Costa's Compensation Offer MERGED THREAD WITH COSTA LEGAL OFFER & 2 OTHER THREADS

[zider]

News of Costa's Compensation offer

 

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/costa-concordia-offers-14460-per-person-for-ruined-cruise/articleshow/11650710.cms

[UCSD]

that is a lot of money... for a inside stateroom pax.

I believe this is aside of insurance claim pax can get from other sources, such as travel insurance or homeowner insurance.

 

But, I can not comment on the psychological trauma, as I know some lawyers have been working on this...

[Esprit]

Looks like a fair deal to me as it only applies to those uninjured or who didn't lose a life. They would obviously deserve more and their cases would have to be individually looked at.

 

For those Italian passengers that got off Concordia easily and simply caught a train or hired a car to get home (once on the mainland) they must be rubbing their hands with glee

[Dmetrius]

You can bet that when you sign that paper to receive the check that you also sign away

any further rights to any further claims of any sort whatsoever

 

 

 

Same thing covered at bbc.co.uk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16754771

[UKBayern]

Good to hear from other UK/European board members who think this is a reasonable deal for those who got off pretty unscaved. On Facebook Costa is getting slaughtered by American members of CC who say it is ridiculous, people should sue, etc. They obviously don't get it that compensations in Europe are generally not the amounts awarded inAmerican courts.

[sidari]

Costa have done well to come up with a settlement so quickly and it is a decent offer which the Majority may well accept but they will no doubt have to sign a waiver that it is a Final settlement as you do in the UK.

 

Now then once and if the offer is accepted for the loss of items such as clothing etc that then would negate any claim they could make against their Insurance.

[LSEA]

From the article posted by the OP:

 

In addition, Codacons, one of Italy's best known consumer groups, has engaged two U.S. law firms to launch a class-action lawsuit against Costa and Carnival in Miami, claiming that it expects to get anywhere from (euro) 125,000 ($164,000) to (euro) 1 million ($1.3 million) per passenger.

 

Will Codacons get a percentage of any future settlement?

[littlesteelo]

Some of the crap on the Costa Facebook page is disgusting. Selfish and disgusting. Pure and utter greed. $14,000 is a lot of money, and that is only for the uninjured passengers. It seems a select number of people want to squeeze them for every penny they have. That firm starting a lawsuit wanting anything from $160,000 to $1.3 million!!!! How much money do they think Carnival have? Something like that could ruin the company. How many thousands of jobs would be lost then? All because of the inevitable greed. It is an offence to those who lost their lives. It always comes back to money, doesn't it...

[Blind Squirrel]

This may or may not be a fair compensation depending on which report you read. The one on CNN says 14K INCLUDES the cruise refund, transportation costs, and lost personal belongings. There is a big differance in cost from someone that was in an inside cabin from Italy, and someone in a suite from halfway around the world. I believe Mickey D Mouse had said they had a lot of items with them from the first part of their vacation before the cruise. I am sure the last minute airfare to Aust. was not cheap. Clothes , shoes, cameras, laptops, all of those add up fast. 14K may NOT cover all cost for some and maybe double what it costs for others.

[Crusing Nut]

From the article posted by the OP:

 

In addition, Codacons, one of Italy's best known consumer groups, has engaged two U.S. law firms to launch a class-action lawsuit against Costa and Carnival in Miami, claiming that it expects to get anywhere from (euro) 125,000 ($164,000) to (euro) 1 million ($1.3 million) per passenger.

 

Will Codacons get a percentage of any future settlement?

 

 

Doesn't everyone have the hand out for some form of compensation?

[mainelycruising]

You can bet that when you sign that paper to receive the check that you also sign away

any further rights to any further claims of any sort whatsoever

 

 

 

Same thing covered at bbc.co.uk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16754771

 

It depends the jurisdiction under which the offer is made. Of course, any pax could strike off that clause on the form, and wait to see what happens.

[scubababy]

It's easy to speculate that it's a fair offer when you are sitting on the sidelines - not one of the passengers aboard the Concordia.

 

If this were an "accident" and no fault of the cruise line, sure it would be considered fair.

 

But this was a criminally negligent act - still unclear whether this was clearly a decision on the part of the Captain or whether Costa knew of his intended plans.

 

I'd like to hear from some of the passengers that were aboard the Concordia Jan 13 on whether they felt it was fair compensation.

 

Patti

[Brian Raine]

Doing the maths for the compensation offered by Costa amounts to about euros 40 million, the crew , I would imagine have a different procedure.Should all evacuated pasengers take the offer Costa will not go bankrupt , as been suggested.Costa's insurance, presumably, will cover the these costs.From memory my travel insurance carries a proviso for any "damages" received from a third party, will be counted against any pay out by my insurance company, so possibly some passnegers will not be able to claim against their own insurance, if Costa give total re imbursement of the cruise/travel etc.

[UCSD]

according to Yahoo News..

 

...Each passenger would also receive a refund on the cruise and costs of their return home. The offer applies to all passengers,...

 

http://news.yahoo.com/costa-offer-11-000-euros-passengers-concordia-093107165.html

 

Not sure what crew will get from Costa...

[CtheW0rld]

that is a lot of money... for a inside stateroom pax.

I believe this is aside of insurance claim pax can get from other sources, such as travel insurance or homeowner insurance.

 

But, I can not comment on the psychological trauma, as I know some lawyers have been working on this...

 

why would the trauma of an inside pax be worth any less than the trauma of a suite pax?

 

the 10,000 euro is only for trauma, luggage, etc. reimbursement for cruise, travel, etc is in addition to that.

 

sadly, i doubt the crew will get anything.

 

and this is not a matter of how much money does costa/ccl have, but how much will it take to insure this does not happen again. that is the point of punative damages.

[mcrcruiser]

Physological trauma & post tramatic disorders can take years to heal . Paying professionals for help in those cases can be huge . This case for settlement is far from over imo . A $14,600 is a drop in the bucket for all the trauma, travel expenses incurred ,lost clothing & other personnel articles. Perhaps some one had a Rolex in their safe ?

 

Remember there was utter chaos on this ship by people trying to save their lives .This all took it's toll on people .Did you see the Dr Phil show .Dr Phil said the same things . So let us not dimiss the obligations of Costa so easily . It is not the $14600 but people's future lives after the tragedy:rolleyes:

[freagan]

This may or may not be a fair compensation depending on which report you read. The one on CNN says 14K INCLUDES the cruise refund, transportation costs, and lost personal belongings. There is a big differance in cost from someone that was in an inside cabin from Italy, and someone in a suite from halfway around the world. I believe Mickey D Mouse had said they had a lot of items with them from the first part of their vacation before the cruise. I am sure the last minute airfare to Aust. was not cheap. Clothes , shoes, cameras, laptops, all of those add up fast. 14K may NOT cover all cost for some and maybe double what it costs for others.

 

CNN has yet to get anything right about this whole thing. They were the ones showing a youtube clip of a pool flood on the Carnival Paradise in 2009 and called it "scenes from the Concordia".

 

Material loss should be covered under Travel or Household insurance. What usually happens in these cases is the underwriters will pay then gather up all the claims and sue for relief.

 

14K per person, 28K per couple, 56K for a family of 4. Nice pocket change if you are adequately insured. Also, probably as much or more then they would get from a larger lawsuit after the lawyers take their cut.

 

More then double what US Air offered its passengers for dumping them in the Hudson.

[EVALUATOR]

CNN has yet to get anything right about this whole thing. They were the ones showing a youtube clip of a pool flood on the Carnival Paradise in 2009 and called it "scenes from the Concordia".

 

Material loss should be covered under Travel or Household insurance. What usually happens in these cases is the underwriters will pay then gather up all the claims and sue for relief.

 

14K per person, 28K per couple, 56K for a family of 4. Nice pocket change if you are adequately insured. Also, probably as much or more then they would get from a larger lawsuit after the lawyers take their cut.

 

More then double what US Air offered its passengers for dumping them in the Hudson.

 

The US Air flight hit an "Uncharted Flock of Canadian Geese"

 

The Concordia hit an "Uncharted Rock"

 

The US Air followed procedures for a safe evacuation.

 

The Concordia did not.

 

Perhaps if the Concordia had hit an Uncharted flock of geese, fell out of the water, and landed in the sky, they could pay less.:eek:

[thejman]

The settlement might be fair for some, but if it includes personal belongings, it might be way too low for many people. A few nice pieces of jewelry would constitute $14k.

 

Also, unless you were onboard I don't think anybody can say whether or not the amount is reasonable for potential psychological problems. I've already had a dream about being on a sinking cruise ship just from watching the news!

[UCSD]

why would the trauma of an inside pax be worth any less than the trauma of a suite pax?

 

the 10,000 euro is only for trauma, luggage, etc. reimbursement for cruise, travel, etc is in addition to that.

 

sadly, i doubt the crew will get anything.

 

and this is not a matter of how much money does costa/ccl have, but how much will it take to insure this does not happen again. that is the point of punative damages.

I am with you on crew part. But, I believe suite pax will have something to say. I remembered the compensation for 9-11 attack put earned-income into consideration, which made me to think not everyone is equal.... :(

[greg-nc]

Good to hear from other UK/European board members who think this is a reasonable deal for those who got off pretty unscaved. On Facebook Costa is getting slaughtered by American members of CC who say it is ridiculous, people should sue, etc. They obviously don't get it that compensations in Europe are generally not the amounts awarded inAmerican courts.

 

In context of the American legal system many people would view $14K as peanuts for what the survivors went through. We just had a local case where a patron at a restaurant successfully sued the owner for $20K for spilling warm tea on them (without any medical injury). The lawyer's fee was $14K; the injured party got $6K

 

My wife one time was pulling into a parking space right when the driver of the neighboring car opened their door. Despite claiming whiplash and everything, this person was not injured and was paid $25K from the insurance company (Five years later, this person also went to jail for pulling this fraud over 20 times).

 

The problem with the U.S. legal system is that civil lawyers "game the system"; they will launch 20 injury suits at no upfront cost to the plantiff. Expect 1 in 20 suits to be successful to provide a big payout; after this they normally collect 2/3 of the money won as the fee.

 

This could be changed if the U.S. adopted a U.K type of system in which you had the pay the defendents costs if you lost. This would stop the endless frivilous injury suits and the "gaming of the system".

 

I can't speak for any of the survivors, but I view the compensation offer from Costa as a good starting point and think they were wise to come out with it asap. I will note that survivors probably have the choice of taking the offer and getting money quickly, or opting out & joining a class action suit where it will probably take them 5 to 8 years to see any money.

[at_nyc]

From memory my travel insurance carries a proviso for any "damages" received from a third party, will be counted against any pay out by my insurance company, so possibly some passnegers will not be able to claim against their own insurance, if Costa give total re imbursement of the cruise/travel etc.

I think your memory is correct. And it raise an interesting point.

 

Say, I have insurance that covers my flight home, all the lost/damaged personal items, the un-used days of the cruise, which is all but 1 night of the whole cruise. I'm basically made whole.

 

But if I take the Costa offer, which covers all of the above + $14000, I won't get any from the insurance company.

 

It's conceivable to those who can claim back all their EXPENSE from travel insurance to go with a lawsuit. Basically, they're only gambling the $14000 vs. a verdict. Chances are quite good they'll get at least similar if not more. (though it'll take a while).

 

Not sure how travel insurance pay out works in the case of the recipient suing the guilty party Costa.

 

I'm guessing those who had little psychological problem will be more willing to take the $14000 offer from Costa and get on with life. Those who had nightmare? They're probably going to be dealing with it for some time, so the slow pace of the court case doesn't exactly matter, in the hope they'll get compensated for their suffering.

[UCSD]

I think your memory is correct. And it raise an interesting point.

 

Say, I have insurance that covers my flight home, all the lost/damaged personal items, the un-used days of the cruise, which is all but 1 night of the whole cruise. I'm basically made whole.

 

But if I take the Costa offer, which covers all of the above + $14000, I won't get any from the insurance company.

 

It's conceivable to those who can claim back all their EXPENSE from travel insurance to go with a lawsuit. Basically, they're only gambling the $14000 vs. a verdict. Chances are quite good they'll get at least similar if not more. (though it'll take a while).

 

Not sure how travel insurance pay out works in the case of the recipient suing the guilty party: Costa.

I am wondering if you decide to go for lawsuit, will you pay back to travel insurance.. which could be 5 years later...

[WestCoastCruiser123]

It's easy to speculate that it's a fair offer when you are sitting on the sidelines - not one of the passengers aboard the Concordia.

 

If this were an "accident" and no fault of the cruise line, sure it would be considered fair.

 

But this was a criminally negligent act - still unclear whether this was clearly a decision on the part of the Captain or whether Costa knew of his intended plans.

 

I'd like to hear from some of the passengers that were aboard the Concordia Jan 13 on whether they felt it was fair compensation.

 

Patti

 

My thoughts exactly ScubaBaby! It's one thing if this was simply an accident, however once you accept this offer you are most likely signing away any future claims regarding the accident. If they find this was a negligent act later this year, you will receive no additional compensation. This is why I would not accept the $14,000. The company is responsible for the poor decisions and actions of its staff who are supposed to be working to ensure your safety.

 

My travel, hotel, belongings, and cruise fare alone would have been close to $3,000.

[remydiva]

Good for Costa to act quickly with a settlement amount that is decent for those not injured.

 

For the others, or those not willing to accept this offer, who proceed with class action or individual law suits, the ones to reap the biggest 'reward' will be the lawyers as another poster said. They would likely get at least 50% in fees while the clients would have their case tied up in court for years.

 

If it were me (thank god it wasn't), I'd take this offer and be thankful I had my life and my family and move on.

 

To those that lost loved ones or were injured, another matter entirely...they may have to sue for compensation unless Costa is working on a separate compensation for them.