Pa. honeymooners sue Sandals Resorts over wife's alleged boating injuries

A suburban Philadelphia couple is suing Sandals Resorts International over

allegations that the wife was injured during a boating outing that the plaintiffs contend should have been canceled due to weather conditions.

Maryellen and James McCann, who reside in Chalfont, Bucks County, filed suit in U.S. District Court on April 16 against Montego Bay, Jamaica-based Sandals Resorts and Sandals Grande St. Lucian over injuries Maryellen McCann says she sustained during the couple’s honeymoon in the summer of 2012.

The plaintiffs, who were on an all-inclusive vacation at the time, had made arrangements through the defendants to participate in a “Simon Says” speed boat tour, which was not included in the vacation package.

The couple was taken out on the speed boat tour on July 3 of that year despite the fact that the weather conditions were not ripe for such an outing, the complaint states.

After their original boat became incapacitated due to a mechanical failure, the plaintiffs and others were transferred onto a replacement speed boat, one that was not equipped with seat cushions.

The plaintiffs maintain they were not told that the defendants had been warned that a weather advisory cautioned against unsafe waters.

It was during the ride on the replacement speed boat that Maryellen was thrown into the air when the boat encountered one of many large waves, according to the civil action.

The woman says she came down hard, with her buttocks crashing down onto the un-cushioned seat.

A subsequent visit to a medical professional revealed that Maryellen suffered an acute compression fracture of the superior endplate of one of the discs in her lower back, the record shows.

She also sustained a protrusion of her L5-S1 disc and experienced limited motion of the lumbar spine as well as tenderness and muscle spasms.

As a result of the incident, the plaintiff has been required to undergo medical treatment, which in turn has caused she and her husband to incur financial hardships.

The lawsuit says that the woman endured three days with “substantial pain and suffering that prevented her from participating in any of the activities on her honeymoon.”

The couple ultimately had to cancel the rest of their vacation and return home to the U.S., the complaint states.

The suit contains counts of negligence and loss of consortium.

The couple seeks more than $150,000 in compensatory damages along with other legal relief.

They are being represented by Lansdale, Pa. attorney Matthew Taylor Wilkov of the firm Rubin, Glickman, Steinberg and Gifford.

 

The federal case number is 2:14-cv-02208-WY.