A pensioner left scarred for life after falling down stairs in a luxury cruise ship’s theatre is suing for up to £50,000 in compensation.
But Marian Reinelt, 76, is being blamed for her own downfall and accused of wearing “inappropriately high-heeled shoes”.
Mrs Reinelt was celebrating her 75th birthday with a trip on lavish 13-deck liner, the Marella Explorer, off the coast of Greece in May 2023 when she slipped descending stairs into the ship’s Broadway-style auditorium to watch an after-dinner show.
The pensioner from Poole, Dorset, suffered cuts to her face and arm, and had to have skin grafts from her thigh to repair a “substantial” wound to her right shin, leaving her with lifelong scars.
She is now suing travel company, Marella Cruises Ltd, for up to £50,000 in compensation, claiming the fall completely ruined the £6,000 “Iconic Islands Explorer” tour of the Greek islands she was taking with her family.
But the company – which is owned by travel giant TUI – denies there was anything wrong with the stairs and blames Mrs Reinelt for wearing “inappropriately high-heeled shoes.”
According to documents lodged at the High Court in London, Mrs Reinelt had booked the seven-night island-hopping tour with her husband, daughter and son-in-law to celebrate her 75th birthday and 55th wedding anniversary.
She boarded the 260-metre liner – which features 962 cabins, 10 restaurants, 10 bars, a casino, cinema and an auditorium described in online promotional materials as “big enough to rival a Broadway theatre” – and departed from Corfu Town.
“On the evening of 28 May 2023, being the second full day of the cruise, the claimant and her family went to dinner,” says her barrister, Thomas Yarrow.
“Afterwards they decided to watch a show in the vessel’s theatre. The claimant was descending the stairs within the auditorium of the theatre in order to find seating when suddenly and without warning she caught her foot against the raised edge of the metallic stair nosing, which unbeknownst to the claimant was in a state of disrepair.
“This defect in the staircase caused the claimant to lose her footing and fall down a number of steps, causing her to sustain injuries.”
As well as lacerations to her forearm and close to her eye, Mrs Reinelt sustained “substantial traumatic avulsion” of skin from her right shin.
After treatment onboard, she was taken off the ship to Athens where she had to undergo a skin graft from her thigh to repair the damage to her leg.
“The claimant has been left with permanent scarring to all sites of injury, as well as to her left thigh from whence skin grafts were taken,” said her barrister.
“The scarring to her left leg in particular is obvious at conversational distance and represents a very significant cosmetic deformity.
“The scarring cannot be improved by surgical or non-surgical treatment,” he said adding that the pensioner “was wearing shoes with a wedge heel and ankle strap” at the time of the accident.
Mrs Reinelt is suing the company on the basis that it is “strictly liable for the injury sustained by the claimant, which was caused by broken stair nosing within the fabric of the vessel.”
For Marella Cruises Ltd however, barrister Tom Collins denies the company is strictly liable under maritime law for an accident that could happen on land, or that the steps were defective.
And he said she had contributed to the fall herself by wearing “inappropriately high-heeled shoes” and not paying proper attention to what she was doing.
“The claimant was attempting to descend the stairs in high-heeled wedge shoes,” he says.
“In pre-action correspondence, the claimant has estimated the height of these heels to be between 2 and 2.5 inches.
“The accident occurred at around 9.45pm and, according to pre-action correspondence, the claimant was carrying a glass of wine.”
The company denied that it is strictly liable under the Athens Convention because the injuries were caused by something that could have happened on land and not by a “typical maritime peril.”
But he also denied there was anything wrong with the stairs anyway, pointing out that no accident had been reported on them before or since Ms Reinelt’s fall.
“The claimant has disclosed photographs showing several stairs within the auditorium, one of which is said to be the stair on which she caught her foot,” he says.
“The defendant avers that these show no apparent defect on any stair, let alone one that would cause a person, taking reasonable care for their own safety, to lose their footing or fall.
“The defendant avers that the stairs shown in these photographs are typical of auditoriums and are reasonably safe.
“There is a non-slip metallic nosing affixed to each step. The nosing is flush with the horizontal and vertical tread.
“The horizontal tread is covered in patterned carpet and is easily distinguishable from the nosing.
“There is lighting affixed to the vertical side of the nosing and the lighting generally was adequate. In addition, a handrail is affixed to the stairs.”
The case documents have been filed at the High Court in London, but the case has not yet gone before a judge.
A trial of Mrs Reinelt’s damages bid will take place at a later date, unless the parties settle outside of court.
