Legal Issues in Costa Concordia Shipwreck - Essay Example

? Criminal proceedings against Costa Concordia Master in shipwreck Legal issues in Costa Concordia Shipwreck Introduction The accident of the Costa Concordia cruise ship in Italy is a disaster that has attracted interests, especially because of the legal as well as ethical issues surrounding the case. The legal issues arise from the question of whether the captain and his officers acted in the right way during the events that led to the accident, as well post-accident events. Before the accident, the captain and his officers are said to have acted in a way that was careless and, thus, the captain has been seen as responsible for the damage that was done. On one account, the captain has been taken to court with regard to the fact that he was careless in the way he managed the ship before the accident. His actions are seen to have been the cause of the accident. For instance, he took the ship to give a salute at the port where the ship got an accident. In doing this, the captain had to deviate from the computer-programmed route of the ship and this has been seen as a form of carelessness that the captain must be held responsible for. On the other hand, the captain has attained the informal salute was ordered by the company and it was not his own decision. Whether the company ordered the salute or not, the truth is that both the captain and the company as a whole are responsible and must take responsibility. Deviating from the computer-programmed navigation route was a careless mistake and this mistake led to the loss of 32 lives and injuries of many people as well as mental trauma of all aboard the ship. Although the court has said that all passengers should be paid ten thousand Euros each, this cannot be enough to pay those who lost their loved ones and the company must pay more in order to be an example to other similar firms. The other legal issue coming from the case is the captain’s conduct after the accident. According to maritime navigation code, the captain of the ship is supposed to be the last person to leave the ship if such an incident occurs. He or she must make sure that everyone has been brought to safety and that nobody has been left in the wrecked ship. In this case, however, the captain was bold enough to get his own escape and left his passengers and staff stranded in a sinking ship. This leaves a very huge responsibility on him and this is one case he has to answer in court. The concept behind requiring the captain to be the last to leave the ship in such an incident is that since the captain is the one on whom the safety of the ship is bestowed, the captain should be the one to take the biggest responsibility. This should motivate such a captain to be more careful in the way he conducts himself in the ship and making sure that all safety measures are being taken in order to make sure that everybody, including him, is safe and sound in the ship. The captain has not been able to explain fully why he left the boat as soon as possible and left over two thousand people stranded in the wrecked ship. This, combined by the fact that the accident was also as a result of his obvious carelessness, leaves the captain in a hard position and he has to make sure he is able to convince the court that the he acted as responsibly as he could have. The captain, in his defence, has said that the shipwreck was as a result of his officers failing to take his order and ignoring his orders. This argument is not necessarily the best considering that as a leader he could have done a better job to take better control of his staff. By failing to do this, the captain failed to meet his duty as the captain of the ship and, thus, will be legally considered primarily responsible of the accident. More than that, evidence showed that the captain and his crew were indifferent towards the needs of the suffering passengers. In a certain court hearing a few months from the time the disaster happened, evidence in the form of a video footage shows the captain and his crew doing the peaking jokingly and indifferently as they talk about the passengers boarding the life boats. In this video footage, the conversation is heard between the captain and his crew members. The crew members say to the captain, “the passengers are boarding the life boats and the captain says. “Alright then”. This is without the captain wanting to know about the safety of the passengers. More legal issues arise as one considers the way the situation was handled. Costa Concordia has been accused of securing only a few lifeboats in their cruise ships and this reduced the chances of saving people as fast and as efficiently as possible. The cruise ship company has been accused of only having a few life boats in the ship as a way to reduce the costs because carrying a lot of ships on board costs the company a lot in terms of the space taken up by the life boats. If these accusations are true, it may have legal implications on the case because this could mean that he firm acted irresponsibly and, therefore, should be held accountable of its careless actions. Failing to have enough boats in the ship is a responsible act because in the event of such an accident or even a worse one, it would mean that the passengers would be unable to go to safety and, as a result, increase the number of casualties. Costa Concordia will have to prove beyond a doubt that the firm had enough life boats online and that they did not economize on the number of life boats they had on board. The contract between the customers and the cruise ship company One of the legal issues that have arose following the sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise ship is the legal contact between the customers and the Costa cruise company. As William (23) states, when a customer buys the ticket, the customer is issued with a receipt which acts as the legal contract between the customer and the firm. Most people don’t read the terms and conditions that are usually printed on the receipt. Many people, when they buy something, whether it is a physical good or a service, will only look at the amount and do not care to read the terms and conditions that they are agreeing with. Big firms, such as Costa Cruise Company, take advantage of this to protect themselves from losses. They do this by printing terms and conditions that release them from any legal or financial responsibility that that may arise from any incident such as what happened on January 14th. As such, the terms and conditions that the customers agreed on once they bought the tickets t go on a cruise using the Costa Concordia ship can be used in deciding the face and can have significant implications towards the way the case ends. This will, however, depend on whether the company will choose to pull this card in the court. If the firm feels that its being pushed too much, it may choose to pull the terms and conditions in the receipt and claim that they are protected from any responsibility. However, even if the company pulls out this card, other factors will have to play a big role in the way the case will be decided. As already discussed, the amount of evidence that will support that the captain was guilty of irresponsibility will determine how the other legal factors will play a role in the way the case will be decided. The forum The forum refers to the geographical location where the case will be decided. In the case of the Costa Concordia shipwreck, this is a very important legal factor as plaintiffs are from different countries. For example, the American victims have launched a case in American courts and the courts have determined the cases to be admissible. This means that the case against the Costa cruise company will be marred by issues regarding the jurisdiction which will be used to file the case. The forum chosen for any case will determine other factors such as the ability of the plaintiffs to attend the cases, or even their lawyers (Patterson 12-13). If the forum chosen for the case will be Italy, where the accident happened and where the company to which the ship belongs is headquartered, this will have direct implications of the plaintiffs, most of whom came from other country. The decision as per which forum should be used is a very different one and this may increase the issues surrounding the case. If the plaintiffs are not satisfied with the forum which will be chosen to handle the case, the case can be prolonged as more and more appeals are brought to court. Choosing the forum will be a hard decision because the plaintiffs are from varied countries and many of them may be adamant about which forum to be used. If the plaintiffs do not agree on the forum to be used, the case may need to be split into individual cases for individual victims or all victims from certain country may be grouped together. Whichever way that will be chosen, this will have a big impact on the outcome for the case. Choosing the forum where the case will be handled will also determine the law that will be used to determine lead to the conclusion of the case. Conclusion As discussed, the forum chosen to solve the case will have a big implication on the law that will be used. In the light of an international case, the law to be used refers to which country will be used to handle the case. Different countries have different laws and legal concepts for each kind of legal issue. In this regarded, the law chosen to be used in a certain case will determine the kind of outcome that will be achieved. The outcome of case may be different if American law is used instead of the Italian law and this must be considered. For example, it could be that if the Italian law it used, the outcome will favour the customers but if the American law is used, the outcome may favour the firms. However, according to the legal agreement in the tickets given to customers of Costa Concordia, the legal jurisdiction that may need to be used is the Italian law, since that is where the company belongs as well as where the accident happened. The law chosen to deal with the case will have an impact of the usefulness of other legal articles such as the evidence produced, the legal contract found in the ticket and the light under which the captain and his officers are considered. Some counties may have laws and courts that are too focused on evidence even in cases where the evidence is just a technical legal issue. Others may be focused on issues and willing to be more flexible in the way they handle evidence, since not all admissible evidence should affect the way justice is delivered. Being an international case, the case against the Costa cruises with regard to the Costa Concordia shipwreck will have specific issues to deal with this. Bibliography Patterson, O.S. "Modern Law: Understanding International Law." International Journal of Law (2011): 12-13. Print. William, O.P. "Legal Issues and Secret Legal Contaracts: Shult Legal Contractson Receipts be Made Explicit?" Journal of Law and Justice (2009): 12-14. Print. Read More