LAKE WORTH LAWYER KEEPS CRUISE LINES' CONDUCT SHIPSHAPE

BYLINE: Scott McCabe Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
DATE: November 22, 1998
PUBLICATION: The Palm Beach Post
EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: A PAGE: 4A
MEMO: Info box at end of text Did not run Early

Michael Eriksen has fought giant drug companies, General Motors, the CIA, and a trial lawyer in the state's tobacco lawsuit.

Cruise lines, he said, aren't so tough. Eriksen, 48, has handled a dozen cases involving sexual assaults of cruise-ship passengers, including one establishing that cruise lines can be held liable for what crew members do to travelers. In that case, two Minnesota women had claimed that in 1990 a Carnival Cruise Lines employee sneaked into their cabin while they slept and fondled one of them. The women chased him from the room, then tried to call for help - only to find the phone didn't work, court documents say.

For two hours, the employee terrorized them, jiggling the door handle and making sexual comments through the door. Carnival argued that it couldn't be held accountable for its employees' misconduct. And in a lawsuit filed by the woman who wasn't assaulted, a trial judge ruled in favor of the cruise line.

Eriksen appealed. He argued that cruise ships have a higher responsibility for customers' safety than a hotel or restaurant because they have almost total control of passengers' lives.

``Once you get on, it's hard to get off,'' he said. ``It's like being in a foreign country without a police authority.'' In 1994, the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that the cruise line could be held responsible. The case was settled out of court under confidential terms, Eriksen said.

Before that opinion, passengers had to prove that cruise lines knew an employee was dangerous, he said. Ted Shinkle, a Melbourne attorney who represented Carnival in that case, said the decision remains highly contested. And when the case is cited, the issue comes down to who is more believable - the passenger or the crew member, he said. Eriksen has been quoted in several recent newspaper and TV stories about sexual assaults on cruise ships. Since then, he's fielded calls from Diane Sawyer of 20/20, the producers of Good Morning, America and the largest talk-radio station in New York.

The publicity has forced him to change out of his jeans - his usual office uniform - and into a coat and tie. Eriksen, who's a dead ringer for U.S. Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, practices in a one-story, yellow building across from City Hall and a crematory that releases smoke several times a day. That, he says, ``keeps things in perspective.'' During his 17-year legal career, he's tangled with the government, big companies and other lawyers. Romano, Eriksen & Cronin has represented Michael Maher, who was a trial team leader in the state's tobacco lawsuit. Maher, of Orlando, was sued by fellow trial team member Robert Montgomery, who accused Maher of interfering with the team's fee contract.

But in the wake of a Nov. 13 court ruling that reduced the likelihood of being paid under that contract, Montgomery said he plans to abandon his fight over fees - and his lawsuit.

John Romano, a longtime friend of Maher, said he'd insisted that Eriksen work on the case because he's a conscientious stickler for details who doesn't lose sight of the big picture.

``This was going to be a war,'' said Romano, who met his partner when they were in the Marines more than 25 years ago. ``And I'm not going into the front lines without Eriksen.''

Michael D. Eriksen Born: Aug. 17, 1950 in Pensacola
Personal: Lantana resident. Married, four children.
Bachelor's Degree: Georgetown University, 1972
Law Degree: University of Florida, 1980
Specialties: Admiralty law, product liability and general negligence cases.

Copyright 1998 Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.