Negligence charges reinstated in toddler’s fatal fall from cruise ship

A federal appeals court on Tuesday reinstated negligence charges against Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., in connection with the death of an 18-month-old girl who slipped from her grandfather’s grip and fell through an open cruise ship window.

The toddler’s grandfather, Salvatore Anello, testified that he thought when he put Chloe Wiegand’s feet on the windowsill in the July 2019 incident that the window was closed, according to the ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta in Alan Wiegand, Kimberly Schultz-Wiegand vs. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Mr. Anello later pleaded guilty to negligent homicide. He was sentenced to three years of probation in 2021, according to a news report.

Chloe’s parents, Alan and Kimberly Schultz-Wiegand sued Miami-based Royal Caribbean in U.S. District Court in Miami, charging general negligence, negligent failure to maintain and negligent failure to warn. 

The district court granted Royal Caribbean’s motion for summary judgment. A three-judge appeals court panel reinstated the general negligence and negligent failure to maintain charges, while affirming dismissal of the negligent failure to warn charge.

The panel said it sees “no reason to reject the Wiegands’ pleaded theory that fully open windows” on the ship’s Deck 11 created a risk.

Evidence presented by the couple, it said, “would allow a reasonable juror to find that Royal Caribbean not only knew that fully-open windows on Deck 11 posed a risk, it also knew about the risk of adults holding children in front of fully-open windows on Deck 11.”

Evidence cited by the panel included testimony by the ship’s chief security officer that he and other crew members had discussed at safety meetings the problem of adults holding children and of children climbing chairs in front of open windows.

An attorney for the Wiegands, Jacqueline Garcell, a partner with Lipcon, Murgulies & Winkelman PA, in Miami, issued a statement that said in part she is very happy the appeals court “has recognized that a jury will decide whether Royal Caribbean is responsible for not implementing longstanding safety devices designed to prevent falls from windows.  

“These standards have been implemented in many of the largest hotel chains in the world and have become an industry standard that Royal Caribbean has refused to follow.”

Royal Caribbean’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.