High Heels on the High Seas:11th Cir. Nixes Human Factors Expert in Suit against Cruise Line; Affirms Summary Judgment

High Heels on the High Seas

11^th Cir. Nixes Human Factors Expert in Suit against Cruise Line;

Affirms Summary Judgment

By: Max Schellenberg

Torres v. Carnival Corp. No. 14-13721, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 20131; 2015 WL 7351676 (11^th Cir. Nov. 2015)This case was brought before the 11^th Circuit on appeal from a district court decision granting summary judgment to Carnival Cruise Lines based on Plaintiff’s failure to raise an issue of material fact as to whether Carnival breached a duty to Plaintiff by creating an unreasonably dangerous condition on the cruise ship Carnival Splendor.The relevant facts are thus; plaintiff was wearing platform shoes when she stumbled and fell, breaking her shoulder in the fall, as she attempted to disembark the Splendor. Plaintiff claimed her fall was caused by an uneven surface, which was partially obstructed by dark carpeting. However, plaintiff also testified that she was not paying attention as she approached the ramp. Further, several witnesses at the scene, plaintiff’s husband included, stated that they did not notice any defective conditions near where the plaintiff had fallen.The 11^th Circuit upheld the district court’s exclusion of testimony provided by a human-factors expert on behalf of Plaintiff, as well as its granting of summary judgment. As to the human factors expert, the district court found, and the 11^th Circuit agreed, that such testimony would unnecessarily complicate the case, as a jury could easily understand the mechanics of walking and what would cause someone to fall, and also that the expert’s methodology was questionable, given that he did not actually visit the site of the fall, but rather based his opinions on exemplary evidence, i.e. pictures of the site.Ultimately the 11^th Circuit, after reviewing the facts de novo, held that the Plaintiff had failed to present any evidence that Carnival Cruise Lines had breached its duty to provide “ordinary and reasonable care under the circumstances” by creating a reasonably foreseeable dangerous condition of which Carnival was actually or constructively aware of, and of which Carnival had failed to inform Plaintiff. Plaintiff was the only passenger to experience difficulty in navigating the threshold, and admittedly was not paying attention. The 11^th Circuit held, absent any showing that Carnival Cruise Lines’ negligence caused Plaintiff to stumble, the district court’s granting of summary judgment was appropriate.