In Morrison v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, a federal magistrate judge must determine issues of liability and law after a three-day trial, in which the Miami's Aronfeld law firm represented the plaintiff, injured when she tripped over an out-of-place, marble-based ashtray in the ship's casino. Prior to decision, the judge asked both sides to offer a draft findings of fact and conclusions of law. Yesterday, plaintiff's counsel filed their proposed fact and legal conclusions, with an assist from CCL's Robert S. Peck.

     The plaintiff's injuries were severe, as the wine glass in her hand shattered and glass was embedded in her face, while also causing mild head trauma from a concussion. The cruise line sought to defend by asserting that the plaintiff was intoxicated on the basis of less then three glasses of wine over a six-hour period of time, on the open and obvious nature of the two-foot tall heavy ashtray, even if obscured by a stool, and by the ship's lack of notice that the ashtray was out of place. Peck's legal analysis provided the court with several different precedents to demonstrate that notice was established based on the facts -- from a witness's testimony that the ashtray was out of place for about 30 minutes, from Royal Caribbean's acknowledgement that guests using slot machines will often move the ashtrays and that crew members are responsible for patrolling the narrow aisles and putting them back in place, and from prior incidents involving the ashtrays. 

     The case is now under advisement.