Man sues Royal Caribbean for $10 million after breaking his pelvis using cruise ship's bungee trampoline
A Royal Caribbean Cruises passenger has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the company after an on-board incident last month. In the suit, the man claims he fell about 20 feet after his harness snapped while he bounced on the cruise‘s much-touted Sky Pad bungee trampoline, causing him to hit the deck below and break his pelvis.
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As the Miami Herald reports, 25-year-old Casey Holladay was aboard the cruise line’s Mariner of the Seas ship on a trip to the Bahamas in February, when he decided to try out the Sky Pad, which the cruise line bills as an an “out-of-this-world bungee trampoline experience.” When he bounced for the 11th time, Holladay said he felt the cords connected to his safety harness snap, plummeting him to the ground.
“I just felt the momentum release from my body that I wasn’t being held by anything anymore,” he told Miami’s NBC 6. “When I hit all I really remember is the hit and the noise and the fear.”
NBC 6 has footage of the incident filmed by Holladay’s girlfriend, who was allegedly prevented from continuing to shoot by Royal Caribbean employees once the crash occurred. The accident resulted in the ship changing course and heading to Miami, where Holladay was treated for a fractured pelvis and dislocated shoulder at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The pelvis reportedly required multiple surgeries and a nine-day hospital stay.
Holladay is taking legal action over the accident, which his lawyer told NBC 6 has left him with “very severe debilitating injuries” that will require months of rehabilitation.
“Casey was a very healthy young man just getting started,” Rivkind added to the Miami Herald. “One second he was out on a cruise ship with his girlfriend, the next thing he knows he’s in the trauma center having surgery. Right now he can’t bear any weight, he’s in and out of doctors’ visits regularly to see how he’ll heal. He’s severely limited in his everyday activities. He has pain still.”
“My life got changed without me having a say,” Holladay told NBC 6. “I am fearful that I am not going to be able to enjoy the day-to-day like I’m used to.”
He’s also upset that he wasn’t warned by the Sky Pad operators about the potential safety risks, and charges that cruise ship employees were more concerned with stopping the incident from being filmed than getting him help, which Rivkind calls “appalling.”
“All staff should have been attending to me,” Holladay told NBC 6. “They just had the most horrific incident around.”
Royal Caribbean declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in Miami federal court last week.
“We do not comment on pending litigation,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Yahoo Lifestyle. “We operate all our ships safely, professionally and responsibly.”
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