Opinion ID: 76792
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Carrier-Passenger Relationship Between Doe and Aydin

Text: 117 The case precedent establishes that, due to the special carrier-passenger relationship, the defendants had a non-delegable duty to protect and safely transport Doe during the cruise, and thus are liable if a crew member assaulted her during the cruise. There is no dispute that this carrier-passenger relationship has a temporal limit based on the duration of the cruise. This sexual battery occurred on July 19, 1999, and undisputedly fell within the seven-day time period of the cruise from July 17 to July 24, 1999. 118 The next issue is whether the common carrier-passenger relationship has a strict spatial limit so that the common carrier-passenger relationship was severed when Doe and Aydin left the ship's premises. For the reasons outlined in the jurisdiction section above, we conclude that the carrier-passenger relationship continued between the defendants and Doe during her interaction with Aydin in this scheduled port-of-call. 119 In this regard the defendants emphasize that Aydin was not only on shore, but also off-duty. This argument ignores the defendants'tipping system, an integral part of the carrier-passenger relationship that encouraged Aydin to socialize with and escort his assigned dinner passengers while off-duty in the ship's scheduled port-of-call. As discussed above, Doe was assigned to Aydin's dinner table each night, and was provided envelopes for tipping Aydin. Aydin's job thus involved daily interaction with a particular set of passengers. Indeed, the defendants expressly permit socialization between crew members and passengers on shore at the Oasis. Aydin admits that his off-duty, on-shore interaction with his passengers enhances his tips. To some extent, defendants arguably have a pecuniary interest in off-duty crew members socializing with and escorting passengers in a port-of-call because it promotes the success of the defendants' tipping system as a way to pay Aydin for his services to the defendants. 120 It is further undisputed that on the very night in question Aydin, while on duty and serving in his role as a crew-member waiter, directed his dinner guest passengers to his favorite nightspot — the Oasis — within a short walking distance of the ship, and that Aydin was at the Oasis when Doe arrived. Although off-duty, Aydin admits escorting one of Doe's friends back to the ship before coming back to the Oasis and then escorting Doe ultimately back to the ship. While Aydin and Doe dispute whether he was taking her ostensibly to a bathroom first or to the park for sex, Aydin undisputedly had offered to help Doe in her distress. Aydin even referred to Doe as his passenger, and there is ample evidence in the record that Doe allowed Aydin to escort her only because he was trusted as her waiter-crew member on the ship. 121 Accordingly, under all of the circumstances of this case, we cannot conclude that the interaction between Aydin and Doe is outside the scope of the on-going carrier-passenger relationship or, as explained earlier, the scope of the on-going cruise. Thus, when crew member Aydin sexually battered passenger Doe, the non-delegable duty owed by a common carrier to protect its passengers from crew member assaults during the cruise was breached.