Micky Arison, the chairman, chief executive and part owner of Carnival Corp. has been keeping a very low profile since the grounding and sinking of the Costa Concordia two weeks ago.  He has stayed in Miami and let Pier Luigi Foschi, CEO of Carnival’s Italian unit, Costa Crociere SpA, serve as the public face of the sinking, which resulted in over 30 dead or missing.  Any attempt he has made to distance the parent company, which in total operates over 100 ships, of which Costa represents only 15, has met with limited success.  A lawsuit was filed in Federal court in Chicago seeking at least $100 million in damages, naming Carnival Corporation and Costa Crociere. The suit which alleges negligence and breach of contract was filed by a crew member of the Costa Concordia and seeks class-action status to represent all victims of the Jan. 13 disaster off Giglio Island.

Additional lawsuits are expected to be filed. Time reports: Codacons, one of Italy’s best known consumer groups, has engaged two U.S. law firms to launch a class-action lawsuit against Costa and Carnival in Miami, claiming that it expects to get anywhere from euro125,000 ($164,000) to euro1 million ($1.3 million) per passenger.

Costa Crociere is offering a $46 million settlement to 3,206 uninjured passengers amounting to euro 11,000  ($14,460) apiece to compensate for lost baggage and psychological trauma.  The company has been negotiating  with Italian consumer groups who say they represent the cruise ship passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the Costa Concordia sank. The settlement does not not apply to the the ship’s crew, the roughly 100 people injured or the families of the dead or missing.   Passengers are free to pursue legal action on their own if they aren’t satisfied with the deal.

Thanks to Phil Leon for providing articles for this post.