Norwegian Cruise Line obtained a positive verdict just lately in a lawsuit towards the corporate that offered the Azipod propulsion programs in use onboard most of the firm’s cruise ships.
After a jury trial that took 4 weeks, the judgment got here again in favor of the cruise line, awarding the corporate $159 million.
In line with the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Courtroom of Florida, ABB Inc and ABB OY, American and Finnish corporations, respectively, made fraudulent and negligent misrepresentations and omissions about their propulsion programs. The award is the most important in Florida in 2022.
Norwegian Cruise Line Sues Azipod Propulsion Supplier
Onboard many Norwegian Cruise Line ships, the propulsion for the vessels is offered by Azipod programs. These marine propulsion items encompass a fixed-pitch propeller mounted on a steerable gondola. As electrical energy is produced inside the principle engine room, these Azipod programs use that electrical energy to energy the propellers.
Norwegian Cruise Line claimed within the lawsuit that ABB purposefully misrepresented the reliability and security of its Azipods, main NCL to endure Azipod failures.
These failures triggered NCL to lose propulsion and steering throughout voyages, endangering the security of passengers and crew and inflicting vital hurt to NCL’s repute and enterprise.
After a four-week jury trial within the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Courtroom of Florida, Norwegian Cruise Line offered adequate proof, resulting in the jury deciding within the cruise line’s favor.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s attorneys Holland & Knight, mentioned the next via accomplice Alex M. Gonzalez:
“This can be a case about fraud and negligent misrepresentation and omissions that ruined the cruises of tens of hundreds of passengers and broken NCL’s enterprise,”
“The defendants knew that they’d an issue with a vital part that impacted the security of numerous passengers and crew, and so they hid and lied about it. This verdict sends an vital message you can’t conceal or misrepresent vital data from prospects like NCL and different cruise traces. NCL feels totally vindicated by this verdict.”
A number of Ships Impacted
During the last couple of years, a number of Norwegian Cruise Line cruise ships have been impacted by propulsion issues. One instance comes from Norwegian Jade; on November 18, 2018, the exciter failed on Norwegian Jade’s starboard Azipod, forcing it to cancel a 10-day cruise and costing the corporate a minimum of $10.8m, in accordance with the lawsuit.
“They have been fortunate that although they have been in dangerous elements of the ocean, it occurred to be a day that had implausible, calm climate,” Gonzalez mentioned. “However luck isn’t a method when you might have hundreds of individuals aboard a ship for which you might be accountable.”
In whole, the issues with the Azipod programs impacted 4 of Norwegian Cruise Line’s vessels throughout a three-year span.
Within the meantime, ABB had claimed that points corresponding to that occurred to Norwegian Cruise Line’s ships occurred solely as soon as each 1500 years.
The ultimate compensation package deal for Norwegian Cruise Line contains $31.75 million in compensatory damages and an extra $31.75 million in punitive damages towards the Finnish firm OBB OY. An extra $95.25 million in punitive damages was awarded to Norwegian Cruise Line towards ABB Inc.
