Costa Concordia Victims Seek $200M in Lawsuit vs Carnival Cruise Lines

May 11, 2012, 12:00PM. By Abi Kistler

New York, NY (Press Release)– Four Hungarian performers on the ill-fated Costa Concordia cruise ship are collectively seeking $200 million in damages in a Federal gross negligence complaint (12CV-3498, filed May 3, 2012) that has been filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the ship’s owner and operator.

The plaintiffs, all residents of Hungary and at the time members of the same performance company, are Adam Csepi, Jenoc Csanja, Joszef Balogh, and Erszebet (Lizzy) Szilagyi. Csepi and Szilagyi were dancers, the others were musicians, part of the highly regarded ensemble that included violinist Sandor Feher. Mr. Feher drowned in the accident after feverishly helping children don life jackets, according to his colleagues and other eyewitnesses. Their only source of income was as cruise-ship entertainers.

The plaintiffs are represented by the law firm of Ronai & Ronai, LLP, and attorneys Peter Ronai and Holly Ostrov Ronai said the action asserts gross negligence on the part of Carnival Cruise Lines, the owner-operator of the vessel, along with Carnival Corp., its parent company in connection with the January 13, 2012 disaster that claimed 11 lives among the more than 4,000 passengers on the liner. All four of the plaintiffs sustained varying degrees of physical injuries and emotional impairment for which they continue to be treated. Since the accident, they have been unable to work. A demand for punitive damages is also included in the complaint.

“The ship’s owners and operators clearly knew or should have known that they were dealing with a floating disaster just waiting to occur,” said Holly Ostrov Ronai. “The defendants’ gross negligence, as illustrated by the deplorable actions of the so-called captain before, during, and after the grounding, demonstrates that the plaintiffs and all others on the vessel were put at risk.” Peter Ronai, who with Ms. Ostrov Ronai is co-counsel in the civil action that was subject of a $17 million settlement reached yesterday in a case resulting from the deaths of two Hungarian students in the 2010 Philadelphia tourist boat accident. She added, “The victims in this case are turning to the American justice system to obtain answers to the many troubling questions that haunt them in the aftermath of what was clearly an avoidable disaster”.

Following the Costa Concordia accident, Mr. Ronai led investigators from Italy and Hungary onto the trail of three individuals who authorities accused of faking a passenger death in an attempt to capitalize on the tragedy. He was credited with thwarting the scam.