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I initially put blame On Royal Caribbean's. But the little I know in the pictures I've seen this seems to be an unfortunate accident. It's natural for the parents to wanna blame someone. My condolences to the family
They should be blaming the grandfather. The one that caused it. Accident or not he did it. But people are saying he had a reason.
I think a lawyer already has. He has made at least one public statement blaming the cruise ship.
We don't know if the lawyer was retained to defend the grandfather (police were investigating whether there were grounds to accuse him of a crime), or if it was to sue the cruise company, or both, do we? All we know, is they have a lawyer. They'd have to, after such a hideous and traumatic high-publicity incident, especially with a police investigation involved. These poor people are emotional basket-cases right now, and need an official spokesperson.
We don't know if the lawyer was retained to defend the grandfather (police were investigating whether there were grounds to accuse him of a crime), or if it was to sue the cruise company, or both, do we? All we know, is they have a lawyer. They'd have to, after such a hideous and traumatic high-publicity incident, especially with a police investigation involved. These poor people are emotional basket-cases right now, and need an official spokesperson.
Right. The family was in no condition to speak for themselves nor navigate what was happening. Another poster read the entire family grandad, mother and father all had to be sedated. They also had to address all the media. I don’t think it’s an option to hire a lawyer for things like this today, and I don’t think they were thinking as soon as it happened “we’re going to sue”. Not saying they won’t, but it’s not why they hired a lawyer that soon. I’m going to guess someone else in the family arranged it for them as well, as I said they were in no condition to start looking for lawyers in a place they’ve never been.
I don't think the lawyer is doing them any favors publicity wise, although legally trying to blame the cruise lines might be a smart move. But I think the attempt to make the cruise line look bad is backfiring and swaying public opinion to consider it an attempt to deflect any responsibility from the grandfather and possibly also comes across as grasping and calculated.
The family returned home on Thursday. Apparently there is a video in the cruise ship's possession that shows what happened. The attorney indicated he's trying to obtain a copy - and publicizing that he wants it but that the cruise line hasn't yet turned it over.
The San Juan police early on - presumably using information obtained from ship personnel - released statements that led the public to what may well be both erroneous and highly damning conclusions. Clearly, this family needs an advocate in dealing with Royal Caribbean. A lawsuit is an entirely different matter, and one that IMHO is not warranted.
The family will never recover from this but they have another child - and it might be a bit easier to go through life if they aren't being unfairly accused in the midst of this tragedy. So, yes, a lawyer is appropriate.
I agree that some of the attorney's early statements that appeared to be misleading were not helpful. No doubt the family in its grief does "blame" Royal Caribbean, albeit unfairly.
Edited to add: I went to get the link but then hit another publication. The first strongly implied there IS a video; this one says the family "hopes" to obtain surveillance video, which could mean a "hope" there IS a video and not mean hope to obtain a video known to exist. Reporters can be so imprecise when they write!
In googling for the original article (about the video): there was this statement:
"Prosecutors are investigating the death and say they have not ruled anything out.
Sgt Jose D. Sanchez, acting head of the San Juan Police Department's Homicide Division, told DailyMail.com : "There are various possibilities. It could be a homicide.
"It could be a murder. It could be an accident. "We are currently in the very early stages of the investigation. "We haven't ruled out any possibility." https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-...ruise-17937174
Sure, the police should never rule out any possibility but I'm not sure its professional to publicly speculate like this about murder saying it "could be" not without some early but real indication. While that's always theoretically possible many readers would take that statement almost literally, thinking there's some evidence that suggests "it could be."
There IS a video that the PR authorities offered to show to the parents, who declined. Their attorney says he has not been able to obtain a copy.
Officers were unable to find a first-hand witness to her last moments last Sunday when they boarded the $800 million Royal Caribbean ship that can carry up to 4,500 passengers. However a source close to the investigation confirmed the entire incident was caught on camera. 'The video is key to this. It's very conclusive,' the source confirmed. 'It is now in the hands of the Justice Department who will make the decision on what to do.' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-Chicago.html
We don't know if the lawyer was retained to defend the grandfather (police were investigating whether there were grounds to accuse him of a crime), or if it was to sue the cruise company, or both, do we? All we know, is they have a lawyer. They'd have to, after such a hideous and traumatic high-publicity incident, especially with a police investigation involved. These poor people are emotional basket-cases right now, and need an official spokesperson.
The grandfather, according to articles I read, had a defense attorney in PR he was dealing with. It seems the attorney who keeps speaking for them serves a different purpose.
The grandfather, according to articles I read, had a defense attorney in PR he was dealing with. It seems the attorney who keeps speaking for them serves a different purpose.
Well......that makes sense. Even if they are all on the same page now....i.e. not blaming the grandfather.....that could change. I would imagine that any competent attorney would advise them to have separate attorneys to avoid any conflict of interest between the parents and the grandfather.
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