New York Woman Sues MSC Cruises After Slip and Fall on Wet Substance Near Buffet Aboard MSC Divina
Cresilda Du, a resident and citizen of New York, has filed a maritime personal injury lawsuit against MSC Cruises, S.A. in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The lawsuit, filed under Case No. 1:26-cv-23394, alleges that Du suffered serious and painful injuries after slipping and falling on a dangerous and transitory substance on the ship’s floor on May 14, 2025. The action seeks compensatory damages in excess of seventy-five thousand dollars, exclusive of interest and costs, for injuries sustained while the vessel was navigating in open waters.
Cruise Passenger Injured Near MSC Divina Buffet Area Due to Slippery and Unsafe Floor Conditions
According to the complaint, the maritime accident occurred while Du was a fare-paying passenger lawfully walking aboard the MSC Divina. As she walked through the vicinity of the buffet area, she unexpectedly encountered a slippery, wet, foreign, or transitory substance on the deck floor. The unexpected hazard caused her to lose her footing, resulting in a sudden slip and fall that inflicted physical injuries. The plaintiff asserts that MSC Cruises owed passengers a non-delegable duty of reasonable care under maritime law to provide safe walking surfaces throughout the ship, a standard the cruise line allegedly failed to uphold during this voyage.
MSC Cruises Accused of Vicarious Liability for Crew Negligence and Failure to Maintain Safe Passenger Decks
The legal action targets the cruise line through theories of vicarious liability, arguing that MSC Cruises is legally responsible for the careless or negligent actions of its shipboard staff. The complaint alleges that employees tasked with maintaining and supervising the floor near the busy buffet area breached their duties by permitting a dangerous liquid or substance to remain on the walkway. Du contends that multiple crew members were actively stationed in the immediate buffet area and were positioned well enough to see the wet hazard and clear it before a passenger became injured. Because the ship’s staff failed to properly clean the area, the dangerous condition remained directly in the path of unsuspecting travelers.
Lawsuit Highlights Long History of Cruise Ship Slip and Fall Incidents and Internal Standard Procedures
To establish that the cruise operator had knowledge of the recurring hazard, the plaintiff’s legal counsel highlights the cruise line’s own internal safety regulations. The complaint states that MSC Cruises has explicitly instructed its maritime employees in its official Standard Procedure manual since May 2004 to actively monitor the cruise decks for slip and fall hazards and immediately clean them up. Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges a broad history of similar passenger injuries across the cruise fleet to prove the company was aware of the deck flooring’s propensity to become dangerously slick.
The legal filing points to several prior federal lawsuits filed against MSC Cruises in the Southern District of Florida involving similar slip and fall accidents, including Edelman v. MSC Cruises, Davis v. MSC Cruises, Stinnett v. MSC Cruises, Carotenuto v. MSC Cruises, Fromchuck v. MSC Cruises, and Collinge v. MSC Cruises. The complaint also itemizes dozens of older slip and fall incidents dating back between 2010 and 2017 involving passengers such as Leonor Olano, Fred Bill, Sharon Betterman, Olga Rosales, Michelle Parker, Mike Shaver, Lidia Laurita, Martin Cohen, Hilda Ruiz, Beverly Michilin, Gilma Velandia, Aida Montaine, Constance Dillon, Sao Ko, Richard Ratti, Josefa Rado-Perez, Alina Salum, Margaret Anne Haiser, Deborah Armstrong, Nardine Aziz, Santhia Olivier, Sylvia Bauerschmidt, and Corrine Piccinetti. The plaintiff argues these numerous historical cases show a pattern of shipboard employees routinely ignoring company safety policies and leaving hazardous liquids on passenger floors.
Complaint Alleges Failure to Warn Cruise Passengers of Dangerous and Transitory Wet Hazards Near Dining Areas
The lawsuit brought against the foreign profit corporation separates the cruise line’s alleged negligence into two distinct counts of vicarious liability: negligent failure to maintain the floor and negligent failure to warn. Under the failure to warn allegations, Du argues that even if the cruise line could not immediately clean the wet substance, it had an immediate duty to warn passengers of the invisible hazard by placing caution signs or blocking off the section of the deck. Despite knowing that the flooring material near food service and buffet stations had a regular propensity to become wet, slippery, and dangerous, the staff provided no verbal or visual warnings to alert passengers to the danger, leading directly to the fall.
Contact a Cruise Ship Buffet Slip and Fall Lawyer Today if You Were Injured on a Maritime Vacation
Cruise passengers who suffer severe injuries due to wet floors, food spills, or unaddressed transitory substances near ship dining areas or buffets may have grounds to seek financial compensation under federal maritime law. Cruise companies have a clear legal responsibility to monitor high-traffic areas, clean up spills quickly, and post visible warning signs to keep passengers safe from harm. If you or a loved one experienced a slip and fall accident while traveling aboard a cruise vessel, our experienced maritime injury legal team can review the details of your case and help guide you through the process of holding the cruise line accountable.
Contact us now to speak with a cruise ship slip and fall attorney.
Disclaimer: Our firm does not represent the plaintiff in this case and is not involved in the litigation. The information provided is a summary of allegations based on publicly available court filings. We make no representations about the truth of these allegations, are not commenting on the merits of the case, and are not predicting any outcome.
