DEFENDANT NCL AMERICA’S MOTION TO DISMISS THE SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT

PATRICIA A. SEITZ, District Judge.

THIS MATTER came before the Court upon Defendant NCL America LLC’s (“NCL”) Motion to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint [DE 39]. Plaintiff alleges that while he was a passenger on Defendant NCL America’s (“NCL”) ship, Pride of America, he suffered a heart attack during an excursion in Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii. Having reviewed the Motion to Dismiss [DE 39], Plaintiffs response [DE 46], NCL’s reply [DE 50], and Plaintiffs Notice of Supplemental Authority [DE 55], the Court will grant, in part, and deny, in part, NCL’s Motion to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint.

As to Count I, the Court will dismiss Plaintiffs negligence claim for breach of a duty to warn with respect to the arduous hike over uneven, jagged, and very sharp terrain and climbing the steep steps in the lava tube because these are open and obvious conditions as a matter of law for which NCL has no duty to warn. The Court will also dismiss Plaintiffs negligence sub-claim against NCL for failure to provide prompt, proper, or adequate first aid to Plaintiff and failing to assist the Plaintiff to obtain adequate medical care on a timely basis because the allegations are conclusory and lack factual underpinnings. However, the Court will deny NCL’s motion to dismiss Plaintiffs negligence claim based on a failure to warn of the danger of volcanic gasses present during the excursion in Volcanoes National Park. The issues raised are more appropriately addressed on summary judgment. Moreover, the Court will dismiss Counts III and IV for apparent agency/agency by estoppel and joint ven[1355]*1355ture because Plaintiff fails to allege any facts to state a plausible claim as to the Excursion Entities’ negligence. The factual allegations in the Second Amended Complaint focus exclusively on NCL’s alleged negligence, including the failure to warn of dangerous gasses and the arduous hike. Lastly, the Court will grant NCL’s motion to dismiss Count V, the third party beneficiary claim, because Plaintiff has , not sufficiently alleged facts to state a cause of action under this theory.

I. BACKGROUND1

Plaintiff, a seventy-five year old man, was a fare-paying passenger on the NCL ship Pride of America. While Plaintiff was on the ship, NCL recommended that he purchase an excursion to Volcanoes National Park (“the excursion”), which was scheduled to take place during the time that the ship was docked in Hawaii. NCL represented to Plaintiff that the shore excursion was a “level 1,” meaning that the level of activity required was the easiest, least active of all shore excursions. NCL also represented to Plaintiff that there were no notable restrictions or warnings regarding health or safety for passengers who purchased the excursion and participated in it NCL did not disclose to Plaintiff that the National Park Service had issued warnings concerning the conditions in Volcanoes National Park, including that fumes (volcanic gasses) are hazardous to everyone’s health, and that visitors with health or breathing problems, infants, young children, and pregnant women are specially at risk and should avoid being in areas where fumes persist.

Plaintiff purchased a ticket to the excursion from NCL onboard the ship. On April 19, 2011, Plaintiff participated in the excursion, which was owned and/or operated by Defendants Polynesian Adventure Tours, ■ Inc. and Polynesian Adventure Tours, LLC (the “Excursion Entities”), who are Hawaii corporations. During the excursion, Plaintiff was required to engage in an arduous hike over uneven, jagged, and very sharp terrain and climb steep steps out of a lava tube without adequate assistance. Due to the hazardous conditions inside the lava tube, including the presence of toxic fumes (volcanic gasses) such as high amounts of sulphur dioxide gas, Plaintiff was unable to breathe, collapsed, and suffered a heart attack.

Thereafter, Plaintiff sued NCL and the Excursion Entities alleging that his heart attack was caused by NCL’s negligence. The Court granted NCL’s Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint because, although Plaintiff had adequately pled facts to support his claims for apparent agency and joint venture, he had failed to sufficiently allege facts to support his negligence claim and his assertion that he was the third party beneficiary of. a contract between NCL and the Excursion Entities. [DE 29]. The Court granted Plaintiff leave to replead his negligence and third party beneficiary claims. In his Second Amended Complaint [DE 30], Plaintiff asserts 29 negligence sub-claims against NCL in Count I. [Id. at ¶ 42], In Count II, Plaintiff alleges that the Excursion Entities were negligent in 37 ways.2 In Count III, Plaintiff maintains that the Excursion Entities were NCL’s apparent agents or agents by estoppel. In Count IV, Plaintiff contends that NCL and the Excursion Entities engaged in a joint venture. Lastly, in Count V, Plaintiff claims [1356]*1356that he is a third party beneficiary of a contract between NCL and the Excursion Entities that was breached. Presently before the Court is NCL’s Motion to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint [DE 39].

II. DISCUSSION

A. Legal Standard

A Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted” tests the sufficiency of the allegations in the complaint. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the Court accepts the well-pleaded factual allegations as true and construes them in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff. Speaker v. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Serv., 623 F.3d 1371, 1379 (11th Cir.2010). To survive a motion to dismiss, a “complaint must contain sufficient factual allegations, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (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, 129 S.Ct. at 1949. This “requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action.” Wilchombe v. TeeVee Toons, Inc., 555 F.3d 949, 958 (11th Cir.2009) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

B. Plaintiff States a Claim for Negligence Against NCL

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Bluebook (online)
924 F. Supp. 2d 1352, 2013 WL 646172, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23532, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lapidus-v-ncl-america-llc-flsd-2013.