Orlando Personal Injury Lawyer - Theme Park Injury

Orlando, Florida Theme Park Injury Reports

Ed Normand — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:55:02 GMT

For the second consecutive quarter, Disney World was the only major theme park in Florida to report any guest injuries. None of the other major theme parks - including Universal Studios, Sea World, Wet ‘n Wild, or Busch Gardens in Tampa, reported a single guest being injured in that time period. Disney World reported eight injuries occurring during the third quarter. Neither the Federal Government nor the State of Florida regulate the big theme parks and they are under a Florida based voluntary reporting system that has many loopholes. The lack of reported injuries for the last 6 months at all of the theme parks except Disney shows that the voluntary reporting system is not working and injuries are happening that are not being reported. This is clear from an examination of lawsuits filed against the theme parks. The lawsuits consistently relate to injuries at the parks that the parks never report to the State of Florida or anywhere else.

The injuries at Disney during the third quarter of 2009 include the following:
A 31-year-old woman had a seizure after riding the Rock ‘n Roller Coaster, and a 50-year-old woman experienced chest pains and shortness of breath after riding the same ride. A 54-year-old man had a seizure riding Star Tours, a full-motion flight simulator based on the Star Wars films. A 40-year-old man fell and broke his right wrist while getting off of Test Track, a simulated excursion through the rigorous testing procedures that GM uses to evaluate its cars, culminating in a high-speed drive around the exterior of the attraction. A 52-year-old woman complained of dizziness and memory loss after riding Mission: Space, which boasts that it realistically simulates an astronaut’s trip to Mars. A 66-year-old man felt sick after riding Expedition Everest, a high-altitude, high-speed roller coaster train ride to the “Roof of the World.” A 74-year-old woman lost her balance getting off of Peter Pan’s Flight, fell, and hit her head and broke her wrist. Finally, a 57-year-old woman passed out after riding Splash Mountain, and fractured her skull after collapsing on a concrete floor.

State regulators rely on the big theme parks to voluntarily report any significant injuries to guests. It is clear that many injuries are not being reported. According to these records, Disney is now falling far behind the other big theme parks’s safety records for the second straight quarter. With the lack of regulation it is not clear if this is a sign of safety issues at Disney or, more likely, that other parks are not reporting all the injuries at the parks. It is time that state regulators need to step in. Government oversight is needed as self-policing is clearly not working. For my previous blog on the injuries at the big theme parks for the second quarter of 2009, please check our prior blogs on Disney Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Disney Replaces Crashed Monorail

Ed Normand — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:40:54 GMT

Recently, Disney announced that a “new” monorail train, named Teal, is now up and running at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The monorail at Disney received heightened media attention over the summer, as two trains were involved in a deadly crash which killed 21-year-old Disney employee Austin Wuennenberg. According to reports, Disney decided to use the undamaged, leftover parts from the two trains involved in the crash to build the new Teal train.

For my blog posting over the summer about the crash, please see Disney Accident.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Order is Filed on Emergency Hearing in Disney Monorail Crash

Ed Normand — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:16:00 GMT

An emergency court hearing was held on July 14, 2009 in the crash that killed Disney monorail operator Austin Wuennenberg. Although no lawsuit has been filed by the Wuennenberg family, court documents reveal that lawyers for Christine Wuennenberg, mother of Austin Wuennenberg, petitioned the court for a Pure Bill of Discovery, which would allow access to evidence related to the crash. Ms. Wuennenberg’s attorney also requested, in the alternative, that the court grant an Order Preserving Evidence requiring Disney to preserve evidence, as there was reason to believe, based upon public reports, that evidence might be altered or destroyed.

In an order handed down on July 24, 2009, Circuit Judge Cynthia Z. Mackinnon denied the Pure Bill of Discovery requested by Ms. Wuennenberg’s attorneys. In a surprise move, the court also denied the Order Preserving Evidence, which now means, in the words of Ms. Wuennenberg’s petition, that she “will have no adequate remedy at law . . . and . . . will suffer irreparable injury.” The denial by the court is puzzling, as Florida law prohibits Disney from destroying evidence that could be material to any civil litigation. Evidence relating to the crash of the monorail would be material to civil litigation relating to Austin Wuennenberg’s death, and to deny an order requiring Disney to preserve such evidence appears to be inconsistent with Florida law. With evidence such as video recordings, photographs, and audio communications now often stored electronically, it is not unreasonable that a large company such as Disney might eventually re-record over such data. Ordering the preservation of such evidence seems to be the only proper decision in this matter. To its defense, perhaps the Court refused to grant to the order to preserve evidence because it felt that Disney would be subject to sanctions later if, indeed, it destroyed evidence.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Another Worker Dies At Disney

Ed Normand — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:32:20 GMT

With the third employee death at Disney World in the past seven weeks, serious questions are being raised about the safety regulations in place at the Theme Parks in Florida. Attorney Ed Normand of the Orlando law firm of Wooten, Kimbrough, Gibson, Doherty and Normand, P.A. was recently interviewed on Fox News about this troubling pattern of employee deaths. His interview and discussion about the lack of government oversight at theme parks such as Disney World can be found at the following link: http://tinyurl.com/nahz8n

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Unreported Theme Park Injuries

Ed Normand — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:04:35 GMT

We have been blogging a lot about the lack of reporting at the Federal, State and Local level of the injuries that happen at the big theme parks. It turns out that the local fair or a Greyhound bus have stronger inspections, standards and reporting requirements than the big 3 theme park operators do in Florida. In fact, the vast majority of injuries at theme parks are never reported or recorded by any governmental agency.

Lots of folks have chimed in on comments, public and private, who just dont believe that the theme parks have no regulation or reporting of injuries. Attached is a private email to the blog from a woman whose son was allegedly hurt on the way to a ride and you can see how she contends she was treated:

"Subject: Disneyworld
Body: I just saw your piece on the internet about injuries at DisneyWorld. Two years ago, while at Disneyworld with my daughter,her husband and my three grandchildren, it began to pour out so we were heading for a ride that had an awning over it for shelter. My son-in-law slipped on something and fell on top of my then 5 year old grandson. His knee was badly injured and was bleeding quite heavily. I asked the person for first aid assistance and was told no one in the park has first aid equipment and that we would have to take my bleeding grandson through the pouring rain to the front of the park for assistance from their paramedics. You can imagine how incensed I was with this answer. I asked to speak to her supervisor and her supervisor reiterated the same information. My grandson is bleeding heavily and crying hysterically and five of us have to run a mile with him in his dad's arms to some paramedic station that we are not sure where it is located. I put up a fuss and finally they called the paramedics station to come to the ride to adminiter first aid. I tried to notify DisneyWorld of this incident several times but to no avail. They would not return my calls or acknowledge the incident. Fat chance we are returning to DisneyWorld and I tell people all the time. YOU BETTER NOT GET HURT WHILE YOU'RE VISITING THERE."

We do not know her but we have heard of similar complaints. Perhaps if the theme park injures were recorded like every single car accident with injuires is in Florida then these situations could be reduced or eliminated.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Theme Park Oversight Redux

Ed Normand — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:48:48 GMT

Wow did I get a lot of slack for suggesting that, god forbid, the NTSB was justified in investigating the Disney Monorail crash. My point, however, is not to imply that Disney runs an inherently safe or unsafe operation. My point is more, how do we know? Florida and the Federal Government both give the major theme parks in Florida a (no pun intended) virtual free ride when it comes to reporting accidents and injuries. The statutory accident reporting standards and statutory ride inspection systems for the Big Three theme parks in Florida are less than those for the merry go round at the County Fair or the local trolley in tourist town.

My point, therefore, is not that they are unsafe but that really nobody knows. I have sued Disney for injuries allegedly sustained on the Disney transportation system which I know for a fact were never reported by Disney to anyone despite that they knew of the injury immediately. The same is true for lots of lawsuits against the parks on lots of rides. So for everyone out there who comments that they love Disney and therefore it must be safe, my question is: How do you know? I sure don't and I have tried hard to find out. I can look up every injury on a Delta Airlines jet compare it to an American Airlines jet and decide which airline I wish to patronize. I can research public accident reports on pretty much every public bus injury. You just try and find out how many injuries have been alleged to occur on a particular ride. If you can find that out then you are better than any lawyer I know because our judicial system has also recently bent over backwards in local District Court Opinions that protect from discovery the secrecy of the number and type of other accidents at theme parks even in a lawsuit alleging injuries on the same ride or event.

Alas, we are thus stuck with taking the corporations at their word when they say that all they do is good and safe, fun and wonderful. Sounds a bit like our friends the bankers and the insurance companies. "Trust Us." That is why I am just asking for the theme parks to tell us who gets hurt and when and how. This is required in every single car crash in Florida, on every fair ride injury, why not then in the big theme parks? You would think, if the parks are as safe as these commentators shout, that they would proudly blast these statistics all over to show just how safe they are. I mean if there are no injuries, no accidents, then why not tell us? Who knows, they could even have rides with 5 star safety ratings and 4 star ones? I am being silly now, but seriously, with a ride reporting system then, like me, you could decide if you want to risk your little girl getting her face gashed and permanently scarred for life on a ride that does that. I know about that ride because I represented her. You don't because the cases are all made secret when resolved. My daughters won't ride that ride, I know some park employees’ kids won't either, and I just think you should have access to the same knowledge so you can make the same informed choice.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Disney Monorail Crash and Theme Park Oversight

Ed Normand — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:22:36 GMT

In a recent tragic theme park injury a 21 year old Disney employee was killed while operating a Monorail that collided with another Monorail in the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. After the crash the NTSB took jurisdiction and began its own investigation into the crash. Finally we will have some independent evaluation and oversight of the safety procedures at the big Florida theme. We have discussed many times in this blog that the theme parks in Florida have minimal oversight or independent governmental inspection of their safety. Again, why should the big three theme parks that cater to millions of residents and tourists be subject to less governmental safety oversight than is provided to the local County Fair?

In addition to the lack of governmental regulation, Florida has civil laws that bend over backwards to favor the theme parks over consumers. As an example, take the law of Common Carriers. Legally a common carrier is subject to an extremely high duty of care, that of a very careful person. As they should, after all, by offering to transport passengers for a fee they are subjecting them to the very real dangers of high speed traffic. In California, the theme parks are considered common carriers and subject to the high duty of care. Not so in Florida. Here the theme park transport systems and rides are not considered to be operated as common carriers and are not subject to the very careful person standard. Instead, the theme parks get away with the same standard of care in operating the transport systems and rides as the everyday motorist. Surely one would expect these large operations to be held at least to the same standard of care as, say, a Greyhound bus. Sadly they are not.

Perhaps with the intervention now of the Federal Government we can get some oversight and safety nets in place at the big parks.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Hidden Dangers of Theme Park Rides

Ed Normand — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:01:31 GMT

While standing in line at at theme park in anticipation of enjoying a ride you have seen advertised on television you read a warning. It tells you not to ride if you are pregnant or if you have a back or neck injury. No problem there and so you proceed to the ride. While on the ride something about the ride causes you to smash a vertebrae, rupture a disc, or sustain a head injury. Should the parks be held responsible for these injuries where the park "guest' did nothing wrong, obeyed all warnings and there was no foreseeable likelihood of such an injury being sustained from the advertisements about the ride? What if the theme park operator knew others were hurt before on the ride but they deliberately make no mention of it in the warning? This is the true state of facts for many theme park rides.

Sadly, in Florida the big theme parks are legally allowed to keep most ride related injuries forever secret even when the injuries are sustained in the normal operation of the ride and even when the warning mentions nothing of the known prior injury. The parks intentionally withhold from the public information about ride injuries and instead go to great lengths to keep the data secret. Look up Florida Fifth District Court opinions on the subject. You will see the theme parks keep injury data secret and they are not obligated to report injuries except in very limited circumstances (in fact, the local fair is held to a higher injury reporting standard than the big 3 parks). To prove the point out of the multitude of injuries in the lawsuits cited in an Orlando Sentinel article today : "only nine of the 101 ride-related lawsuits found in the Sentinel's review of 2004-08 court cases were reported to the state as accidents when they occurred." The parks keep secret most of the injuries sustained in amusement park ride related injuries.

The theme park industry has cadres of lawyers who are hired to keep the information on ride injuries away from the public. Why would they do that if the rides are as safe as they claim. I have represented children with horrible permanent head injuries and facial scarring, others with broken bones and ruptured discs requiring surgery. All sustained from using the ride as instructed. Tell me where the warning explains those risks. Further on some of the rides the same injuries had been caused to others already on the same ride yet the warning makes no mention of the known danger.

Even after it is proved that the injury was caused by the ride, many times the parks do not do the right thing. Most people just want their medical bills paid but they get stonewalled by the parks. Often these are tourists from out of the country who do not have health insurance for U.S injuries. Other times U.S. health insurance does not cover the injury and so when the parks refuse to pay for even the medical bills indisputably caused by the ride "guests" must then come to a lawyer out of desperation.

The big parks make billions from advertising inviting guests to ride their rides. In turn, when an invited guest heeds all warnings, uses a ride in the manner intended, and yet sustains serious injury on a ride shouldnt the park pay for the damage caused by the ride? In my mind, that is simply the right thing to do.

Ed Normand.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Should Businesses Have A Get Out Of Jail Free Card For Child Injuries?

Ed Normand — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:36:30 GMT

For many years businesses have required parents to sign forms before a child can participate in an activity. Usually the form-called a pre-injury release--is filled with legalese and the parents will not know what it is they signed until the child is hurt or dies. Then they realize that the form purports to release the business from all liability for death or injury to the child even when the injury results from the negligent or reckless conduct of the business. Further, the release works to free the insurance company for the business from any liability even though a premium was paid for liability insurance to protect and compensate the injured child in this very situation. Finally, the release is used to protect the business even when only one parent signs the release, and even when signed without the knowledge of or over the objection of the other parent.

Recently the Florida Supreme Court was asked to decide if a pre-injury release is valid to allow a business to escape all liability for its alleged negligent conduct that resulted in the death of a minor. The Court held that pre-injury releases are not valid as to minors involved in commercial activities. The Court astutely concluded that there is "injustice" to deny a child a right to legal accountability when the child is injured by the negligence of a commercial business just because one parent signed all rights away. It noted that pre-injury releases take away all incentive for businesses to use safety precautions. After all if a company can get out of responsibility by just having a parent sign a piece of paper that is a lot cheaper than training its employees or making sure the product or activity is safe to begin with. The Court carefully noted that the decision did not apply to non-commercial interests such as church or community groups, or school events.

Florida businesses, including the big theme parks, are lobbying hard right now to get the Florida Legislature to overrule the Supreme Court. They want a law that says one parent can sign away all rights of a child to recover from commercial for profit businesses even when the business is negligent or reckless and that negligence directly causes death or injury to a child. Florida legislators must decide if it makes sense to give a business a free ride to hurt our children and make a profit to boot.

It makes better sense to adopt a law that would that would make a pre-injury release valid as to injuries caused by the "inherent risk" of an activity. But if the child is injured from the negligent or reckless conduct of the business there would be no protection. An example is swimming with dolphins. If a dolphin knocks over a child, a business should not be responsible for that, however, if they drop a hot electrical wire into the tank and the child gets electrocuted then they would be liable. This is the compromise suggested by the Florida Justice Association. The theme parks are fighting this language. They and other businesses want absolute liability for all negligent and reckless conduct even when it directly injures or kills a child. They do not seem to consider that it will hurt Florida tourism if a child tourist is hurt or killed but, because of a signed paper full of legal mumbo jumbo, the business can hurt or kill a child with absolutely no recourse whatsoever. If the theme parks get their way, this will be a lesson soon learned by parents of residents and tourists alike. Is that how we really want Florida to treat our children and the children of our tourists that we invite to the State?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Theme Park Injuries Where the Ride Worked As Intended

Ed Normand — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:02:00 GMT

Lately we have been seeing inquiries from folks injured on theme park rides where the ride was operating as intended. Case in point, a visitor from England who sustained injuries including a compression fracture of the lumbar spine while riding on a water slide. She did nothing wrong, followed all instructions and yet was permanently damaged. As one would expect, the theme park lobby has effectively kept this type of information hidden from the public. A County Fair ride that caused such an injury would result in a report of the injury and a State inspection. The big theme parks in Florida are legally exempted from reporting an incident like this because of a loophole that allows the big three theme park companies to not report injuries if the person is not immediately sent to an emergency room and is admitted overnight or dies.

The law also favors the big theme parks. A rider injured on a ride must prove that the park was negligent in the way it operated or maintained the ride or in the warnings provided to customers. Of course, the only one who knows if the ride was not operated correctly on the date and time of the injury is the park operator. Since they have no duty to report the injury there is no timely investigation to prove negligence. The theme park can then do a Sergeant Schultz (remember from Hogan's Heroes: "I know nothing........"). More likely they will blame the visitor claiming they must have done something wrong. Florida law should be changed to make a theme park operator subject to the same legal standard as a product manufacturer, that is the the theme park operator is strictly liable for an injury that occurs on a ride when the rider was following ride instructions. After all if the ride is not safe to be used as intended then the park should be responsible for the injuries caused by the ride. If the ride is safe, as they advertise, then they will have nothing to worry about with a legal standard of strict liability.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand