A Florida federal judge ruled in favor of a female passenger who was sexually assaulted during a 2018 cruise onboard Carnival Miracle.
She was already awarded $10.2 million in damages in 2022. Still, she will receive another $2 million because Carnival Cruise Line appealed the verdict multiple times and unnecessarily extended the process by another two years. The company was also ordered to pay her $243,000 for psychological and medical expenses.
On August 30, the cruise operator owes the unidentified victim over $12 million.
| The passenger, who has only been referred to as Jane Doe, was attacked by an Indonesian crew member named Fredy Anggara on December 2, 2018. Court documents revealed the plaintiff was enjoying her first cruise and had become intoxicated when Anggara followed her, locked her in a storage closet, and proceeded to assault her. |
After the incident, the plaintiff ran to her room with Anggara in pursuit. She locked herself inside, refusing to let her assailant enter.
“I have depressive episodes,” The Washington Post quoted Doe in the court files. “I suffer from anxiety especially in public. It has affected how intimate I am with a person.”
The victim, who was 21 years old when the incident occurred, also admitted to entertaining suicidal thoughts before being hospitalized.
Anggara was eventually fired for having relations with a guest but was never arrested or charged. Carnival contested that the encounter was consensual, referencing an FBI report.
She filed a lawsuit in 2019, accusing Carnival of being negligent in its hiring and staffing, not following protocols, subjecting her to false imprisonment, sexual assault, and inflicting emotional distress.
After the jury’s $10.2 million verdict, her lawyer, Daniel Courtney, described the sum as the largest compensation against a cruise line for a crime of its nature.
| When the judge affirmed the ruling and added $2 million in damages, Courtney told the Daily Mail, “This is a significant day for my client, and hopefully for all sexual assault survivors, who can see that justice, though sometimes difficult to secure, is indeed possible in our country.” |
A recent report revealed that the number of cruise ship assaults has grown. From 87 incidents in 2019 to 97 during the first nine months of 2023, the number of official allegations climbed 11%.
Last February, two women from Kentucky told police they were assaulted while their ship was docked in the Bahamas. In another case, a Margaritaville at Sea passenger sued its parent company for booking her in the hotel where she was victimized.
