USCA11 Case: 20-14206 Date Filed: 08/05/2022 Page: 1 of 15 [DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 20-14206 ____________________ RYAN MAUNES MAGLANA, on his own behalf and as a class representatives of all other similarly situated Filipino crewmembers trapped aboard CELEBRITY cruise vessels, FRANCIS KARL BUGAYONG, on his own behalf and as a class representatives of all other similarly situated Filipino crewmembers trapped aboard CELEBRITY cruise vessels, Plaintiffs-Appellants, versus CELEBRITY CRUISES, INC., Defendant-Appellee. USCA11 Case: 20-14206 Date Filed: 08/05/2022 Page: 2 of 15 2 Opinion of the Court 20-14206 ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 1:20-cv-22133-JEM ____________________ Before JILL PRYOR, BRANCH, and HULL, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Ryan Maunes Maglana and Francis Karl Bugayong were working onboard Celebrity Cruises, Inc.’s Millennium cruise ship in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted lives around the world. Celebrity stopped carrying passengers but forced its crews to remain on its ships. It kept Maglana and Bugayong onboard even after terminating their employment for cause on March 30, 2020. Maglana and Bugayong sued for false im- prisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress based on the 58 days that they were confined on the Millennium from March 31 to May 26, 2020. Celebrity moved to compel arbitration because Maglana and Bugayong had signed employment agreements in which they agreed to arbitrate all disputes arising from, related to, or con- nected with their employment. The district court granted Celeb- rity’s motion to compel arbitration of their tort claims. But our precedent holds that intentional torts like those alleged here are outside the scope of arbitration agreements strikingly similar to the USCA11 Case: 20-14206 Date Filed: 08/05/2022 Page: 3 of 15 20-14206 Opinion of the Court 3 agreements the plaintiffs signed. Thus, we reverse the district court’s order compelling arbitration. I. FACTS Maglana and Bugayong (together, the “plaintiffs”), citizens of the Philippines, were employed stocking beverages as crew- members of the Celebrity Millennium cruise ship. They allege, and Celebrity does not dispute, that the Millennium stopped carrying passengers on February 10, 2020. After being turned away from ports in Hong Kong and Thailand, the ship let its passengers off in Singapore as fears of the novel coronavirus spread throughout the world. Later that month, the Millennium arrived in the Philippines. Although the plaintiffs and other Filipino crewmembers sought to disembark the passengerless ship, the only crewmembers allowed to leave were those who had both concluded their service contracts and had a suitable replacement to fill their roles onboard. Because the plaintiffs were still under contract, they remained onboard when the Millennium departed the Philippines the next day. The ship next sailed to Hawaii, docking there for refueling on March 1. Still without passengers, it left Hawaii for Mexico with- out letting the plaintiffs disembark to return to the Philippines. Two days after the Millennium docked in Mexico, Celebrity’s par- ent company, Royal Caribbean, suspended all …
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