Huge Settlement for Injured Cruise Ship Passenger
Newscaster: We’re going to turn next night that controversial cruise ship lawsuit; the passenger hit in the head by a sliding glass door, winning $21 million for the pain and suffering that followed. Here is ABC’s Matt Gutman.
Matt Gutman: When those sliding doors suddenly closed, James Hausman was exhausted right in the temple. You see him teeter and then regain his composure and try to walk it off, and now he is going to walk away with over $21 million. Hausman was on a nearly year-long cruise aboard Holland America’s flagship MS Amsterdam. His attorney says he suffered a concussion and a traumatic brain injury, and in investigating the case his attorney said he discovered something stunning.
Rick Friedman: Thirty-four other incidents of sliding automatic door hitting passengers.
Gutman: The jury was able to hear about 16 of those incidents; perhaps why they did Hausman $5 million for pain and suffering and over $16 million as punitive damages against Holland America, whose promotional video posts—
Holland America Video
A greeting that will make you feel like an honored friend.
Gutman: But during the trial, the Hausmans became adversaries—the family furious the cruise line surveyed the family before the trial, even shooting video of their 12-year-old daughter and showing it in court.
In previous cases, the cruise line had blamed passengers for their injuries in sliding doors. In this case it says that judgment was “extreme,” and tells us it plans to appeal.
Argue whether a court system should require alternative dispute resolution before a plaintiff is allowed to pursue his or her lawsuit in court (that is to say, before a plaintiff is allowed to take his or her case to trial).
If you favor a requirement of alternative dispute resolution, indicate in your paper which of the two primary forms of alternative dispute resolution (adjudication or arbitration) the court system should require, and why.
If you do not support instructed alternative dispute resolution, explain why.