An arbitrator awarded over $10 million to a former employee of a Royal Caribbean subsidiary who said he suffered a 'catastrophic' spinal injury

Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Cruises' Eclipse cruise ship.

• An arbitrator awarded former Celebrity Cruises employee Slobodan Despot $10.3 million on June 6.
• The award came four years after Despot suffered what his attorneys described as a "catastrophic" spinal injury on Celebrity's Eclipse ship.
• But Celebrity filed a petition on July 12 to cancel the award.
• Celebrity's attorneys alleged that the arbitrator was biased after successfully soliciting a donation to a favorite charity from Despot's attorneys.
• "In regard to the substance of the allegations in Celebrity's petition, they are without merit," John Hickey, one of Despot's attorneys, told Business Insider.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

An arbitrator awarded former Celebrity Cruises employee Slobodan Despot $10.3 million, Celebrity's attorneys said in a July 12 petition to cancel the award. Celebrity Cruises is a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises.

The award came four years after Despot suffered what his attorneys described as a "catastrophic" spinal injury in a July 10 legal filing. Despot, who is from Serbia, was working on Celebrity's Eclipse ship as a maitre d' in 2015 when he says he was hit in the back by a bread trolley, Celebrity's attorneys said in the July 12 filing.

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Despot's attorneys said his spinal injury developed into central pain syndrome, which they described as "a permanent and debilitating condition of chronic, severe pain that is difficult to control or medicate." They alleged that the injury was a result of Celebrity's negligence.

Celebrity's attorneys said the company gave Despot immediate medical care and arranged for further care after he left the Eclipse.

A copy of Slobodan's employment contract included in the July 10 filing requires any disputes with Celebrity to be settled in arbitration. On June 6, an arbitrator awarded Slobodan $10.3 million.

Slobodan's attorneys said that Celebrity did not meet the July 6 deadline to pay the award, but Celebrity's attorneys alleged that the arbitrator was biased after successfully soliciting a donation to a favorite charity from Despot's attorneys before deciding on the $10.3 million award.

The arbitrator made unfair assumptions about Celebrity's conduct after the company failed to produce as evidence the bread trolley, as well as the accident report and photographs that were part of Celebrity's investigation into the incident, Celebrity's attorneys alleged. The company was unable to identify the trolley involved in the accident after it was returned to service and invoked the work-product immunity law in declining to make the accident report and photographs available.

Celebrity requested in the July 12 filing that the $10.3 million award be canceled because it claims the arbitration process was biased by the donation from Slobodan's attorneys.

"In regard to the substance of the allegations in Celebrity's petition, they are without merit," John Hickey, one of Despot's attorneys, told Business Insider. "Celebrity does not like the result and wants a do-over. They are grasping at straws."

Celebrity Cruises' attorneys did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Have you worked on a cruise ship? Do you have a story to share? Email this reporter atmmatousek@businessinsider.com.

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