Florida man sues Carnival Cruise Line for $5M over alleged burns from hot deck – National
A Florida man is suing Carnival Cruise Line for US$5 million over its “unreasonably and dangerously hot” pool deck, alleging that he suffered severe second-degree burns to his feet while aboard the Carnival Magic last year.
In a newly-filed lawsuit in federal court in South Florida, obtained by ABC News, NBC News and USA Today, Jorge Luis Alverio Nunez said he was on the ship in May 2025 when he allegedly got burned on the Lido deck while walking barefoot about 20 steps from the pool to his lounge chair to put on his shoes.
Global News has not independently viewed the court documents.
“While a passenger may reasonably expect an exterior deck surface exposed to sunlight to become warm, Plaintiff could not reasonably anticipate that the deck surface had reached temperatures capable of causing severe second-degree burns within seconds of ordinary contact,” the complaint reportedly said.
“Nunez did not know, nor could he reasonably have known, that the deck surface had reached a temperature capable of causing second degree burns within a matter of seconds,” the suit claims, according to the reports.
Global News has reached out to Carnival Cruise Line and Nunez’s lawyer for further comment, but has not received a response.
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The lawsuit reportedly alleges that Carnival “failed to provide warnings about the dangerously hot deck” and “allowed the open deck of the Lido Deck of the Carnival Magic to remain in a dangerous condition for an extended period of time.”
Nunez experienced “pain and suffering, infection, extensive medical treatment and will require additional treatment into the future,” as a result of his injuries, the suit reportedly claims.
The lawsuit alleges that Nunez isn’t the first Carnival passenger to suffer burns on the pool deck.
The complaint alleges that at least 25 Carnival guests suffered burns on Carnival cruise ship decks between 2019 and 2025 and at least 42 passengers had complained about hot decks over the same period of time, according to ABC News’ reporting.
The decks in question were constructed with manufacturer, API’s Syntheteak polyresin material, which is described as a resin-based top coat that is flexible, highly resilient and environmentally-friendly,” according to API’s website. The lawsuit alleges that the cruise line allegedly received information from the manufacturer about the material’s ability to become hot in as early as 2014. API is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Nunez accuses Carnival of negligence, failure to warn passengers and continued use of allegedly dangerous deck material.
His lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $5 million and he has requested a jury trial.
Global News has reached out to API for comment, but has not received a response.
This isn’t the first lawsuit that Carnival Cruise Line has faced this year by a former passenger.
In April, the cruise line was ordered to pay $300,000 to a former passenger after a federal jury in South Florida found that the company was negligent in serving a woman at least 14 shots of tequila in an eight-and-a-half-hour period before she fell down stairs and suffered a possible traumatic brain injury.
The Miami federal jury decided in favour of Diana Sanders, a 45-year-old nurse from Vacaville, Calif., and awarded her $300,000 (about $411,315 CAD) in damages.
“This was an aggressively defended case that could have, and should have, settled years ago,” Sanders’ lawyer Spencer Aronfeld said in an email to Global News at the time.
“At trial, Diana took full responsibility for her consumption of alcohol; Carnival refused to take any corporate responsibility for serving her 15 shots of tequila (between 15 and 30 ounces) in just over eight hours.”
Arnofeld said that Sanders was “visibly inebriated” and “badly intoxicated” as “the servers continued to provide drink after drink.”
“Ultimately, she passed out, fell down a flight of stairs, and was found unconscious in the crew area. She suffered a head injury, bruising and PTSD,” he continued.
“She has no recollection of how she got there, and Carnival ‘failed to save’ the crucial CCTV footage of her from the time she left the Casino Bar until she was found 30 minutes later, five decks below.”
A Carnival Corporation spokesperson told Global News in April that it respectfully disagrees with the verdict and believes there are grounds for a new trial and appeal, which it will pursue.
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