A woman who fell and injured herself after she drank 15 shots of tequila in just over eight hours on a Carnival cruise has been awarded $300,000 in damages by a federal jury in Miami.
The woman, Diana Sanders, a nurse from Vacaville, Calif., sued Carnival in 2024, arguing that bartenders on her cruise had been negligent for continuing to serve her shots even though she was visibly intoxicated.
She had asked for $250,000 in damages, but was awarded $300,000 on Friday, after a weeklong trial.
“I was really happy” with the jury, Ms. Sanders, 45, said in a TikTok video posted by her lawyer, Spencer M. Aronfeld, who specializes in suing cruise lines. “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 do with the case. They were just trying to criminalize, bully me and make me look like a bad human being.”
Carnival said in a statement that it “respectfully disagrees with the verdict” and that it planned to appeal.
On Jan. 5, 2024, Ms. Sanders was traveling with two friends on a three-day Carnival cruise from Los Angeles, Mr. Aronfeld said. All three had paid for the “Cheers!” drink package, which allows Carnival passengers 15 alcoholic drinks in a 24-hour period.
Between 2:58 p.m. and 11:37 p.m., Ms. Sanders drank 15 tequila shots — or at least 18 ounces of tequila — across four different bars on the cruise ship, Mr. Aronfeld said. At some point, she also became separated from her friends when she went to the bathroom, Mr. Aronfeld said.
Around midnight, Ms. Sanders left the casino bar, where she had consumed her last five shots, fell down stairs and ended up in a crew area. Carnival said in court filings that a crew member contacted a Carnival security official, who escorted Ms. Sanders back to her cabin, where she shouted that her friends had left her at the bar.
Mr. Aronfeld said Ms. Sanders had head injuries and bruising and had experienced emotional distress. She sued Carnival in November 2024, she said, to find out what had happened to her before she fell.
“Waking up after blacking out and going to the crew and asking them for help and asking them to tell me what happened was extremely frustrating,” Ms. Sanders said in the TikTok video. “They gave me conflicting information.”
She said in her lawsuit that Carnival’s bartenders should not have continued to serve her shots while she was visibly intoxicated.
“She was swaying, stammering, slurring her speech, had alcohol on her breath, and was acting belligerent while she was in plain view of the crew members serving her these alcoholic beverages,” her lawsuit states.
Carnival said in court filings that Ms. Sanders “did not vomit, stumble, sway, or sleep at any of the bars” she visited and “did not appear as if she was going to pass out while at the casino bar.”
The company said it trained its bartenders to stop serving alcohol to passengers who were “exhibiting behavior of over intoxication.” A passenger who consumes 10 to 16 drinks would typically be “stuporous, apathetic, falling asleep and having difficulty standing,” Carnival said.
Ms. Sanders testified at the trial last week that she was also responsible for her actions, Mr. Aronfeld said. “She said, ‘Look, I’m an adult; I consumed this alcohol and I accept that responsibility, but Carnival — they took no responsibility for serving it,’” he said.
The jury found that Carnival was 60 percent responsible for Ms. Sanders’s injuries, while she was 40 percent responsible, and awarded her $300,000 in damages for her emotional pain, suffering and mental anguish.
Mr. Aronfeld said lawsuits involving passengers who have been over-served alcohol were “extremely difficult” to win.
“Passengers have a responsibility to drink responsibly,” he said. “But cruise lines also have a responsibility to serve responsibly. And when you serve somebody who is visibly intoxicated repeatedly — drink after drink after drink — it can lead to disastrous consequences.”
Michael Levenson covers breaking news for The Times from New York.
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