California Federal District Court Dismisses COVID-19 "Fear Cases" Against Princess Cruise Lines Holding Plaintiffs Cannot Recover Based Solely On Proximity And Fear Of Contracting The Disease

• Published date: 17 July 2020
• Law Firm: Duane Morris LLP
• Author: Ms Brittany C. Wakim

On Wednesday, the District Court for the Central District of California granted Princess Cruise Line's ("Princess Cruises") Consolidated Motion to Dismiss all 13 "Fear Cases" stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak on the Grand Princess cruise ship. The Grand Princess, bound for Hawaii, originally departed San Francisco on February 21, 2020 with 2,422 passengers and 1,111 crewmembers onboard. On March 6, two weeks into the journey, of the 46 people tested on board, 21 people tested positive for COVID-19. Three days later, while docked at the Port of Oakland, two passengers, Ronald and Eva Weissberger (while still on the ship), filed a lawsuit against Princess Cruises alleging negligence and gross negligence for failing to take necessary precautions and employ proper screening protocols to keep its passengers and crew safe. Although the Weissberger's did not test positive for COVID-19 nor suffer any symptoms, they filed a lawsuit seeking to recover for emotional distressed based on their fear of contracting COVID-19 while quarantined on the ship. Soon after the Weissberger's filed their lawsuit, numerous virtually identical lawsuits were filed against Princess Cruises. These lawsuits, together with the Weissberger's lawsuit, were termed the "Fear Cases" by the Court as they all involve plaintiffs who did not test positive or manifest symptoms of COVID-19 but who sought to recover solely based on their fear of contracting COVID-19 while on the cruise ship. In an effort to preserve resources, Princess Cruise Lines filed a Consolidated Motion to Dismiss the 13 identical cases. ¹

As the Plaintiffs sought to recover damages only for their emotional distress and trauma of the fear of contracting COVID-19 while on the ship, the Court found the Plaintiffs' claims for...