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If you have been sickened by an illness that has spread on a cruise ship, you may be able to hold the operator liable in a lawsuit. The California cruise ship passenger injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Preston Easley APC can hold the operator accountable for their negligence.
The MV Hondius experienced an outbreak of hantavirus, with several confirmed cases and at least one death. Although this appears for now to be a single isolated incident, there is always the possibility of a contagious disease spreading on other ships. If that happens, the cruise ship operator could potentially be liable in a lawsuit if the disease was present due to their negligence.
If you or a loved one was affected by any illness that spread through your cruise ship, the experienced cruise ship passenger injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Preston Easley APC can help. Schedule a free initial consultation to discuss your case by calling us at (310) 773-5207.
COVID-19 Lawsuits Are Not Necessarily Instructive for What Could Happen in These Cases
Those who are looking to the COVID-19 lawsuits as a guide to what may happen in a possible hantavirus case should focus elsewhere. The fact that these involved outbreaks on a ship is perhaps the only thing that these two diseases, and the way they are contracted and spread, have in common.
Hantavirus is a rare illness that is often fatal. In 2025, there were 225 confirmed cases in the Americas. Hantavirus is not caused by person-to-person transmission like COVID is. Instead, people can contract hantavirus through contact with infected rodents. This contact can come in the form of exposure to an infected rat’s feces or urine. Hantavirus is typically not spread in the form of person-to-person contact. COVID-19 was a highly transmissible disease that spread through the air, often regardless of hygiene or any other protective measures that a cruise ship operator could take.
The results of the many COVID-19 lawsuits filed against cruise ship operators are not necessarily comparable to the hantavirus situation. Many of these cases revolved around the issue of whether the cruise ship operator ignored safety warnings and continued to sail when the pandemic was beginning to spread. Plaintiffs lost many of the initial cases, but there was a major class action win against Carnival Cruise Lines in 2023. Nonetheless, plaintiffs have lost more of these cases than they have won, due to the difficulty in proving both breach of duty and causation.
One major difference between COVID and the hantavirus is the fact that the latter is even more likely to spread when the operator has been negligent. Unlike COVID, this virus is often directly related to sanitary conditions. During the early days of COVID, there was often little that the operator could have done to keep the condition from spreading on ships other than not sail in the first place. With the hantavirus, the disease is more likely to materialize and spread when there are unsanitary conditions on the ship. Cruise ship operators should have stringent sanitation protocols to keep these conditions from being present in the first place.
Hanta Virus Cases May Be the Direct Result of Unsanitary Conditions
Exposure to hantavirus is not something that should happen if a cruise ship operator has maintained sanitary conditions on the boat. Although contracting hantavirus on a ship does not automatically mean that the cruise ship operator has done something wrong, it is far more likely that a plaintiff could prove both unreasonable conduct and causation in a hantavirus lawsuit than they would in a COVID case.
Nevertheless, cruise ship operators may use the following defenses in potential hantavirus lawsuits:
- Since hantavirus takes between one to eight weeks to incubate, the operator may claim that you contracted the disease elsewhere (although that argument is weakened when more than one person on a ship contracted the virus).
- The cruise ship operator did use proper sanitation protocol, and they complied with rules from the Centers for Disease Control and other maritime cleanliness guidance
- There was no known rodent problem on the boat
At this point, it is unclear as to the extent of any potential hantavirus outbreak. As of this writing, there has been only one ship that has been impacted, and there is no fear of any pandemic due to the way that the disease is contracted. If you have been on a cruise ship where the hantavirus was present, and you experience symptoms, you should seek immediate medical attention.
Contact a California Cruise Passenger Injury Law Firm
The Law Offices of Preston Easley APC fights for the rights of victims who have been hurt by cruise ship operator negligence. Speak to a California cruise ship injury attorney in a free consultation by messaging us online or by calling us today at (310) 773-5207.
Preston Easley is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. He served five years of active duty as a Naval officer — three years as a deck officer on a fast frigate and two years as a patrol boat skipper. Mr. Easley also served aboard a tank landing ship in the reserves. Learn more here.
