Costa Concordia, victims of shipwreck receive €84 million

Grosseto - Costa Cruises; the company’s attorney at the trial in Grosseto, has submitted documents to the court confirming, among other things, that a total of €84 million in compensation has already been paid out to 3,586 victims, including passengers and crew. This amount includes payments made to families of 29 of the 32 fatalities. Lawyer Laura Miani, representing Costa Cruises, produced at the trial records, she says, “attesting” to the fact that the company has paid compensation to about 85% of those who were aboard on the night of the capsizing and to several other companies involved in the disaster near Giglio island. Costa Cruises, as the defendant in the resulting lawsuit, is liable for compensation for damages to the litigants. Those company records shown at the trial detail, in particular, how, out of 3,206 passengers on board the Costa Concordia on 13th January, 2012, 2,623 compensation payments have been made, totalling €66,481,082. This includes compensation paid to families of 24 out of 27 fatal victims, which amounts to €24,508,373.

For different reasons, compensation is still pending in the case of three passengers that perished: a German woman who has no traceable successors; the family of a Frenchman that is still negotiating; in the case of an American, the family opted for a lawsuit in US courts, where Carnival, the parent firm responsible for Costa, is headquartered. The records submitted at the trial also show that 964 out of 1,024 compensation claims for the crew have been settled, for a total of €17,421,203. This amount includes compensation paid to families of 5 crew members who died in the disaster, who have received a total of €6,721,918. The amounts paid so far will not be included in the compensation the company could eventually be sentenced to pay at the conclusion of the trial.