punitive damages | Giustizia per Norman Atlantic

Costa Concordia and punitive damages

As known, the ruling on appeal in criminal proceedings about the sinking of Costa Concordia ship, has recently upheld the conviction of captain Francesco Schettino to 16 years in prison. Our legal team has participated in this criminal trial since the beginning, representing, as “Giustizia per la Concordia” the interests of circa a hundred passengers and one of the victims, through a civil request of compensation filed in the criminal case, running in the court of Grosseto in first degree, and in front of the Court of appeal of Florence then.

Our work, however, it was also and above focused towards establishing facts, detection of truth and identification of ALL responsibilities that, over those undeniable, objective and subjective, of the Captain, have prepared the ground to realize the tragedy, and in particular those of the shipping company because of the many failures, the crew unpreparedness, lack of immediate demand of tugboats and criminal management of the emergency, all widely linked to a consolidated savings policy by Costa Crociere, and more generally from all the shipping companies of big ships.

In the first degree instance, our clients, which – differently many others passengers, did not accept the company offer (€ 11.000,00, giving up any further claims and rights), obtained the conviction for a provisional compensation payment by Costa Cruises, variable between 30 thousand and 50 thousand euro for each passenger. In Appeal the payment due has been increased of about 15 thousand euro, raising the provisionals in a range from 45.000,00 to 65.000,00 euro for each passenger. Up to six times the original offer , as accepted by most passengers!

About punitive damages, the case will proceed in Supreme Court, as recently in our country, we faced many openings to this important side effect of a conviction, in presence of gross negligence.

We can not but emphasize that the compensation ruling on the Concordia case, and the positive results obtained in that criminal trial, can ad will reflect also directly on the Norman Atlantic case, as the winding parameters of the damage used by the courts, took into account the existence of psychological harm, in terms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), resulting from the participation of our clients to a traumatic experience that left indelible marks in their lives.

Knowing in detail the personal story lived on board of the Norman Atlantic by all of our clients that we assist in this other major naval disaster, we can state without a doubt, that their experience on board of the ferry on fire has been extremely stronger than the one lived aboard of the Concordia, both in terms of duration (up to two days) that of the physical and psychological intensity (exposure to extreme conditions, intoxication from fumes, no assistance on board etc.) and finally major financial losses in the event for the loss of all goods and personal effects, destruction of vehicles and transports etc.

It is worth noting that insurers of both vessels are in fact the same subjects, (P&I club, referring to a joint consortium of shipping companies), and then all damages paid in favor of the Concordia passengers are an objective parameter that must be taken into consideration both at the time of further negotiations in the case of Norman Atlantic, and also in the case of a winding-up on the outcome of the criminal trial, in course of establishment in Bari.

In NA criminal proceedings, the Public Prosecutor office of Bari is finalizing the unloading and disposal of all destroyed vehicles by the outside decks of the ship, and experts are concluding their investigations, aimed at identifying the causes of the fire, the propagation mode of management emergency.

So we trust that soon there will be an acceleration in both the criminal proceedings in the possible negotiations in the accident of Norman Atlantic, which remains one of the largest in recent years in the Mediterranean.

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Costa Concordia and punitive damages

Come noto la sentenza di appello nel processo penale sul naufragio della Costa Concordia ha recentemente confermato la condanna del comandante Francesco Schettino a 16 anni di reclusione. Il nostro team legale ha partecipato sia dall’inizio a questo processo, rappresentando gli interessi di un centinaio di passeggeri e di una delle vittime, attraverso la costituzione di parte civile e la richiesta di una liquidazione risarcitorio già in sede penale da parte del tribunale di Grosseto prima, e della Corte d’appello di Firenze poi.Il nostro lavoro, però, si è incentrato anche e sopratutto in direzione dell’accertamento dei fatti, dell’accertamento della verità e della individuazione di TUTTE le responsabilità che, oltre quelle innegabili, oggettive e soggettive, del Comandante, hanno preparato il terreno al realizzi della tragedia, ed in particolare quelle della compagnia di navigazione per via dei tanti malfunzionamenti, della impreparazione dell’equipaggio, della mancata richiesta immediata dei rimorchiatori e della criminale gestione della emergenza, il tutto diffusamente legato ad una consolidata politica di risparmio da parte di Costa Crociere, e più in generale delle compagnie di navigazione delle grandi navi.

In primo grado i nostri clienti, che non hanno accettato la offerta di pagamento della società di 11mila euro (accettando la quale in moltissimi altri passeggeri, invece, hanno purtroppo rinunciato ad ogni ulteriore pretesa e diritto) hanno ottenuto la condanna di Costa Crociere al pagamento di una provvisionale sui risarcimenti, variabile tra 30mila e 50 mila euro per ciascun passeggero. In Appello tutti i risarcimenti sono stati aumentati di circa 15 mila euro, portando le provvisionali dai 45mila a 65 mila euro per ciascun passeggero. Fino a sei volte la offerta originaria, accettata dalla maggior parte degli altri passeggeri!

Riguardo ai danni punitivi, proseguiamo in Cassazione, visto che nel nostro paese si sono avuti molti riconoscimenti di questa particolare forma di condanna in presenza di colpa grave, e che le Sezioni Unite sono state recentemente chiamate a pronunciarsi al riguardo.

Al riguardo non possiamo non evidenziare che la sentenza sulla Concordia ed i positivi risultati ottenuti nel processo penale non può che riflettersi anche sul caso del Norman Atlantic, in quanto i parametri di liquidazione del danno da parte dei giudici, hanno tenuto conto sostanzialmente della sussistenza di un danno psicologico, in termini di disturbo da stress post traumatico (ptsd), derivante dalla partecipazione dei nostri clienti ad una esperienza traumatica che ha lasciato segni indelebili nella loro vita.

Conoscendo nel dettaglio la storia personale vissuta a bordo del Norman Atlantic da parte dei tanti clienti che assistiamo anche in questo disastro navale, siamo in grado di affermare senza ombra di dubbio che la loro esperienza a bordo del traghetto in fiamme è stata estremamente più forte di quella vissuta a bordo della Concordia, sia in termini di durata (fino a due giorni) che di intensità fisica e psicologica (esposizione a condizioni psicofisiche estreme, intossicazione dai fumi, mancata assistenza a bordo etc.) ed infine maggiori danni patrimoniali in caso di perdita di tutti i beni ed effetti personali, distruzione degli automezzi e trasporti etc.

Vale la pena evidenziare che gli assicuratori di entrambe le navi sono di fatto gli stessi, riferibili ad un consorzio solidale tra compagnie di navigazione, e quindi i danni liquidati in favore dei passeggeri della Concordia costituiscono un parametro che dovrà essere preso in considerazione tanto in sede di ulteriori trattative per il caso del Norman Atlantic, che nel caso di una liquidazione ad esito del processo penale in corso di instaurazione a Bari.

Nel procedimento penale, la Procura di Bari sta tuttora ultimando allo scarico e smaltimento degli automezzi distrutti dai ponti esterni della nave, ed i periti stanno concludendo le loro attività di indagine, volte alla individuazione delle cause dell’incendio, modalità di propagazione di gestione della emergenza.

Confidiamo quindi che a breve ci sarà una accelerazione sia nel procedimento penale che nelle possibili trattative nell’incidente del Norman Atlantic, che resta uno dei più gravi degli ultimi anni nel mediterraneo.

Our pool of lawyers, who followed also the Concordia trial, gets the highest liquidation ever for damages to passengers – without physical injuries – of the ship sunken out of the island of Giglio: the Court of Grosseto sentenced to 16 years in prison Captain Francesco Schettino and condemns Costa Cruises company to pay compensation to passengers who were constituted as civil parties in the criminal trial.

The Court of Grosseto, in ONLY TWO YEARS OF TRIAL, sentenced to 16 years in prison Captain Francesco Schettino and condemns Costa Cruises company to pay compensation to passengers who were constituted as civil parties in the criminal trial.

Liquidation basis of € 30.000,00, but ONLY FOR OUR CLIENTS, compensation rise up to euro 50.000,00 each, almost FIVE TIMES THE ORIGINAL OFFER ACCEPTED BY MOST PASSENGERS, demonstrating the quality of our efforts and the convenience of action for damages in the criminal trial.

Other law firms speak of possibilities, we DO the facts and we have made a difference. NO ONE of the Greek or the international law firms WAS IN CRIMINAL CONCORDIA TRIAL and has obtained compensation like our clients in this case. No one. They all closed their client’s positions with minor negotiations.

And this is only a down payment as provisional, subject to the final settlement in a civil trial where we can demonstrate the presence of additional damage and get to the final condemn to pay, as requested, of 150/300 thousand euro per passenger, according to the different proportion of biological damage demonstrated by each one, according to medical advices from our experts.

Granted the right to compensation for damage suffered as PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) to our clients, even in the absence of specific pharmacological therapies and medical certifications.
Granted the right to reimbursement of damages for loss of personal property on board the ship
Granted the right to the reimbursement of legal expenses

Needless to say, in this regard, that expectations of compensation for Norman Atlantic’s passengers are objectively and greatly higher than those of the Costa Concordia, as their experience was, except in rare cases, dramatically more intense, both from the point of view of psychological and physical stress, both for the duration of the catastrophic experience, lasting up to 72 hours compared to a few hours in which occurred the sinking of the Costa Concordia.

In many cases the loss of personal property is infinitely higher, since the N.A. was not a cruise ship but a ferry, with people traveling on their cars full of all their objects and goods, and many expensive transporting trucks and also shippers lost merchandise of enormous value

For passengers of #NormanAtlantic, therefore, it is urgent to participate immediately to the ongoing criminal proceedings in Bari, and learn from the experience of others: do not make the same mistake as many passengers of Concordia, who readily accepted an initial proposal (11.00,00 euro) or being cut off the criminal trial, as some decided to follow the consumer associations or international law firms who have deluded about compensation millionaires through the class action or civil cases that still await an end and never reach these levels.

Through the Concordia sentence we can make the following remarks:

We got the recognition of entitlement for passengers to grant a compensation for PTSD from a shipwreck, and not only to physical damage;
we deployed a request for punitive damages and we will once again in the NA case.
We have shown that the offers made by companies, according to their criteria (dealing on consumer associations) are unacceptable, and they were sentenced to up to five times the final offer (take or leave it) that Costa Crociere did.
We have demonstrated to the insurance companies that the criminal trial is not an infinite ordeal and in only two years we got them to pay up to 50 thousand euro as a provisional down payment, 5 times more.
We are dealing with the same insurance company (P&I) of Costa Crociere, and then the negotiations will have to take account of the results that we got, and who we are
This amount (50 thousand euro) will then, for our pool that has achieved provisional results, raise the initial parameter for Compensation for passengers of Norman Atlantic.

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