MILDRED EICK, APPELLANT,
v.
NORWEGIAN CARIBBEAN LINES A/S, D/B/A NORWEGIAN CARIBBEAN LINES, APPELLEE
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A cruise ship passenger sued over one year after an accident aboard the defendant's vessel, but the cruise line moved for summary judgment based on a one-year limitation period printed in the passenger ticket. The court held that the ticket's notice provision was legally insufficient to bind the passenger to the limitation period and reversed the summary judgment.
The court held that the ticket provision was legally inefficacious as a matter of law to establish the one-year limitation period. The notice in the ticket failed to adequately alert the passenger that the terms and conditions were important matters of contract affecting legal rights, and therefore did not satisfy the legal standard for enforcing contractual limitations on passenger liability claims.
[1] A cruise ship ticket's limitation period is unenforceable as a matter of law if the ticket does not reasonably alert the passenger to the importance of the contractual te…
[2] A contractual provision on a cruise ship ticket is ineffective to establish a statute of limitations if it is not sufficiently conspicuous to warn the passenger of its im…
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the contents of the ticket were inefficacious for this purpose as a matter of law”
The court's holding that the ticket provision could not legally bind the passenger to the one-year limitation period.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMildred Eick was injured aboard Norwegian Caribbean Lines' cruise ship and brought a personal injury action more than one year after the accident. Nor…
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SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.
The plaintiff passenger in a personal injury action, which arose aboard the defendant’s cruise ship and was brought more than one year after the accident, appeals from an adverse summary judgment entered on the ground that the one year statute of limitation contained in her ticket bars the action. Upon the controlling authority of Hirsch v. Klosters Rederi A/S, 521 So. 2d 316 (Fla.Sd DCA 1988), we hold, directly to the contrary, that the contents of the ticket were inefficacious for this purpose as a matter of law.
The ticket considered in Hirsch and held to be insufficient to establish the one year statutory period is in all material respects identical to the present one. Even the appellee is able to point to only one difference between the two — one which epitomizes the sometimes over used expression which refers to a difference without a distinction.1 An interior page of the multi-page ticket in Hirsch stated: “THE PROVISIONS ON THE REVERSE HEREOF ARE INCORPORATED AS THOUGH FULLY REWRITTEN.” Id. at 317. In the instant case, the ticket provides instead:
NOTICE: The passenger’s attention is specifically directed to the terms and conditions of this contract appearing on pages 6, 7 and 8.
It is clear that the latter provision no more serves to alert the passenger to the limitations provision upon which it now relies than did the ticket in Hirsch. Under the doctrine of Silvestri v. Italia Societa Per Azioni Di Navigazione, 388 F. 2d 11 (2d Cir.1968), which was adopted in Hirsch and Hallman v. Carnival Cruise Lines, 459 So. 2d 378 (Fla.3d DCA 1984), neither ticket could be deemed to embody all that the steamship line could reasonably do “to warn the passenger that the terms and conditions were important matters of contract affecting his legal rights.” Silvestri, 388 F. 2d at 17.
Accordingly, it is plain that Hirsch controls and requires reversal.2
Reversed.
. Or is it a distinction without a difference?
. The defendant argues — and the trial judge apparently agreed — that the limitation is enforceable, notwithstanding the insufficiency of the ticket, on the ground that the plaintiff and his attorney knew or should have known of its existence before the year expired. This contention is completely without merit. As the cases clearly establish, the statutory period is enforceable only if the ticket which creates it is objectively sufficient under the law; the parties’ subjective knowledge or lack of it is totally immaterial. See Hallman, 459 So. 2d at 380.
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Citator
Cited By
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Sokol v. Stardancer Casino, Inc., 855 So. 2d 700 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003)…987); Shankles v. Costa Armatori, S.P.A., 722 F. 2d 861 (1st Cir.1983); DeNicola v. Cunard Line Ltd., 642 F. 2d 5 (1st Cir.1981); Norwegian Cruise Line, Ltd. v. Clark, 841 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003). Compare Eick v. Norwegian Caribbean Lines A/S, 560 So. 2d 1221 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); Hirsch v. Klosters Rederi A/S, 521 So. 2d 316 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988).…
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Collins v. Dolphin Cruise Line, Inc., 625 So. 2d 1308 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993)…ten contract in this state can defend against its enforcement on the sole ground that he signed it without reading it.”) (citations omitted). We find no merit in the remaining point on appeal. AFFIRMED. . See Eick v. Norwegian Caribbean Lines A/S, 560 So. 2d 1221 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); Hirsch v. Klosters Reden A/S, 521 So. 2d 316 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988); Hallman v. Carnival Cruise Lines, 459 So. 2d 378 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984). . The ticket booklet contains two cover pages; one is marked "PASSAGE CONTRACT (GOOD FOR PASSA…
Authorities Cited
- Ciro Silvestri v. Italia Societa PER Azioni DI Navigazione, 388 F.2d 11 (2d Cir. 1968)
- Lowell M. Hallman and Eva B. Hallman v. Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc., 459 So. 2d 378 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984)
- Hirsch v. Klosters Rederi A/S, 521 So. 2d 316 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988)