In its filing, the company says that Anello, of
It says surveillance video on the ship shows Anello leaning out of the open window for about eight seconds just moments before he lifted his granddaughter, who would have turned 2 in December, up to the window, from which she fell to the dock far below.
"This is a case about an adult man, who, as surveillance footage unquestionably confirms: (1) walked up to a window he was aware was open; (2) leaned his upper body out the window for several seconds; (3) reached down and picked up Chloe; and (4) then held her by and out of the open window for thirty four seconds before he lost his grip and dropped Chloe out of the window,” the court filing states.
"His actions, which no reasonable person could have foreseen, were reckless and irresponsible and the sole reason why Chloe is no longer with her parents," the cruise line said.
Anello has insisted that he did not know the window was open when he lifted Chloe to the window, saying he did so to allow her to bang on the glass like she did at her brother's hockey games. He told “CBS This Morning” in November that he was trying to stand Chloe on the window’s railing when she plunged from the open window. He also said he’s colorblind and that may be why he didn’t realize the tinted window was open.
“I just never saw it. I’ve been told that that’s a reason it might have happened,” he said, referring to the eyesight condition.
Anello’s attorney, José G. Pérez Ortiz, told
“My client thought that the window was closed,” Ortiz said. “Nothing in the video is inconsistent.”
A spokeswoman for
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