Carnival Corp subsidiary Holland America Line has succeeded in its quest to have a $21.5m judgment awarded against it overturned.

A federal judge has thrown out a $21.5 million jury verdict awarded to former passenger James Hausman, who claimed he was injured during an around-the-world cruise in 2011.

On Tuesday US District Judge Barbara Rothstein overturned the original jury verdict and ordered a new trial after Hausman's former assistant came forward to say he had intentionally deleted emails that could have hurt his case.

Hausman,