FL Man's Body Kept In Cruise Ship Drink Cooler After Death: Lawsuit

MIAMI, FL — A Florida family is suing Celebrity Cruises after claiming their loved one's body was stored in a drink cooler following his death rather than in the cruise ship's morgue, causing it to decompose.

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court, Robert L. Jones died of a heart attack in August after leaving Fort Lauderdale on the Celebrity Equinox.

Following his death, the lawsuit claims that his wife, Marilyn Jones, was informed by the ship's crew that his body could either be taken ashore when the ship docked in Puerto Rico or stored in the ship's morgue.

According to court documents, Marilyn Jones permitted the crew to store her husband's body in the morgue for the remaining six days of the cruise.

When the ship returned to Fort Lauderdale, a funeral home employee and a Broward County sheriff's deputy boarded the ship and were taken to Robert Jones' body. According to the lawsuit, the body "had been moved from the ship's morgue to a cooler on a different floor."

According to court documents, the cooler was not at a temperature to prevent body decomposition. The lawsuit claims Robert Jones' body was green, expanded with gas and "laying in a bag on a palette on the floor of the cooler."

According to the lawsuit, the man's body was so badly decomposed, it prevented his family from having an open-casket funeral, which was "a long-standing family custom and was what his family desired."

Court documents said the ship's crew claimed the morgue was not working correctly during the trip.

The lawsuit was filed by Robert Jones' wife, his daughters and granddaughters. The family is seeking $1 million in damages.