CARLOS CUADROS, APPELLANT,
v.
CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES, INC., APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1992-07-28
No. 91-1244
Before NESBITT, FERGUSON and GODERICH, JJ.
604 So. 2d 861 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1992) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

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Synopsis

A seaman employed on a cruise ship sued for negligence arising from two shipboard accidents and unlawful wage deductions. The trial jury found the cruise line negligent in the first accident but awarded no damages, and found the seaman 82.5% negligent in the second accident despite substantial damages. The appellate court reversed the comparative negligence finding in the second accident, holding there was no evidence of seaman negligence as a matter of law.


Holding

The trial court erred in submitting comparative negligence to the jury and in reducing Cuadros' damages based on comparative negligence. Where there is no evidence of negligence on the seaman's part, the comparative negligence issue should not be submitted to the jury, and the seaman is entitled to full damages.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court errs by submitting the issue of comparative negligence to the jury when there is no evidence to support a finding of negligence on the part of the plaintiff…

[2] A seaman's comparative negligence is a question for the jury only when there is some evidence to support it.

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Key Quotes

“Where there is no evidence of negligence, that issue should not be submitted to the jury.”

Establishes the governing legal principle for directed verdicts on negligence when evidence is lacking

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Facts & Procedural History

Carlos Cuadros, a seaman on a Carnival cruise ship, was injured in two separate accidents. In the second accident, after a fire drill, Cuadros stood i…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant, a seaman, claims the cruise ship on which he was employed made unlawful deductions from his pay.

Additionally, he claims that he suffered personal injury in two separate accidents occurring aboard the ship. Appellant brought the instant action claiming Jones Act negligence, unseaworthiness, maintenance and cure, punitive damages for failure to pay maintenance and cure, and unlawful wage deductions. A jury found no unlawful pay deductions. It found the cruise line 100% negligent with respect to the first accident, but found the seaman had suffered no damages as a result of that incident. As to the second accident, the jury found that the seaman suffered substantial damages, but found the cruise line 17.5% negligent and the seaman 82.5% negligent.

The jury also awarded the seaman for his maintenance and cure. Based on these findings, the trial judge issued the final judgment in the seaman’s favor. The seaman raises three points in this appeal.

We address the only point we find meritorious, the claim that the trial court improperly denied the seaman’s motion for a directed verdict on comparative negligence in the second accident.

Carlos Cuadros claims the second accident occurred when, at the conclusion of a shipboard fire drill, he was injured while standing before a locked fire door leading to his work station. On his shoulder, Cuad-ros carried a salad bowl which he had picked up minutes earlier. The fire doors opened by sliding into the wall, and ship procedure was for an officer to immediately open these doors after each drill. Here, ten to fifteen minutes passed before an officer finally arrived. Then, the officer could not get the door unlocked. Twelve or fifteen crew members waited in the two by three-meter space approaching the door. Cuadros stood toward the back of the group. He was positioned six inches behind one crew member and one foot in front of a table.

Finally, the officer in his attempt to open the door made a gesture with his arm that caused the crew members on the scene to suddenly step backwards. Cuadros was hit by the crew member in front of him and knocked off balance. The lapse in ship procedure, according to Cuadros, caused him to bump his back against the edge of the table, resulting in his injury.

Considering the facts in this second accident, we conclude that Cuadros is correct in arguing that the trial court should have directed the verdict on comparative negligence in his favor. Where there is no evidence of negligence, that issue should not be submitted to the jury. Borenstein v. Raskin, 401 So. 2d 884 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981).

Given that the fire door slid into the wall rather than swinging towards the crowd, a reasonably prudent person would not have anticipated that the crowd might surge backwards toward him. There was simply no evidence of negligence on the seaman’s part. The question of a seaman’s comparative negligence creates a jury question only when there is some evidence to support it. Dos Santos v. Ajax Navigation Corp., 531 So. 2d 231 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988), cert. dismissed, 489 U.S. 1048, 109 S.Ct. 1304, 103 L.Ed.2d 574 (1989).

Thus, we conclude the trial court erred both in giving the comparative negligence instruction to the jury and in thereafter reducing Cuadros’ damages in the final judgment.

Accordingly, we reverse and remand this cause to the trial court with instructions to enter judgment in favor of appellant for the full amount of the jury’s determination of damages and maintenance and cure. We affirm the final judgment in all other respects.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Jacobs v. Westgate, 766 So. 2d 1175 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000)
    …gotten movers to recover his personal property any earlier than he did. In short, the defendants did not carry their burden. See Coulter v. American Bakeries Co., 530 So. 2d 1009 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988); see also Cuadros v. Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc., 604 So. 2d 861 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992). We cannot agree with defendants that the failure to direct a verdict on the key issues in this case was harmless. Regarding the issue of liability, the granting of a directed verdict motion requires that the jury be instructed d…
  • Woodard v. Armenian Cultural Ass'n OF Am., Inc., 724 So. 2d 669 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)
    …to the jury.’ ” Florida Ass’n of Workers for the Blind, Inc. v. Guillaume, 618 So. 2d 275, 276 [*672] (Fla. 3d DCA 1993)(quoting Coulter v. American Bakeries Co., 530 So. 2d 1009, 1010 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)); see also Cuadros v. Carnival Cruise Lines, 604 So. 2d 861, 862 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992). The evidence adduced at trial in the instant case indicated that Woodard was standing with her back towards the gate when it fell. Given her lack of knowledge as to any prior malfunctions with the gate, Woodard could not hav…
  • …well-settled law that “where there is no evidence tending to prove comparative negligence, the issue should not be submitted to the jury.” Coulter v. American Bakeries Co., 530 So. 2d 1009, 1010 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988); Cuadros v. Carnival Cruise Lines, 604 So. 2d 861, 862 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992); Borenstein v. Raskin, 401 So. 2d 884 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). In this case, there was no evidence that Plaintiff was negligent. Thus, it was error to submit the issue to the jury; affirmance is required. Affirmed.…

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