‘Extreme danger’ ignored on Ruby Princess, court told

Shine Lawyers allege Bermuda-based Carnival and its subsidiary Princess Cruise Lines were more interested in profits than passengers’ health.

The Ruby Princess anchored in Manila Bay in the Philippines in May.

The operators of the Ruby Princess ignored the “extreme dangers” posed by COVID-19 in an effort to safeguard massive corporate profits, a court has heard.

Shine Lawyers, who are leading the class action, allege Bermuda-based Carnival and its subsidiary Princess Cruise Lines, breached consumer laws, engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct, and was negligent in the way it handled the pandemic. About 900 people have registered their interest in joining the class action.

The lead plaintiff in the class action is Susan Karpik, a nurse who took the cruise with her husband, Henry, a retired police officer who suffers from macular degeneration.

Ian Pike, SC, for Ms Karpik, told the court on Wednesday that the couple caught the virus on board the ship sometime after it left Sydney on March 8.

“As a result of that, and as a result of all the other things (Ms Karpik) observed and felt, she suffered significant distress and disappointment,” Mr Pike said.

By the fifth day of the cruise, Mr Karpik, 72, felt tired and weak. And by the ninth or 10th day he was fatigued, was suffering from a dry cough, and an unexplained fever.

Mr Karpik spent more than five weeks on a ventilator and nearly two months at Wollongong Hospital. He became just the seventh confirmed COVID-19 case in Australia, and narrowly escaped becoming the country’s 22nd death.

Henry Karpik survived COVID-19 after taking a cruise on the Ruby Princess. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Shine Lawyers argue the ship “never should have departed” and claim Carnival did “nothing” to stem the rising number of suspected cases of COVID-19.

David McClure SC, for Carnival, said the Ruby Princess left Sydney at about the same time that Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged Australians to attend the women’s T20 cricket world cup final.

“At that point in time, leaving aside the retrospective scope, we were prepared to engage in activity which involved congregating in groups of the size that were involved in the Ruby Princess,” he said. “The Prime Minister was talking about going along to see his beloved (Cronulla) Sharks play a match at a busy football stadium.”

“The Prime Minister was urging Australians to strain to break the world record for the number of people to attend a sporting event.”

Shine Lawyers allege the cruise ship industry had been placed on “red alert” in February after Carnival’s Diamond Princess was quarantined off the port of Yokohama in Japan.

“It is even more reprehensible that they continued to keep amenities such as bars and the nightclub open as they knew — at the highest levels of management — that the numbers of ‘suspect cases’ were going ‘berserk’ – or at any time they had ‘suspect cases’,” the statement of claims alleges. “If they shut down some of the amenities while the numbers were going ‘berserk’ they might have lost revenue.”

Last month, a report into the disaster found NSW Health made “serious” and “inexcusable” errors in their decision to allow 2700 passengers on the ship to disembark, despite more than 100 of them displaying symptoms of coronavirus, and three testing positive the next day.

The Ruby Princess cluster resulted in 28 deaths and more than 1000 infections nationwide, becoming Australia’s biggest source of infections during the first wave of the pandemic.

Mr McClure also argued that American and British passengers should be barred from joining the class action and dealt with separately because their tickets were purchased overseas.