Proner & Proner Law Blog

Five more bodies have been found in the wreckage of the Costa Concordia, according to the Italian Civil Protection Agency.  This brings the total number of bodies found to 30.  On Monday, March 26th, these bodies were recovered by divers.

An Italian judge ruled that consumer and environmental groups will be barred from participating in the Italian court's criminal investigation into the Costa Concordia disaster, according to the president of the consumer group Codacons. Codacons is joining with Mitchell Proner and other American lawyers in filing suit against Carnival Cruise Lines.

Are crew members who were aboard the Costa Concordia when it ran aground in January being pressured by Costa Cruise Lines to accept unduly low settlement offers?  The cruise line denies it, but some Costa employees feel otherwise.

Thirty-nine victims of the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster will be joining the lawsuit filed by Mitchell Proner and attorneys from two other law firms against Carnival Cruise Lines and Costa Cruise Lines.  The initial lawsuit was filed on behalf of six victims and sought $460 million in damages.

Captain Francesco Schettino, who was piloting the Costa Concordia when it ran aground on January 13, 2012, has been ordered by the Italian courts to remain under house arrest.  Costa Cruise Lines has placed sole blame for the disastrous accident at Schettino's feet; attorney Mitchell Proner has filed a claim against Costa Cruise Lines and its parent company, Carnival Cruise Lines, believing they, too, share responsibility.

Mitchell Proner, who filed individual claims on behalf of victims of the Costa Concordia disaster this week, described the actions of the ship's captain as "intentional" and "not an act of negligence."

Mitchell Proner was interviewed on Colombia's LA F.m. about the $460 million lawsuit he recently filed on behalf of six Costa Concordia cruise ship accident victims. Listen to the interview here.

Mitchell Proner, along with another US law firm, filed a $460 million lawsuit in Florida civil court on behalf of passengers who were aboard the Costa Concordia when it ran aground off the shore of an Italian island on January 13, 2012.  Update 2/14/2012: After evaluating the legal issues surrounding a class action in this particular case, we feel that filing a class-action on behalf of victims of the Costa Concordia cruise ship accident is not in their best interests at this point. Instead, we have filed individual actions collectively out of the belief that approaching this case as a mass tort rather than a class action will result in the greatest likelihood of our clients receiving the most significant economic recovery possible.

Mitchell Proner, in preparation for the lawsuit he will be filing against the owners and operators of the Costa Concordia, is consulting with some of the most experienced and successful maritime law attorneys in the country.

In an interview broadcast on the Calgary radio program The Eyeopener, Mitchell Proner discussed why the captain of the Costa Concordia is not solely to blame for the shipwreck that resulted in at least 16 deaths. He also reiterated that victims of the cruise ship accident are entitled to "fair compensation."