Undisclosed Settlement for Cruise Ship Legal Malpractice Case

Our client was married in Bridgeport and spent his honeymoon on a cruise ship to Bermuda. During the course of his honeymoon, he was playing ping pong on the ship when he fell due to a liquid substance on the playing surface. As a result of the fall, he suffered a significant fracture to his leg.

Our client decided to pursue a claim against the cruise ship for the liquid on the playing surface. He hired his family attorney to represent him in the claim. Although his family attorney did some personal injury work, he did not do much of it. Due to the lawyer’s inexperience, he was unaware that the time limit for filing a claim against the cruise ship was only one year.

Because the claim was not filed by the lawyer within the one year, our client lost out on his ability to sue the cruise ship. He therefore retained Tremont Sheldon P.C. to pursue a lawsuit against his attorney.

The malpractice insurance company for the lawyer initially refused to pay anything, arguing that the one-year rule is not something that most attorneys know about. The insurance company also argued that the injuries suffered by our client were his own fault.

After much litigation, we were able to reach a settlement for our client, which put him in the same position he would have been had his attorney handled the claim against the cruise ship correctly from the beginning.