Trial News

Andre Ow Buland, 45, was traveling on the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship when he experienced nausea and chest discomfort. He went to the ship’s medical center, where he underwent a physical. A treating physician ordered an electrocardiogram, a chest X-ray, a prothrombin time test, and cardiac marker tests, and determined that Ow Buland may have suffered a minor cardiac infarction. He was given aspirin and anti-nausea medication, among other medications, and kept in the infirmary until the ship docked two days later. When he arrived at an onshore hospital, Ow Buland was suffering from cardiogenic shock. He underwent surgical implantation of four stents and remained in intensive care on life support for five days. He also required placement of a defibrillator due to extensive heart damage and a 33% ejection fraction.

Ow Buland sued NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., alleging its employees and agents failed to provide prompt and appropriate medical care by, among other things, failing to properly assess his condition, obtain an appropriate consultation with land-based specialists, and timely evacuate him to a shoreside hospital. The plaintiff asserted that the defendant’s negligence led to a progressive inferior myocardial infarction that left him with debilitating loss of heart function.

The jury awarded approximately $2.08 million. The plaintiff is appealing the court’s ruling that his lost income claim was speculative.

Citation: Ow Buland v. NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., No. 17-CV-24167-PCH (S.D. Fla. Mar. 1, 2019).

Plaintiff counsel: Gary A. Friedman, Zachary Friedman, John S. Seligman, Philip D. Parrish, and AAJ member Andrew L. Waks, all of Miami.