COMPASSION
- EXPERIENCE - RESULTS
Cruise Ship Sexual Assault Attorney
“We are fighting for the safety and security of you and your family.
We make cruise ships safer and more secure one case at a time.
Hi. I am Jack Hickey. I was born and raised right here in Miami,
Florida, where I have practiced law for the past 28 years. I got
my start representing the cruise line and railroads and insurance
companies. For the last 11 years, I have represented you the cruise
ship passenger who has been injured or the victim of the cruise
line’s negligent security or negligent hiring. I know the cruise
line’s side of the story, and now I want to know your side of
the story. I cannot help you—and nothing will change on these
ships—unless you call. CALL TODAY TOLL FREE at 1.800.215.7117.
The call is free and the consultation if free. We work on a contingency
basis. If we do not collect, you do not pay.
Safety and security are important anywhere. On a cruise ship though
there are 3 things which make it different. First, you and your
family are isolated. You are a captive audience, and cannot just
get off at anytime. Things may happen on the ship when the ship
is in the middle of the ocean, or at a port in a third world country.
Second, the cruise line has control over you and the other passengers
and has a responsibility to see to your safety and security. There
are certain rules to follow to ensure the safety of passengers.
These rules are recognized and accepted in the industry and in
the security business. The cruise line should monitor activities
of people in the ship. It has security video cameras throughout
the ship but tries to save money by not monitoring some of the
cameras or by not having some of the cameras hooked up to monitors
in the first place. The cruise line should react to situations
when it sees something or should see that something needs to be
taken care of. The cruise line should actively look for situations
which could lead to an assault or battery. The cruise line should
hire and screen the crew to eliminate people who are likely to
assault passengers. The cruise line should train its security
staff to look out for problems and should hire enough security
officers to keep track of 2000 to 3000 vacationing passengers
onboard a cruise ship with 900 to 2000 crewmembers. When the cruise line break these rules of security, they know that assaults and
batteries, both sexual and non sexual, can occur and they are
responsible for these event.
Third, there is no real, independent police force which enforces
the law and which keeps you and your family safe and secure. The
only security on the ship is provided by the cruise line through
their own employees. You and your family are on a ship which has
what we call a foreign flag. That means that the cruise line
in order to avoid U.S. taxes and regulations have registered or
flagged the ship in a foreign country. When you get onto that
ship, you are on a piece of the foreign country. The cruise line
choose countries which have as little regulations or taxes as
possible. They usually choose The Bahamas or Panama. (Of course,
the ships regularly come to U.S. ports, the cruise line market
to and rely on U.S. citizens to buy tickets and go on cruises,
and the cruise line have headquarters here in the U.S. for the
most part). The maritime law does hold the cruise line accountable
for negligent security and for causing sexual assaults or rapes,
or non sexual assaults and batteries, and the cruise line still
can be held accountable in a U.S. court by the people who serve
on the jury.”
Experience
Jack Hickey started his career representing cruise line, railroads
and insurance companies. After 17 years, he switched sides in
order to represent the victims of serious crimes. For the past
11 years, Hickey has represented the victims of crime and negligence
on cruise ships. Having worked for both sides, Hickey has the
experience and perspective to help you with your case.
Jack Hickey is an experienced and well known trial lawyer. He
is Board Certified as a Trial Lawyer by The Florida Bar and by
the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and he is rated A/V by Martindale-Hubbell,
the international directory of attorneys. He is nationally recognized
as an admiralty and maritime attorney. Jack Hickey currently serves
as the Vice Chair of the Admiralty Law Section of the American
Association for Justice, the national trial lawyers association,
and lectures and writes on admiralty and maritime law.
Success
and Results
He has also been a member of the “Legal
Elite” in Florida Trend Magazine. He is the past president
of the largest voluntary Bar Association in Florida. His most
recent verdict against a cruise line was Bakalar v. Royal Caribbean
Cruises. The $3.4 million verdict was upheld in appeal on January
16, 2008. Results count. Jack Hickey has achieved many multimillion
dollar verdicts for his clients. More importantly, he and his
firm have been instrumental in making cruise line more accountable
for the safety and security of you, the passenger. As a result
of their cases, some things have changed, but not enough as you
know. We are fighting for the safety and security of you and your
family.
Why is it Important to Have a Florida Maritime Attorney?
Many cruise line include clauses on their tickets which require the passenger
to file any claim against the cruise line in Miami, Florida. The
Supreme Court has upheld the enforceability of these ticket clauses.
The cruise line that require the passenger to file a claim in Florida
are: Royal Carribean cruise line, Celebrity cruise line, Carnival
cruise line, Costa cruise line and Norwegian cruise line.
How Soon Must You Act?
In addition to requiring that claims need to be filed in Florida, ticket clauses also require that any suit needs to be filed within one year of the incident. It is important that you act quickly. CALL TODAY FOR A FREE AND CONFIDENTIAL CONSULTATION AT 1.800.215.7117.
