BALTIMORE, Md. (Legal Newsline) – A Maryland man is seeking damages from California cruise line after his ship failed to sail and the replacement ship struck a bridge.
John Amato IV, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, filed a complaint on Dec. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland against Viking River Cruises Inc. alleging negligence and fraud.
According to the complaint, in February, the plaintiff booked and paid for an October Eastern European cruise on the defendant's vessel the Viking VAR.
He alleges he and his partner boarded the VAR Oct. 19, but it never moved because of low water levels and they were transferred to an airport hotel for two nights. The suit states they were transferred to the TOR, another vessel owned by the defendant, and that cruise lasted for seven hours before the vessel struck a bridge, and they spent two nights on that vessel without cruising.
The plaintiff holds Viking River Cruises Inc. responsible because the defendant allegedly failed to provide safe navigation of the TOR and failed to timely disclose that about the low water levels and its resulting impact on the ability to sail.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment in the amount of $10,000 for compensatory damages and $100,000 for punitive damages. He is represented by John Amato IV of Goodman, Meagher & Enoch LLP in Baltimore, Maryland.
U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland case number 1:18-cv-03753-GLR