Chesapeake VA Wrongful Death Lawyer Reports – Cruise Liner Concordia Captain Could Face Multiple Wrongful Death Lawsuits

By John Cooper, Virginia Wrongful Death Attorney

There’s a longstanding rule at sea that a captain can’t abandon ship before everybody is off the vessel.

It’s not a rule that Capt Francesco Schettino appears to have abided by. Schettino is the skipper of the Costa Concordia, the cruise liner that is lying on its side after it hit rocks off Italy’s west coast on the evening of Friday 13, 2012.

Six people are known to have died and 29 are missing on the Costa Concordia, according to the BBC.

The captain is being held on suspicion of manslaughter and not just because he allegedly abandoned ship before some passengers.

“The Costa Concordia’s owners, Costa Cruises, said Capt Schettino hit the rocks because he deliberately steered the ship towards Giglio Island,” the BBC reported.

Prosecutors claim the captain wanted to make a close pass of the island to “salute” a crew member’s family who live there.

As a Norfolk VA. accident injury attorney who has handled cases involving people hurt on boats, I am horrified by this disaster and my thoughts are with the victims.

See this video of the Concordia on the rocks.

If the reports are true it’s difficult to see how this captain won’t face the full force of the criminal law as well as multiple wrongful death lawsuits.

The cities of Norfolk, Suffolk, Newport News, Portsmouth, Hampton and Virginia Beach, VA are surrounded by waterways such as the James River, the Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads. Boating accidents are all too common, although fortunately not on the scale of the Italian tragedy.

But frequently an apparent failure to pay attention ends in tragedy. Recently the license of a boater involved in a fatal crash that claimed the life of a 13-year-old from Gloucester County, VA on the James River in Newport News was suspended by the Coast Guard.

Two boaters are facing involuntary manslaughter charges. The Coast Guard claims they were going too fast and failing to pay adequate attention, WAVY.com reported.

DM

The Norfolk and Virginia Beach based personal injury law firm, Cooper Hurley, handles car, truck, and motorcycle injuries as well as brain injury, wrongful death, railroad workers’ injuries (FELA) mesothelioma and medical malpractice. John Cooper and Jim Hurley have over 40 years of combined experience in handling auto injury accident claims. Attorney John Cooper has been named to Virginia “Super Lawyers” since 2010 and has been a member since 2011 of the Multimillion dollar Advocates Roundtable. Cooper Hurley represents people hurt in accidents in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and throughout VA, and always put the best interests of the our clients first. The firm is recognized by other lawyers as “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, a national attorney rating service, for our top level of legal skill and highest ethical standards. If you need help or advice about a serious injury, please call us (757) 455 -0077. For a free consultation with a specialized Hampton Roads, Virginia personal injury lawyer contact us through this website