A woman’s disabilities don’t make her exempt from a boarding contract, a federal court ruled as it granted Carnival Cruise Line’s motion for summary judgment in a case concerning a passenger’s fall on a mystery substance.
The Eastern District of Louisiana dismissed Marion Frances Melancon’s case against Carnival Cruise Line, Carnival Dream and ABC Insurance Company on Feb. 28. Melancon was described as hearing and visually impaired, mute, and “functionally illiterate,” communicating via sign language. She blamed the defendants for her fall, and subsequently her injuries to her leg and hip, for which she had to have surgery.
She argued that venue and arbitration clauses in the boarding contract didn’t apply to her because she didn’t have the capacity to agree to it.
“This court finds that plaintiff’s complaint fails to adequately allege that plaintiff lacked the capacity to consent to the terms of the ticket contract,” based on the opinion. “The illiteracy, blindness, or inability to understand the foreign language in which the contract is written, does not excuse the signee of an instrument from complying with its terms.”
Because the plaintiff didn’t claim she was tricked or coerced into signing the contract (and rather said she didn’t have the capacity to sign it to begin with), her disabilities don’t excuse her from being exempt from the terms of the contract.
Carnival also argued that even if valid, her claim was time-barred. Melancon said her injury happened on April 24, 2016, but she didn’t sue until April 24, 2019. Under the contract, she only had one year to make her claims against the defendants.
Ultimately, the court ruled that she had to comply with the terms of the ticket contract, including the arbitration and statute of limitation clauses.