The plaintiff fell ill and allegedly received substandard medical treatment during a cruise aboard the Nautica operated by Oceania Cruises Inc (Oceania), originating in Türkiye and terminating in Greece. The plaintiff filed suit in the United States federal court in Florida (as required by the forum selection clause in his ticket/passage contract). Oceania moved for partial summary judgment limiting its liability pursuant to the Athens Convention 1974.

Held: Oceania's motion was denied. The various limitation of liability provisions in the ticket and incorporated terms and conditions were not 'reasonably communicative' under the two-factor test. While the Court found that the limitation-of-liability provisions were sufficiently conspicuous as a matter of their 'physical characteristics' (the first factor), the 'extrinsic factors' (the second factor) were insufficient to ensure the passenger could 'become meaningfully informed of the contractual terms ... because [they were] confusing and … required the passengers to parse through the treaties and the statutes to determine the limits of Oceania's liability'. Notably, because it found the Athens Convention 1974 inapplicable, the Court did not address the plaintiff’s argument under art 13 of the Athens Convention that Oceania could not limit liability because it had acted 'with the intent to cause such damage, or recklessly and with knowledge that such damage would probably result'.

[For the unsuccessful appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, see Wajnstat v Oceania Cruises Inc (CMI791).]