May 2, 2026
Jury Awards Cruise Ship Passenger $300k After 15 Tequila Shots and a Stairway Stumble
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RSS Feed Yes, you read that headline correctly. Diana Sanders, a nurse from California, bought a “Cheers!” drink package on a 3 day Carnival Cruise. That package allows for 15 alcoholic drinks in a 24 hour period, but Sanders drank 15 tequila shots in an 8 hour period, fell down a flight of stairs and injured her head and back. Sanders sued for $250K for being over served, and a federal jury sided with her, awarding her even more than she asked for in her lawsuit! Carnival cruise is appealing, saying it is seeking a new trial.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Saturday, May second, and this is a story that Roboch has been on me about covering for quite some time. And when you hear the details, you'll understand why she's so fascinated. Because a carnival cruise passenger went on a cruise, took fifteen shots of tequila and an eight hour period just showed a ass all over the cruise ship. And do you know she was just awarded three hundred thousand dollars by a jury. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:35
Speaker 1: Roapes.
00:00:35
Speaker 2: I say showing you ass, not literally, but if you take fifteen shots in eight hours, you're probably not going to be in the best shape. And this woman took fifteen shots and was not in good shape on this cruise ship.
00:00:47
Speaker 3: Basal, she fell down a flight of stairs and ended up in the crew chambers and seriously injured herself. But yes, she took fifteen shots in eight hours. And get this, you mentioned the jury award. We'll get into all of that was three hundred thousand. It was more than she even asked for. That's what blew my mind. When you hear the details of this case, I still don't quite understand where the jury was on this.
00:01:12
Speaker 2: It's what you just said, blew everybody's mind. A woman took fifteen shots of tequila and sued Carnival Cruise Line. Now rogues, we've seen some stories like this before. The first thing, even if you don't know, you would just assume they are blaming. She's blaming the cruise line for overserving her. Is that fair to say?
00:01:33
Speaker 1: Yes?
00:01:33
Speaker 3: And so that is yes, and that is exactly the term she used. But that is a term that a lot of people will joke about. Present party included. When you wake up the next morning you're not feeling so great, you say I was over served last night versus I drank too much. So yes, it's about who's responsible. And to me, it's laughable. It's a joke. It's a laughable joke. And I understand there is some culpability with bartenders. They do have a duty to at least try and protect their patrons and certainly their cruise ship passengers by making sure that no one is they're not contributing to someone being reckless. However, at a certain point, where is it your responsibility? And then when does it become the bartender's responsibility. I don't know legally where that stands.
00:02:18
Speaker 1: I don't know either legally where that stands.
00:02:20
Speaker 2: But for this jury, at least they gave more responsibility to the cruise line than the woman taking the shot.
00:02:25
Speaker 4: They did.
00:02:26
Speaker 1: Okay, they did, I wrote. We've seen stories like that.
00:02:29
Speaker 2: I even think there have been some cases, criminal cases before, where bartenders have served or overserved and that person goes out and gets into an accident or hurts someone. I think I don't know where that legal line is at least.
00:02:41
Speaker 3: Yes, So let's also discuss this woman's age, because I do think that's a factor too.
00:02:46
Speaker 1: Oh boy, I've seen her picture.
00:02:49
Speaker 4: Do you know how old she is?
00:02:50
Speaker 1: I'm trying to go back.
00:02:51
Speaker 2: If I were just hearing this story and guessing, I'll say, oh my god, what is this twenty five year old?
00:02:57
Speaker 1: Twenty five year old woman.
00:02:58
Speaker 3: And I might be more willing to give her some leeway here on this. No, she's a forty five year old woman, a nurse from California.
00:03:07
Speaker 4: Her name is Diana Sanders. Okay, she's the victim, all.
00:03:10
Speaker 2: Right, I'm gonna try to understand Diana Sanders position.
00:03:14
Speaker 1: But when I hear forty five.
00:03:16
Speaker 2: That's also sometimes described as a grown ass woman.
00:03:20
Speaker 3: Yes, she was a grown ass woman who chose to do fifteen shots in eight hours on a carnival cruise line. And she says the bartenders were negligent for serving her while she was intoxicated.
00:03:32
Speaker 4: She in her lawsuit asked for two hundred and fifty.
00:03:35
Speaker 3: Thousand dollars, but she was awarded three hundred thousand dollars by a federal jury in Miami.
00:03:42
Speaker 4: Okay, let's get into what happens.
00:03:44
Speaker 2: Okay, on the cruise itself, it was a short like a three day trip.
00:03:48
Speaker 4: It was a three No, it was a three day carnival cruise.
00:03:51
Speaker 1: That's a short cruise.
00:03:52
Speaker 4: It's a short cruise. You know what this was. This was a party.
00:03:56
Speaker 1: Booze cruise that is exactly three days.
00:03:59
Speaker 4: That is what I'll tell you.
00:04:00
Speaker 3: What this was is a three day carnival cruise that headed out of Los Angeles. This was on January fifth, twenty twenty four, and Diana Sanders and her two friends paid for the Cheers drink package.
00:04:12
Speaker 1: Ooh, that's dangerous.
00:04:14
Speaker 3: That allows carnival passengers fifteen alcoholic drinks in a twenty four hour period. So they were allowed fifteen drinks in a twenty four hour period for three days. Like, so each day you get fifteen free drinks.
00:04:27
Speaker 4: The free drinks you pay for it in advance.
00:04:29
Speaker 1: But you sign up for this.
00:04:30
Speaker 4: You had to be wasted for three days, but you signed.
00:04:34
Speaker 1: Up, correct, have the fifteen drinks?
00:04:36
Speaker 4: Correct?
00:04:36
Speaker 3: Okay, she didn't just sign up, she paid paid cheers package.
00:04:40
Speaker 4: So you get fifteen drinks in twenty four hours.
00:04:42
Speaker 1: Okay, so you're gonna sleep, let's say what eight hours?
00:04:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you got sixteen hours left in the day to have fifteen drinks.
00:04:50
Speaker 1: About a drink an hour?
00:04:51
Speaker 4: Correct?
00:04:52
Speaker 1: Is that that's even a bag?
00:04:53
Speaker 4: That's insane. So the fact that a shot, the fact that this package is even allowed, and.
00:04:59
Speaker 3: Then and she signs up for it and pays for it along with her two friends. And now it's I don't know it's the cruise's fault. But here here's what happened. Between two fifty eight pm and eleven thirty seven pm. She drank fifteen tequila shots. And that means she drank eighteen ounces of tequila across four different bars across the cruise ship.
00:05:21
Speaker 4: She took her last this is the worst part. She took her last.
00:05:25
Speaker 3: Five shots at the casino bar just before midnight.
00:05:31
Speaker 2: Uh okay, help me with the spacing again, starting at two what was her first shot?
00:05:35
Speaker 4: Basically at three pm in the afternoon.
00:05:37
Speaker 1: To midnight pretty much.
00:05:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you're saying the last five were done in close succession.
00:05:42
Speaker 3: Yes, okay, boom boom, boom boom, just before midnight. That's when she gets up from the casino bar and falls down the stairs and lands in the crew area. Okay, and I told you it's she really did get injured, but it's just like you imagine, this is all self inflicted.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: And sorry to get so specific, you might not know. Do we know how many steps?
00:06:07
Speaker 4: Well, here's how far it was.
00:06:10
Speaker 3: They described it in her lawsuit as a massive tumble down a staircase that led to severe injuries, including a concussion, headaches, back injuries, tailbone injuries, bruising, and they claim a possible traumatic brain injury.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: Okay, that's serious. Okay, that is incredibly serious. And what you're describing there is not funny. Now, no matter whose fault it is, still that is a serious that's a serious fault.
00:06:35
Speaker 4: Yes. So this is what she said in her lawsuit.
00:06:39
Speaker 3: Waking up after blacking out and then going to the crew to ask them for help and asking them to tell me what happened was extremely frustrating because they gave me conflicting information. Look, I think that's kind of outrageous that she gets so black out drunk and then she expects the crew to tell her what she did that night.
00:06:58
Speaker 4: I'm confused by that your thoughts.
00:07:02
Speaker 2: No, Well, I'm trying to get the whole story in and trying to understand before I take the woman to task, which we don't want to do. She had her own experience in whatever it was. Now, I am very curious, like you said, about culpability what the jury figured out here. So I'm trying to hear everything in this lawsuit and fully understand here. So the problem she's saying she doesn't even remember what happened that night, she.
00:07:23
Speaker 4: Becose she does not remember what happened.
00:07:25
Speaker 2: And she was frustrated by the lack of accurate information that she was getting over.
00:07:29
Speaker 3: Correct And here's what else her lawsuit stated. And it's interesting compared to what Carnival said in its rebuttal. So Diana Sanders lawsuit said she was swaying, stammering, slurring, her speech, had alcohol in her breath, was acting belligerent while she was in plain view of the crew members serving her these alcoholic beverages. Carnival said Miss Sanders did not vomit, stumble, sway, or sleep at any of the bars she visited, and she did not appear as if she was going to pass out while at the casino bar. So they're saying their bartenders had no way of knowing she wasn't acting in some way that made them feel concerned about giving her another drink.
00:08:06
Speaker 1: Okay, Carnival sounds like she could hold her liquor.
00:08:09
Speaker 3: Yes, opinion, That's exactly what it sounds like they are saying, yes, and apparently, Look, I also wanted to point out that one of the crew members, when she stumbled or fell sorry, tumbled into the crew area, she actually had one of the security members officially escort her back to her cabin to make sure she got back okay, And that security official said the whole time he was escorting her back, she was shouting that her friends had left her at the bar. So, look, her friends left, and are they culpable for not taking care of their friend, for not watching out for each other? Just at a certain point, she ended up alone for whatever reason. And look, when she fell, the crew, the security officer did get her safely back to her cabin.
00:08:50
Speaker 4: That should be noted.
00:08:52
Speaker 2: Wait, so the big issue or the issue of suing is really connected.
00:08:56
Speaker 4: To the fall that she was overserved which led to her fall.
00:09:00
Speaker 1: Okay, how about this.
00:09:00
Speaker 2: I'm saying if she had been overserved and had not fallen and had just gone to her room, would she have still sued? Probably not saying the issue is the fall.
00:09:07
Speaker 3: The issue was the fall, and that she was injured and has injuries now that she's still dealing with. And she says like emotional trauma et cetera from the injuries, and that that was the reason behind the lawsuit that she said she filed. This by the way, this happened in January. She filed in November. And the attorney that she used. I thought this was interesting, But of course I guess it makes sense that he is an attorney who specializes in suing.
00:09:35
Speaker 1: Cruise lines found himself a niche.
00:09:38
Speaker 4: He found himself a niche.
00:09:39
Speaker 3: So when we come back, we are going to tell you what the jury's ruling was and the reasoning behind it. And then we'll give you the reaction from her on the verdict and the reaction from Carnival Cruise Lines.
00:10:00
Speaker 2: All right, we continue here on Amy and TJ. Robes getting me caught up on a fascinating story of a woman being awarded three hundred thousand dollars after she took fifteen shots in eight hours on a Carnival cruise line, ends up going down a set of stairs, hurts herself, sued the airline for overserving her, and has been awarded three hundred thousand dollars. Robes, we got her reaction, We have Carnival Cruise Lines reaction. I one other just point about her story. She says she would serve these drinks over several bars.
00:10:29
Speaker 1: Is that correct?
00:10:29
Speaker 4: Four different bars in the on the cruise shet?
00:10:32
Speaker 2: Was that a part of any of the Carnival's argument is that there's a bartender over here at this bar. He doesn't know how much she's drank over at that bar.
00:10:38
Speaker 1: Was that a part of it?
00:10:39
Speaker 3: Yes?
00:10:39
Speaker 1: And they still the jury didn't buy that.
00:10:41
Speaker 3: Yes, So yes, here was the jury's ruling. They found and you alluded to this earlier. Carnival was sixty percent responsible for miss Sanders' injuries while she was forty percent responsible. And even though she and I don't really know the math on this, even though she only asked for two hundred and fifty thousand, they awarded her three hundred thousand dollars in damages for emotional pain, suffering and mental anguish.
00:11:08
Speaker 2: I know we weren't in the courtroom, right, I mean, there may be there's plenty more to this story and more details that the jury heard that made it sound worse than its sounding to us and to a lay person.
00:11:19
Speaker 1: Let's just call this what it is.
00:11:21
Speaker 2: It's okay, folks for us to say this out loud, And I'm not criticizing this woman and how traumatic that might have felt to her, But we are trying to find where is personal responsibility? You signed up, not just you actually said ahead of time that you planned to drink fifteen drinks.
00:11:38
Speaker 4: In twenty four hours because you.
00:11:39
Speaker 1: Bought that package. So I don't know, Robes.
00:11:42
Speaker 2: Where is my Can I really say that if you keep serving me and I hurt myself, you're responsible from my behavior? Where does the line draw of putting a drink in front of someone I didn't tell you you had to drink it? Where does the line law which she lay when it worlds would she have sued if she was yelling at them, I haven't gotten my fifteen drinks in my twenty four hours.
00:12:08
Speaker 1: I'm only up to twelve. You need to serve me.
00:12:12
Speaker 2: What would that, yeah over that twenty one year old bartender who's holding on to his job right have done.
00:12:18
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:12:18
Speaker 3: I was thinking the same thing. She signed up to drink fifteen drinks in twenty.
00:12:22
Speaker 4: Four hours, and she did it. Oh my goodness.
00:12:28
Speaker 3: Her reaction on the verdict, she actually went on TikTok and made a couple of videos, but she said, I was really happy. I felt like the whole time they saw right through what the defense was trying to do, how they tried to defame my character. Things they brought up that had nothing to do with the case.
00:12:43
Speaker 4: They were just.
00:12:44
Speaker 3: Trying to criminalize, bully me, and make me look like a bad human being. She described, I guess the year and a half it took to get this lawsuit to trial as hell. Yes, that they made her feel like a horrible human being and it was really occult and horrible, And she talked a lot about it on her TikTok video now reaction from Carnival.
00:13:05
Speaker 4: They said, Carnival Corporation respectfully.
00:13:08
Speaker 3: Disagrees with the verdict and believes there are grounds for a new trial and appeal, which it will pursue. So she's not going to get paid anytime soon. They're going to continue their legal process and appeal this decision. And I think that makes a lot of sense because a lot of jaws did drop when they saw this outcome for this young woman, or not young, she's forty five years old. But her attorney even said, and I mentioned he is a he specializes in cruise line lawsuits, but he said that lawsuits involving passengers who have been overserved were quote unquote extremely difficult to win. So this is really and truly an outlier. In most of these cases, they don't typically end.
00:13:47
Speaker 2: Like this, and they might end up winning an appeal. And who knows where. I don't know where this jury was and why, but I do. I still I asked that question of all of us, where is your personal respet responsibility for your behavior, which includes not just the behavior after you consume whatever it was, the behavior before.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: And deciding to consume.
00:14:12
Speaker 2: Why am I not held fully responsible for buying the drink package and then going and them delivering on what they said they were going to give me, which is fifteen drinks. I chose the shots, I chose the timing I chose to go to different bars. Was that on purpose? Did somebody stop serving her at one?
00:14:35
Speaker 3: I wonder if she had had fifteen beers if the outcome would have been the same.
00:14:38
Speaker 2: No, because she'd been in the bathroom too much to even fall seeing.
00:14:44
Speaker 3: And I do want to say this, Sanders did take a little some responsibility, and I wanted to end it with this because at least maybe this will make us all feel a little bit better about where her head was After this, she said, Look, I'm an adult. I consumed this alcohol and I accept that responsibility. But Carnival, they took no responsible for serving it.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: Okay, start stay the whole sentence. So the whole statement again. Can you start over with me?
00:15:06
Speaker 4: Yep, she says, Look, I'm an adult.
00:15:09
Speaker 1: Stop right there. It should end. The statement should And.
00:15:13
Speaker 4: By the way, it took no responsibility for serving it. This like, I do think it changed.
00:15:18
Speaker 3: For me when I read that she bought the package, that she went in knowing and they it was an agreement that in twenty four hours she was allowed fifteen drinks.
00:15:27
Speaker 4: I just that for me changes it a lot.
00:15:29
Speaker 1: It was the disclaimer on that is there.
00:15:33
Speaker 3: There's gonna be one now or maybe they've removed the cheers package from the Carnival after this passage.
00:15:39
Speaker 4: It's called the cheers talking about that?
00:15:41
Speaker 1: Just the cherry on top of this ridiculous story.
00:15:44
Speaker 4: Cheers everybody?
00:15:47
Speaker 1: Where is it? Who is go to a bar in New York?
00:15:51
Speaker 2: When is he supposed to stop serving me when he thinks he's given me too much? Or when I start to look a certain way and he thinks I've had too much when I that's but yes her statement, I am an.
00:16:04
Speaker 1: Adult, period.
00:16:07
Speaker 3: And with that everyone, And by the way, babe, thanks for letting me do this story.
00:16:11
Speaker 2: I was.
00:16:11
Speaker 4: I've been really excited about it for a long time.
00:16:13
Speaker 1: This is fascinating.
00:16:16
Speaker 4: Please do the Carnival cruise lawsuit story. I just I had to give it in this was.
00:16:21
Speaker 3: I hope you all well just enjoyed it and have a formed opinion about it, and maybe it'll curtail your behavior this evening in the days to follow, at least on a cruise ship. Because you're an adult, all right, With that, everyone, thank you for listening. I may be Roebuck alongside DJ Holmes. We will talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Saturday, May second, and this is a story that Roboch has been on me about covering for quite some time. And when you hear the details, you'll understand why she's so fascinated. Because a carnival cruise passenger went on a cruise, took fifteen shots of tequila and an eight hour period just showed a ass all over the cruise ship. And do you know she was just awarded three hundred thousand dollars by a jury. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:35
Speaker 1: Roapes.
00:00:35
Speaker 2: I say showing you ass, not literally, but if you take fifteen shots in eight hours, you're probably not going to be in the best shape. And this woman took fifteen shots and was not in good shape on this cruise ship.
00:00:47
Speaker 3: Basal, she fell down a flight of stairs and ended up in the crew chambers and seriously injured herself. But yes, she took fifteen shots in eight hours. And get this, you mentioned the jury award. We'll get into all of that was three hundred thousand. It was more than she even asked for. That's what blew my mind. When you hear the details of this case, I still don't quite understand where the jury was on this.
00:01:12
Speaker 2: It's what you just said, blew everybody's mind. A woman took fifteen shots of tequila and sued Carnival Cruise Line. Now rogues, we've seen some stories like this before. The first thing, even if you don't know, you would just assume they are blaming. She's blaming the cruise line for overserving her. Is that fair to say?
00:01:33
Speaker 1: Yes?
00:01:33
Speaker 3: And so that is yes, and that is exactly the term she used. But that is a term that a lot of people will joke about. Present party included. When you wake up the next morning you're not feeling so great, you say I was over served last night versus I drank too much. So yes, it's about who's responsible. And to me, it's laughable. It's a joke. It's a laughable joke. And I understand there is some culpability with bartenders. They do have a duty to at least try and protect their patrons and certainly their cruise ship passengers by making sure that no one is they're not contributing to someone being reckless. However, at a certain point, where is it your responsibility? And then when does it become the bartender's responsibility. I don't know legally where that stands.
00:02:18
Speaker 1: I don't know either legally where that stands.
00:02:20
Speaker 2: But for this jury, at least they gave more responsibility to the cruise line than the woman taking the shot.
00:02:25
Speaker 4: They did.
00:02:26
Speaker 1: Okay, they did, I wrote. We've seen stories like that.
00:02:29
Speaker 2: I even think there have been some cases, criminal cases before, where bartenders have served or overserved and that person goes out and gets into an accident or hurts someone. I think I don't know where that legal line is at least.
00:02:41
Speaker 3: Yes, So let's also discuss this woman's age, because I do think that's a factor too.
00:02:46
Speaker 1: Oh boy, I've seen her picture.
00:02:49
Speaker 4: Do you know how old she is?
00:02:50
Speaker 1: I'm trying to go back.
00:02:51
Speaker 2: If I were just hearing this story and guessing, I'll say, oh my god, what is this twenty five year old?
00:02:57
Speaker 1: Twenty five year old woman.
00:02:58
Speaker 3: And I might be more willing to give her some leeway here on this. No, she's a forty five year old woman, a nurse from California.
00:03:07
Speaker 4: Her name is Diana Sanders. Okay, she's the victim, all.
00:03:10
Speaker 2: Right, I'm gonna try to understand Diana Sanders position.
00:03:14
Speaker 1: But when I hear forty five.
00:03:16
Speaker 2: That's also sometimes described as a grown ass woman.
00:03:20
Speaker 3: Yes, she was a grown ass woman who chose to do fifteen shots in eight hours on a carnival cruise line. And she says the bartenders were negligent for serving her while she was intoxicated.
00:03:32
Speaker 4: She in her lawsuit asked for two hundred and fifty.
00:03:35
Speaker 3: Thousand dollars, but she was awarded three hundred thousand dollars by a federal jury in Miami.
00:03:42
Speaker 4: Okay, let's get into what happens.
00:03:44
Speaker 2: Okay, on the cruise itself, it was a short like a three day trip.
00:03:48
Speaker 4: It was a three No, it was a three day carnival cruise.
00:03:51
Speaker 1: That's a short cruise.
00:03:52
Speaker 4: It's a short cruise. You know what this was. This was a party.
00:03:56
Speaker 1: Booze cruise that is exactly three days.
00:03:59
Speaker 4: That is what I'll tell you.
00:04:00
Speaker 3: What this was is a three day carnival cruise that headed out of Los Angeles. This was on January fifth, twenty twenty four, and Diana Sanders and her two friends paid for the Cheers drink package.
00:04:12
Speaker 1: Ooh, that's dangerous.
00:04:14
Speaker 3: That allows carnival passengers fifteen alcoholic drinks in a twenty four hour period. So they were allowed fifteen drinks in a twenty four hour period for three days. Like, so each day you get fifteen free drinks.
00:04:27
Speaker 4: The free drinks you pay for it in advance.
00:04:29
Speaker 1: But you sign up for this.
00:04:30
Speaker 4: You had to be wasted for three days, but you signed.
00:04:34
Speaker 1: Up, correct, have the fifteen drinks?
00:04:36
Speaker 4: Correct?
00:04:36
Speaker 3: Okay, she didn't just sign up, she paid paid cheers package.
00:04:40
Speaker 4: So you get fifteen drinks in twenty four hours.
00:04:42
Speaker 1: Okay, so you're gonna sleep, let's say what eight hours?
00:04:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you got sixteen hours left in the day to have fifteen drinks.
00:04:50
Speaker 1: About a drink an hour?
00:04:51
Speaker 4: Correct?
00:04:52
Speaker 1: Is that that's even a bag?
00:04:53
Speaker 4: That's insane. So the fact that a shot, the fact that this package is even allowed, and.
00:04:59
Speaker 3: Then and she signs up for it and pays for it along with her two friends. And now it's I don't know it's the cruise's fault. But here here's what happened. Between two fifty eight pm and eleven thirty seven pm. She drank fifteen tequila shots. And that means she drank eighteen ounces of tequila across four different bars across the cruise ship.
00:05:21
Speaker 4: She took her last this is the worst part. She took her last.
00:05:25
Speaker 3: Five shots at the casino bar just before midnight.
00:05:31
Speaker 2: Uh okay, help me with the spacing again, starting at two what was her first shot?
00:05:35
Speaker 4: Basically at three pm in the afternoon.
00:05:37
Speaker 1: To midnight pretty much.
00:05:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you're saying the last five were done in close succession.
00:05:42
Speaker 3: Yes, okay, boom boom, boom boom, just before midnight. That's when she gets up from the casino bar and falls down the stairs and lands in the crew area. Okay, and I told you it's she really did get injured, but it's just like you imagine, this is all self inflicted.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: And sorry to get so specific, you might not know. Do we know how many steps?
00:06:07
Speaker 4: Well, here's how far it was.
00:06:10
Speaker 3: They described it in her lawsuit as a massive tumble down a staircase that led to severe injuries, including a concussion, headaches, back injuries, tailbone injuries, bruising, and they claim a possible traumatic brain injury.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: Okay, that's serious. Okay, that is incredibly serious. And what you're describing there is not funny. Now, no matter whose fault it is, still that is a serious that's a serious fault.
00:06:35
Speaker 4: Yes. So this is what she said in her lawsuit.
00:06:39
Speaker 3: Waking up after blacking out and then going to the crew to ask them for help and asking them to tell me what happened was extremely frustrating because they gave me conflicting information. Look, I think that's kind of outrageous that she gets so black out drunk and then she expects the crew to tell her what she did that night.
00:06:58
Speaker 4: I'm confused by that your thoughts.
00:07:02
Speaker 2: No, Well, I'm trying to get the whole story in and trying to understand before I take the woman to task, which we don't want to do. She had her own experience in whatever it was. Now, I am very curious, like you said, about culpability what the jury figured out here. So I'm trying to hear everything in this lawsuit and fully understand here. So the problem she's saying she doesn't even remember what happened that night, she.
00:07:23
Speaker 4: Becose she does not remember what happened.
00:07:25
Speaker 2: And she was frustrated by the lack of accurate information that she was getting over.
00:07:29
Speaker 3: Correct And here's what else her lawsuit stated. And it's interesting compared to what Carnival said in its rebuttal. So Diana Sanders lawsuit said she was swaying, stammering, slurring, her speech, had alcohol in her breath, was acting belligerent while she was in plain view of the crew members serving her these alcoholic beverages. Carnival said Miss Sanders did not vomit, stumble, sway, or sleep at any of the bars she visited, and she did not appear as if she was going to pass out while at the casino bar. So they're saying their bartenders had no way of knowing she wasn't acting in some way that made them feel concerned about giving her another drink.
00:08:06
Speaker 1: Okay, Carnival sounds like she could hold her liquor.
00:08:09
Speaker 3: Yes, opinion, That's exactly what it sounds like they are saying, yes, and apparently, Look, I also wanted to point out that one of the crew members, when she stumbled or fell sorry, tumbled into the crew area, she actually had one of the security members officially escort her back to her cabin to make sure she got back okay, And that security official said the whole time he was escorting her back, she was shouting that her friends had left her at the bar. So, look, her friends left, and are they culpable for not taking care of their friend, for not watching out for each other? Just at a certain point, she ended up alone for whatever reason. And look, when she fell, the crew, the security officer did get her safely back to her cabin.
00:08:50
Speaker 4: That should be noted.
00:08:52
Speaker 2: Wait, so the big issue or the issue of suing is really connected.
00:08:56
Speaker 4: To the fall that she was overserved which led to her fall.
00:09:00
Speaker 1: Okay, how about this.
00:09:00
Speaker 2: I'm saying if she had been overserved and had not fallen and had just gone to her room, would she have still sued? Probably not saying the issue is the fall.
00:09:07
Speaker 3: The issue was the fall, and that she was injured and has injuries now that she's still dealing with. And she says like emotional trauma et cetera from the injuries, and that that was the reason behind the lawsuit that she said she filed. This by the way, this happened in January. She filed in November. And the attorney that she used. I thought this was interesting, But of course I guess it makes sense that he is an attorney who specializes in suing.
00:09:35
Speaker 1: Cruise lines found himself a niche.
00:09:38
Speaker 4: He found himself a niche.
00:09:39
Speaker 3: So when we come back, we are going to tell you what the jury's ruling was and the reasoning behind it. And then we'll give you the reaction from her on the verdict and the reaction from Carnival Cruise Lines.
00:10:00
Speaker 2: All right, we continue here on Amy and TJ. Robes getting me caught up on a fascinating story of a woman being awarded three hundred thousand dollars after she took fifteen shots in eight hours on a Carnival cruise line, ends up going down a set of stairs, hurts herself, sued the airline for overserving her, and has been awarded three hundred thousand dollars. Robes, we got her reaction, We have Carnival Cruise Lines reaction. I one other just point about her story. She says she would serve these drinks over several bars.
00:10:29
Speaker 1: Is that correct?
00:10:29
Speaker 4: Four different bars in the on the cruise shet?
00:10:32
Speaker 2: Was that a part of any of the Carnival's argument is that there's a bartender over here at this bar. He doesn't know how much she's drank over at that bar.
00:10:38
Speaker 1: Was that a part of it?
00:10:39
Speaker 3: Yes?
00:10:39
Speaker 1: And they still the jury didn't buy that.
00:10:41
Speaker 3: Yes, So yes, here was the jury's ruling. They found and you alluded to this earlier. Carnival was sixty percent responsible for miss Sanders' injuries while she was forty percent responsible. And even though she and I don't really know the math on this, even though she only asked for two hundred and fifty thousand, they awarded her three hundred thousand dollars in damages for emotional pain, suffering and mental anguish.
00:11:08
Speaker 2: I know we weren't in the courtroom, right, I mean, there may be there's plenty more to this story and more details that the jury heard that made it sound worse than its sounding to us and to a lay person.
00:11:19
Speaker 1: Let's just call this what it is.
00:11:21
Speaker 2: It's okay, folks for us to say this out loud, And I'm not criticizing this woman and how traumatic that might have felt to her, But we are trying to find where is personal responsibility? You signed up, not just you actually said ahead of time that you planned to drink fifteen drinks.
00:11:38
Speaker 4: In twenty four hours because you.
00:11:39
Speaker 1: Bought that package. So I don't know, Robes.
00:11:42
Speaker 2: Where is my Can I really say that if you keep serving me and I hurt myself, you're responsible from my behavior? Where does the line draw of putting a drink in front of someone I didn't tell you you had to drink it? Where does the line law which she lay when it worlds would she have sued if she was yelling at them, I haven't gotten my fifteen drinks in my twenty four hours.
00:12:08
Speaker 1: I'm only up to twelve. You need to serve me.
00:12:12
Speaker 2: What would that, yeah over that twenty one year old bartender who's holding on to his job right have done.
00:12:18
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:12:18
Speaker 3: I was thinking the same thing. She signed up to drink fifteen drinks in twenty.
00:12:22
Speaker 4: Four hours, and she did it. Oh my goodness.
00:12:28
Speaker 3: Her reaction on the verdict, she actually went on TikTok and made a couple of videos, but she said, I was really happy. I felt like the whole time they saw right through what the defense was trying to do, how they tried to defame my character. Things they brought up that had nothing to do with the case.
00:12:43
Speaker 4: They were just.
00:12:44
Speaker 3: Trying to criminalize, bully me, and make me look like a bad human being. She described, I guess the year and a half it took to get this lawsuit to trial as hell. Yes, that they made her feel like a horrible human being and it was really occult and horrible, And she talked a lot about it on her TikTok video now reaction from Carnival.
00:13:05
Speaker 4: They said, Carnival Corporation respectfully.
00:13:08
Speaker 3: Disagrees with the verdict and believes there are grounds for a new trial and appeal, which it will pursue. So she's not going to get paid anytime soon. They're going to continue their legal process and appeal this decision. And I think that makes a lot of sense because a lot of jaws did drop when they saw this outcome for this young woman, or not young, she's forty five years old. But her attorney even said, and I mentioned he is a he specializes in cruise line lawsuits, but he said that lawsuits involving passengers who have been overserved were quote unquote extremely difficult to win. So this is really and truly an outlier. In most of these cases, they don't typically end.
00:13:47
Speaker 2: Like this, and they might end up winning an appeal. And who knows where. I don't know where this jury was and why, but I do. I still I asked that question of all of us, where is your personal respet responsibility for your behavior, which includes not just the behavior after you consume whatever it was, the behavior before.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: And deciding to consume.
00:14:12
Speaker 2: Why am I not held fully responsible for buying the drink package and then going and them delivering on what they said they were going to give me, which is fifteen drinks. I chose the shots, I chose the timing I chose to go to different bars. Was that on purpose? Did somebody stop serving her at one?
00:14:35
Speaker 3: I wonder if she had had fifteen beers if the outcome would have been the same.
00:14:38
Speaker 2: No, because she'd been in the bathroom too much to even fall seeing.
00:14:44
Speaker 3: And I do want to say this, Sanders did take a little some responsibility, and I wanted to end it with this because at least maybe this will make us all feel a little bit better about where her head was After this, she said, Look, I'm an adult. I consumed this alcohol and I accept that responsibility. But Carnival, they took no responsible for serving it.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: Okay, start stay the whole sentence. So the whole statement again. Can you start over with me?
00:15:06
Speaker 4: Yep, she says, Look, I'm an adult.
00:15:09
Speaker 1: Stop right there. It should end. The statement should And.
00:15:13
Speaker 4: By the way, it took no responsibility for serving it. This like, I do think it changed.
00:15:18
Speaker 3: For me when I read that she bought the package, that she went in knowing and they it was an agreement that in twenty four hours she was allowed fifteen drinks.
00:15:27
Speaker 4: I just that for me changes it a lot.
00:15:29
Speaker 1: It was the disclaimer on that is there.
00:15:33
Speaker 3: There's gonna be one now or maybe they've removed the cheers package from the Carnival after this passage.
00:15:39
Speaker 4: It's called the cheers talking about that?
00:15:41
Speaker 1: Just the cherry on top of this ridiculous story.
00:15:44
Speaker 4: Cheers everybody?
00:15:47
Speaker 1: Where is it? Who is go to a bar in New York?
00:15:51
Speaker 2: When is he supposed to stop serving me when he thinks he's given me too much? Or when I start to look a certain way and he thinks I've had too much when I that's but yes her statement, I am an.
00:16:04
Speaker 1: Adult, period.
00:16:07
Speaker 3: And with that everyone, And by the way, babe, thanks for letting me do this story.
00:16:11
Speaker 2: I was.
00:16:11
Speaker 4: I've been really excited about it for a long time.
00:16:13
Speaker 1: This is fascinating.
00:16:16
Speaker 4: Please do the Carnival cruise lawsuit story. I just I had to give it in this was.
00:16:21
Speaker 3: I hope you all well just enjoyed it and have a formed opinion about it, and maybe it'll curtail your behavior this evening in the days to follow, at least on a cruise ship. Because you're an adult, all right, With that, everyone, thank you for listening. I may be Roebuck alongside DJ Holmes. We will talk to you soon.