Carnival Cruise Lines to Pay $800,000 to Injured Employee

July 22, 2011

On July 13, 2011, an arbitrator (through the International Centre for Dispute Resolution) awarded Polish citizen Marcin Sokolowski nearly $800,000 for injuries he sustained while working on the Carnival Cruise Ship “Imagination” in June, 2008...According to court documents, in June 2008, plaintiff Sokolowski was employed by Carnival as an assistant maître d’, where his duties included lifting very heavy bins of food and equipment on and off the ship. Although some of the bins weighed in excess of 100 pounds, Sokolowski was not provided a dolly or any other sort of moving apparatus to assist him in loading and unloading these bins from the ship.

While working on the ship in late June, 2008, Sokolowski felt a "pop" in his low back while lifting the bins, court documents stated. This occurred at Half Moon Cay in the Bahama Islands. He felt immediate pain and reported this to the ship's doctor, who only prescribed pain medication. When the pain persisted over the next few days, Sokolowski was given several injections in the low back to help him cope with the pain.

The lawsuit claimed that on or about June 26, 2008, the plaintiff was transferred to a different Carnival ship that would eventually end up in San Diego, California. While on this new ship the Sokolowski’s symptoms worsened. The ship's doctor continued to give him medication and also attempted some sort of "adjustments" to his back. When this did not help, the ship's doctor gave Sokolowski another injection to the lower back.        

According to the suit, by July 1, 2008, Sokolowski was having considerable difficulty moving. He was experiencing pain and numbness from the right buttock area to the right foot. He told the ship's doctor that he felt he needed some additional medical attention. Shortly thereafter, the ship docked in Cabo San Lucas, BC, Mexico. Sokolowski was seen by a doctor in Cabo San Lucas who determined that Sokolowski should have an MRI scan of his lumbar spine. The MRI indicated that he had a herniated disc at L5-S1 on the right.

The complaint stated that the Mexican doctor then recommended emergency lumbar surgery and began to make arrangements for Sokolowski to be admitted to the hospital in Cabo San Lucas. However, the administrative persons with Carnival Cruise Lines refused to allow Sokolowski to have the emergency surgery that he needed. On August 18, 2008, a lumbar discectomy at L5-S1 was performed. Unfortunately, due to the delay in treatment, Sokolowski suffered nerve damage in his right leg.        

On November 10, 2008, Mr. Sokolowski's neurosurgeon declared him permanently disabled and unable to return to work in any capacity at that time due to his injuries. On May 19, 2009, the Gydnia County Disability Commission in Poland also found Sokolowski to be permanently disabled...For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebcarnival-cruise-injury/employee-settlement/prweb8663063.htm