Looking to sue Costa Cruise Lines? Small claims court is an option, and you may have others…
Costa Cruise Lines might sell a dream vacation, but the reality often falls short of this promise. In the event that you have a serious issue with Costa, their payment policies, or their customer service representatives, you might want to take them to court, only to find that the contract prevents you from filing a full lawsuit.
However, you might still be able to pursue justice against Costa by suing them in small claims court instead.
Before you can actually file a claim against Costa, however, you’ll need to make sure that it fully qualifies for a small claims court case. Unlike many other types of lawsuits, small claims court lawsuits do have a few stipulations your case needs to fulfill:
In the event that your case won’t qualify for small claims court, all is not yet lost. You can still try to pursue a resolution using an organization like the National Arbitration and Mediation company. They’ve got tons of experience under their belts when it comes to dealing with big companies like Costa and handle disputes with cruise lines all the time.
If your case does qualify for small claims court, it’s time to move to the next step: writing out a demand letter and giving it to Costa. It’s not likely that they’ll actually respond to this letter or handle your grievance if they haven’t replied so far, but this is a requirement for you to move your lawsuit forward.
Fortunately, your demand letter doesn’t need to be very complex or long. It can even be as long as a few sentences, so long as those sentences spell out exactly what your problem is and how Costa can fix things.
Go ahead and write the letter to the best of your ability, then mail it to this address:
Costa Crociere S.p.A.
Piazza Piccapietra 48
16121 Genova, Italy
Afterward, wait a few days before moving forward with a lawsuit process to give Costa some time to respond.
When Costa inevitably doesn’t respond to your demand letter, you can move on to the court forms. These can be picked up either via your state’s online small claims court website or by visiting your local small claims court in person. Be aware that you’ll probably have to fill these out a few times so that the court can keep a copy of everything for the records. You’ll also need to pay a small fee, which might be able to be waived if you can prove low income.
Just be sure that you fill out everything perfectly the first time so you don’t have to go back and repeat any step.
Next, you’ll need to actually file the forms and serve them to Costa. This is arguably the most important part of the whole process, because making a mistake with filing and serving can result in you having to go back several steps. Double-check everything before filing the forms so nothing gets thrown out on your court day, wasting your time.
You can file your forms and serve Costa at your local small claims court. You’ll need to go there in person since they won’t allow you to file things over the Internet in the majority of cases.
Once all this is done, all you have to do now is wait for your court date to arrive and show up on time with all your evidence against Costa. We would highly recommend that you put all your materials together a day or two before the court date. This ensures that you have everything you need to present a rock-solid case when the actual court appointment rolls around.
Plus, companies like Costa don’t always show up to their small claims court dates. This is a great opportunity for you to present your side of the story without any counteracting voices.
Ready to sue Costa Cruise lines in small claims court?
If this sounds too hard and expensive, try consumer arbitration instead…
The Ultimate Guide to Consumer Complaints
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