Connie Aguilar has filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial concerning the death of 35-year-old Michael Virgil. The lawsuit names Royal Caribbean as a defendant, though the cruise line has yet to issue a comment regarding the legal action.
According to the lawsuit, Aguilar and Virgil were on a family cruise from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico, at the time of Virgil’s passing in December 2024. They were accompanied by other family members, including their son.
The legal complaint claims that the treatment Virgil received led to respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, and ultimately his death.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has classified Virgil’s death as a homicide. The official report states that he died due to a combination of factors: mechanical asphyxia—where breathing is obstructed by force or an object—alongside obesity, an enlarged heart, and alcohol intoxication.
Footage captured by fellow passenger Christopher McHale, which was later obtained by KTTV in Los Angeles, depicts Virgil in a narrow corridor kicking at a door.
KTTV further reported that Virgil was shouting profanities and making threats, including a threat to kill McHale and a crew member. According to McHale, the crew member sought refuge by locking himself in a towel room, which Virgil then attempted to break into by kicking the door.
The video captures security guards and others eventually holding Virgil down on the floor.
McHale said nobody deserved to die the way Virgil did.
“He just needed some help,” McHale said.
The lawsuit said crew members should not have served Virgil alcohol because he “exhibited obvious visual signs of intoxication” and were negligent for doing so, the lawsuit said.
Maritime common law requires carriers like Royal Caribbean to “supervise and assist passengers likely to engage in behaviour dangerous to themselves or others,” the lawsuit said.
Royal Caribbean also failed to exercise its right to stop serving alcohol to Virgil to protect his life, the lawsuit said.
The company’s ships, it added, are deliberately designed to ensure there are alcohol-serving stations “in every nook and cranny” and the company “does as much as possible to encourage and facilitate alcohol consumption” on board.
The lawsuit said medical personnel on board lacked proper education, licenses, experience and skills and it failed to properly train crew members to assess when to stop serving a passenger.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in Miami, where Royal Caribbean, the world’s second largest cruise company, has its headquarters.
