U.S.-based law firms representing passengers who were aboard the Costa Concordia clarified the nature of their lawsuit, saying it is not a class action.
“Although previous reports indicated a class action was filed, this is incorrect. No class certification is sought as the respective losses and injuries suffered by each plaintiff is unique,” reads a statement from the attorneys.
The initial complaint, they said, “was filed for individually named plaintiffs on Jan. 27, 2012.”
The law firms are Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik & Associates (with offices in New York and Florida), New York-based Proner & Proner and Florida law firm Colson Hicks Eidson, along with Codacons, a consumer-protection association in Italy.
The action was originally listed as a class action by Codacons, and still was listed that way on its website on Feb. 14. Codacons first reported its intent to file a class action a few days after the Costa Concordia ran aground off the Italian island of Giglio on Jan. 13.
In an update posted Jan. 31, Proner & Proner’s website refers to a “$460 million class action lawsuit filed on behalf of about 500 Concordia passengers.” That posting remained on the law firm’s website on Feb. 14.
Marc Bern, of Napoli Bern Ripka & Shkolnik, told Travel Weekly that his firm had not previously characterized the suit as a class action.
The complaint was filed on behalf of 39 individual plaintiffs in the Florida Circuit Court (11th Judicial Circuit) in Miami-Dade County, according to a statement the attorneys issued on Feb. 13.
Follow Donna Tunney on Twitter @dttravelweekly.