Costa Concordia Passengers Offered $14,460 Compensation

The Costa Concordia ran aground on January 13 and for more than 4,000 passengers and crew, the voyage was horrifying. In order to try and stem the influx of class action lawsuits against Costa Corciere SpA, the operator of the cruise liner, the company is offering passengers $14,460 in compensation, as well as reimbursement of the ticket cost and travel expenses.

Sixteen people died when the ship ran aground and slipped over on its side. There are still many people missing. Victims of the disaster say that it is far too early to try to come to grips with the tragedy and many lawyers stand at the ready to assist the victims in filing lawsuits against the operator.

There were also several families on board with children of various ages. Many of the parents wonder about the long term effects of the disaster on the children. One parent says that her 12 year old son will not even speak about the incident and refuses to watch any television coverage of the disaster. Claudia Urru said that she has retained an attorney because she doesn’t know what kind of toll this experience will have on her family, both in terms of emotional damage and financial hardship. Urru said that her family is simply no equipped to make this kind of important decision at this time.

The offer by Costa also covers compensation for passenger’s personal belongings and baggage, as well as the psychological trauma they endured. The deal is not very popular among passengers, even though the owner has guaranteed that the passengers would receive the money within a week of signing the papers.

The first lawsuit was filed on Friday by one of the crew members. The crew members are not being offered the compensation deal. The suit was filed in Chicago, Illinois and accused Costa and its parent company, Carnival Corp of negligence.