Nurse who downed at least 14 tequila shots wins $300,000 in lawsuit against cruise line
Nurse who downed at least 14 tequila shots wins $300,000 in lawsuit against cruise line
Andrew J. CampaFri, April 17, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC
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A Carnival ship heads out to sea off Long Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Over the course of eight and a half hours, a Northern California nurse hopped between bars during a Friday evening while sailing on a Carnival Cruise vacation.
As the vessel toured Baja California, Diana Sanders of Vacaville sampled tequila shots — 14 or 15 in total — from six ship taverns, tequileras and pubs, according to court documents.
Shortly after her final drink, a “swaying, stammering” Sanders stumbled down a set of stairs, according to court documents. She said she suffered severe injuries and filed a lawsuit against Florida-based Carnival Corp., contending the ship's crew was negligent and overserved drinks.
A Miami-Dade County jury agreed with the 45-year-old this month, holding Carnival 60% responsible for negligence and delivering Sanders a $300,000 verdict.
“It felt amazing,” Sanders said of the win. “So, I was really happy when I saw the jury of my peers and I felt like the whole time they saw right through what the defense was trying to do, how they tried to defame my character.”
Carnival did not respond to questions from The Times regarding if the company would amend any alcoholic beverage policies in the wake of the decision.
The company issued a statement on Friday morning, saying, "Carnival Corporation respectfully disagrees with the verdict and believes there are grounds for a new trial and appeal, which it will pursue."
The lawsuit said Sanders was served approximately 14 alcoholic beverages between 2:58 and 11:37 p.m., while Sanders' attorney Spencer Aronfeld said in a social media post that his client downed 15 drinks.
Read more: Cruise passenger was served 33 drinks, pepper sprayed and restrained before he died, lawsuit says
While the number may be in dispute, Sanders’ actions were not contested.
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She was said to be “slurring her speech, had alcohol on her breath and was acting belligerent while she was in plain view of the crew members serving her,” according to the lawsuit.
While attempting to climb down a set of stairs, Sanders fell sometime between 11:45 p.m. and 12:20 a.m., according to court documents.
Sanders suffered injuries, including a concussion, headaches, possible traumatic brain injury, back and tailbone injuries and extreme mental anguish.
“Waking up after blacking out and going to the crew and asking them for help and asking them to tell me what happened was extremely frustrating,” Sanders said in a social media post. “They gave me conflicting information. They treated me like a criminal. I was very concerned that they wouldn’t tell me exactly what happened to me.”
The lawsuit claimed it was Carnival’s responsibility to “supervise and/or assist passengers aboard the vessel who Carnival knew, or should have known, were engaging, or were likely to engage, in behavior potentially dangerous to themselves or others aboard the vessel.”
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The lawsuit added that crew members continued to serve Sanders “well past the point where she became visibly intoxicated.”
“Passengers have a responsibility to drink responsibly but cruise lines also have a responsibility to serve responsibly,” Aronfeld said in a social media post. “When you serve someone who is visibly intoxicated, repeatedly drink after drink, it can lead to disastrous consequences.”
Updates:11:57 a.m. April 17, 2026: Added comments from Carnival Corp.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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