MIAMI _ Chloe Wiegand was 18 months old when she plummeted 11 stories to her death on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas in July.
Three months later, Puerto Rican law enforcement authorities charged Chloe's grandfather with her death. The family adamantly said it was an accident.
Now, the family has sued Royal Caribbean in a civil suit, alleging the Miami cruise line is responsible for Chloe's death.
Alan Wiegand and Kimberly Schultz-Wiegand, Chloe's parents, filed the lawsuit in federal court in Miami on Wednesday, claiming general negligence, negligent failure to maintain, and negligent failure to warn.
The suit seeks damages and a jury trial.
According to the suit, this is what happened to Chloe:
On July 7, she and her family were on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas while it was docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After having lunch, Chloe and her mom changed into swimsuits and went up to the H20 Zone on Deck 11.
About an hour into playing at the on-board water park, the mother switched off with Sam Anello, Chloe's grandpa, to watch the 18-month-old.
Shortly after, Chloe walked over to a nearby wall of glass, followed closely by Anello, the lawsuit says.
But this wasn't an ordinary glass wall.
"Some of the glass panes in the middle row had the ability to be (and remain) slid opened by anyone, including other passengers."'
So, as the pair reached the wall of glass, Chloe asked to be lifted up so that she could bang on the glass window, as she often did at her older brother's hockey games.
"Mr. Anello reasonably believed that this was a wall of fixed glass with no openings," the lawsuit says.
Anello lifted Chloe onto a wooden railing and held her as she leaned forward to bang on the glass, which they thought was in front of them, the suit says.
As Chloe leaned forward, "she slipped from Mr. Anello's arms, falling through the open pane and down approximately 150 feet below onto the Pier in San Juan, resulting in her death."
Michael Winkleman, the Wiegand family's attorney, told CBS News that surveillance video captured the fall and that it appears to show Anello looked over the railing for one second, reached down and picked Chloe up and held her over the railing.
Within five seconds, Chloe fell to her death.
Anello was charged on Oct. 29 with negligent homicide by the Puerto Rico Department of Justice. His bond would be $80,000 if he's extradited to Puerto Rico.
CBS News reported Anello's next court date is set for Dec. 17.
The family says in the lawsuit the cruise line failed to "adequately mark the open windows," "install safety prevention devices on the windows," and "provide reasonably safe children entertainment areas."
Royal Caribbean said, "Our hearts go out to the family for their tragic loss. Mr. Salvatore Anello is currently being criminally prosecuted for negligent homicide in the case. We have no comment on the civil filing."
