U.S. disability law covers foreign cruise ships
June 6, 2005

By James Vicini
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Foreign cruise ships that sail in U.S. waters can be sued under a federal civil rights law for discriminating against disabled passengers, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

The high court clarified the reach of a key part of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 in a case that has pitted disability rights advocates against the cruise industry. The law applied to foreign-flagged cruise ships in U.S. waters, except for regulating a vessel’s internal affairs, it said.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices overturned a lower-court ruling that foreign-flagged cruise ships are not covered by the law barring discrimination at places of public accommodation and in public transportation services.

The case had been closely followed by the multibillion-dollar cruise industry. About 10 million people a year take cruises and an estimated 54 million Americans have some type of disability.

The case involved a lawsuit against Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. over three cruises that originated in 1998 and 1999 in Houston and that went to various foreign ports.

The ships at issue, the Norwegian Sea and the Norwegian Star, sail under the Bahamian flag. Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line is a unit of Star Cruises Ltd., a Malaysian-owned company and the world’s third largest cruise company.

The lawsuit was brought by three individuals with disabilities who use a wheelchair or electric scooter and two other individuals who were not disabled, but who accompanied those with the physical impairments.

It said physical barriers on the ships denied the disabled passengers access to emergency evacuation equipment and to facilities such as public restrooms, restaurants, swimming pools, elevators and cabins with a balcony or a window.

The lawsuit said Norwegian Cruise Lines charged a premium for use of handicapped-accessible cabins and for assistance of crew members. It sought to require Norwegian Cruise Line to remove certain barriers that obstructed access by the disabled individuals to the ships’ facilities.

The U.S. Justice and Transportation departments have long taken the position that foreign-flagged cruise ships operating at U.S. ports were covered by the law.

Different U.S. appeals courts have issued conflicting rulings.

In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy said that except for regulating a vessel’s internal affairs, the law applied to foreign ships in U.S. waters to the same extent that it applied to American ships in those waters.

He said the law’s own limitations and qualifications would prevent it from imposing requirements that would conflict with international obligations or threaten shipboard safety.

Kennedy sent the case back to the appeals court for further proceedings.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. Scalia said in dissent he would hold that the law does not apply to foreign-flag cruise ships.

2005 Reuters

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