Nineteen passengers, including four minors, who cruised on board Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Sea are suing the cruise line and a former company employee, who placed hidden cameras in their guest rooms.
Arvin Joseph Mirasol, a citizen of the Philippines and former Royal Caribbean crew member named in the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, was sentenced in August in Florida to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to producing child pornography.
The passengers, who were not named in the lawsuit and rather referred to by abbreviations, are mostly American citizens from all across the country, including New York, Georgia, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, while several passengers are from Canada.
The latest suit, obtained by Fox News Digital, comes months after a separate class-action lawsuit was filed against Mirasol and the Miami-based cruise line in October, alleging that as many as 960 people may have been victims of a hidden camera in a bathroom on board.
“This is an extraordinarily unusual case in that the pool of victims can be nearly 1,000 or more men, women and children,” Spencer Aronfeld with Aronfeld Trial Lawyers, who represent the 19 cruise ship passengers, told Fox News Digital.
A partial view of the U.S. company Royal Caribbean Cruise Limited tourism cruise liner Symphony of the Seas. (LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images)
As a result of Mirasol’s crimes, his alleged victims “suffer from severe emotional distress, which manifests physically, causing [them] physical sickness, sweating, nausea, insomnia, dizziness, crying, and physical pain,” their attorneys wrote, adding that the former cruise travelers “live in constant fear, reasonably under the circumstances, that images of the Plaintiffs undressed while engaging in private activities are regularly viewed by others and used for illicit purposes.”
Aronfeld Trial Lawyers, on behalf of the alleged victims, are demanding trial by jury.
“Our mission is to fully investigate this case on behalf of our clients and hold RCL accountable for failing to properly vet, hire, supervise and retain Mr. Mirasol,” Aronfeld told Fox News Digital. “We have confidence that the jury will have no problem returning a substantial verdict in favor of the victims.”
Royal Caribbean International did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Christina Coulter contributed to this report.
