Shine Lawyers is investigating a class action on behalf of all passengers affected by the outbreak of COVID-19 on board the Ruby Princess which docked in Sydney on Thursday 19 March, 2020.
What is the basis of the investigation?
This investigation will explore whether legal avenues exist to hold the Ruby Princess owners and operators, including Carnival Corporation, to account for failing to safeguard and protect its passengers from the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19), despite allegedly having existing knowledge of the coronavirus contamination.
The involvement of the relevant state and commonwealth authorities in the docking and disembarkation of the ship will also be explored.
Background
The Ruby Princess cruise ship departed Circular Quay on 8 March 2020. After an 11-day round trip to New Zealand, the ship docked in Sydney on Thursday 19 March.
Despite the ship previously logging 158 cases of illness on an earlier voyage, all 2,700 passengers on board failed to be informed of this, and were permitted to disembark at Sydney’s Circular Quay and return to their homes. Since leaving the ship, over 440 people (a significant portion of the population’s cases) have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
The NSW Health Minister, Brad Hazzard has since stated that it was a mistake to allow passengers to disembark.
Approximately 63% of the passengers on the Ruby Princess were Australian residents, 20% were American residents and the remaining 17% were from other countries.
Register for the Ruby Princess Coronavirus class action investigation
We have received many enquiries from passengers on board the Ruby Princess, and will continue to take enquiries from all passengers, irrespective of whether they contracted COVID-19 or not.
If you are one of the 2,700 passengers, we encourage you to register for the Ruby Princess coronavirus class action investigation so that we may determine the legal avenues that exist to ensure your rights are protected.
