A lawyer in Texas has had to admit that he goofed — which is putting it lightly — when he recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of a couple, claiming they had been aboard the ill-fated Carnival Triumph cruise (AKA the “Poop Cruise”) that got stranded out to sea after an engine fire in February. Thing is, that couple not only hadn’t been on the ship, they were on the record with local media about not being on the ship.

The lawsuit, alleging breach of contract, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and fraud, stated that the then-engaged couple’s “once-in-a-lifetime wedding and trip with family and friends” turned into a disaster when they were “forced to endure deplorable, unsafe and unsanitary conditions, including but not limited to, sweltering temperatures, lack of power and air conditioning, lack of hot or running water, and lack of working toilets.”

The complaint also claims that the couple “feared for their lives and the lives of their friends and family members on board as they were under constant threat of contracting serious illness by the raw sewage.”

Which was likely true for people actually on board the Triumph at the time, but not for the plaintiffs, who were safely on dry land at the time.

In truth, the couple’s nuptials were slated for a future Triumph cruise, not the one where thousands of people were stuck without electricity or working plumbing. They even talked about the hassle of rescheduling with the Houston Chronicle while the Triumph was stranded off the coast.

Now the lawyer for the couple is putting the blame on himself, claiming that the couple never intended to misrepresent their complaint but that he simply “screwed up” when writing everything up for the court because it had been six or seven months since he originally interviewed his clients about their ordeal.

“They told me the correct thing but so much time had passed since we last spoke about the case I forgot the biggest detail, that they hadn’t been on the boat,” the lawyer explains to the Chronicle. “I had it in my brain that they were on the boat… They never misled anyone. I just forgot their story.”

The lawyer has since filed an amended claim on behalf of the couple, one that still alleges breach of contract because the couple’s wedding plans were spoiled by the Poop Cruise, but drops any references to the couple actually being on the ship…because they weren’t.

A rep for the cruise line — probably happy to be on the right side of a news story for once — dubbed the couple’s allegations of false misrepresentation “ironic.”

“That this lawsuit was filed, alleging the plaintiffs suffered injury and mental anguish during a cruise they weren’t even on, is truly shameful and reprehensible,” the rep tells the Chronicle.

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