Hello and welcome to Ehline Law Firm Personal Injury Attorneys, APLC. I am attorney Michael Ehline. In my years of law practice, one giant of a man stands out as a friend and mentor, the late Kendall Carver, founder and chairman of the International Cruise Victims Association (ICV)*.
The cruise industry loathed him, and devastated families relied upon him and remember him for his honesty, justice received, and sympathy. One thing everyone can agree on, Ken was always working hard and getting results. Ken’s daughter had been lost at sea on a cruise ship. No one protected her human rights to be safe on a cruise liner in this greatest of all Ken’s personal losses.
Because of this he was crushed, never to recover from his emotional issues of losing his beloved, most prized daughter. His broken heart led to the creation of International Cruise Victims. Ken focused his efforts on taking on the cruise industry. Ken was a pro at exposing cruise ship crime against cruise ship passengers that was/is apparently sanctioned by the cruise industry in his search for justice.
Ken was required to learn maritime law and the lobbying system as part of his goal of holding the crooked cruise industry accountable to Americans.
As reported in the news, my law firm was pleased to fund several trips to Washington DC to lobby on behalf of the International Cruise Victims Association for safer cruises for any U.S. citizen cruise passengers and for improved passenger safety.
In the process, I helped draft historic legislation on behalf of the International Cruise Victims Association. Sadly, towards the end of Ken’s life, I lost contact.
You see, my father was dying of non Hodgkins Lymphoma, as a result of exposure to Agent Orange as U.S Marine in Vietnam (1967, 1968, 1969). As I was dealing with my father and that grief, Ken passed away.
I did not find out he died, but a fellow lobbyist was notifying me on Facebook months later! This blog article is about Ken, ICV, legislative reform, and those personalities who have helped made our sea lanes safer for Americans with the help of the International Cruise Victims Association.
I hope you past and future cruise ship passengers enjoy learning more information about what it takes to be a legal advocate focused on legislative reform work and operations to protect passengers.
We apply ourselves to prevent others from being thrown overboard and avoid other tragedies involving the cruise industry community in the USA, Canada, and other interested people who lost loved ones at sea residing in Europe. ICV is one of those experienced organizations that made calls for legislative changes with little to no interested funders or financial backing.