Space Mountain Accident

[wdwguide]

Several people are reporting that there was brake malfunction on Disneyland's Space Mountain that caused one train to run into the next, injuring four guests who had to be treated at the hospital. The ride will reportedly remain closed through the weekend and possibly a few days beyond.

 

[Jeff in BigD]

Yikes! Any word on the severity of the injuries? Regardless, no doubt they'll get quite a settlement out of the deal...hopefully.

 

[KNWVIKING]

" no doubt they'll get quite a settlement out of the deal...hopefully."

I hope you never complain about the cost of insurance or attraction that close because of the potential for liability concerns.

 

[Jeff in BigD]

Originally posted by KNWVIKING
I hope you never complain about the cost of insurance or attraction that close because of the potential for liability concerns.

My gripes about insurance are that the huge majority of them are corrupt & rarely pay off when it matters without a a knock-down, drag-out fight in court. I feel that insurance is one of the biggest rackets going on today. Do you think the medical bills should be paid by the guest?

And yes, I think if there's any cause for alarm, the ride should be shut down to make sure it's safe. To suggest otherwise is purely assenine.

 

[Bob O]

I would agree with the Vking and his cause for concern over lawyers run amok in society and trying to sue enjoyment out of this world!!! I dont hope for any large settlement unless it is proven that disney knew there was a problem and then intentionaly took no actions at all to fix it. With how many millions upon millions of people who have ridden the ride their is little concern IMHO that the ride is unsafe. Accidents can happen and the ride should be fixed and medical bills paid, but nothing more unless intentional wrongdoing was shown upon the part of disney. Of course when people hope for huge settlements i hope they arent upset when their are no rides anymore at any park in fear of the trial lawyers trying to sue every company out of business!!!

 

[Jeff in BigD]

Originally posted by Bob O
I would agree with the Vking and his cause for concern over lawyers run amok in society and trying to sue enjoyment out of this world!!! I dont hope for any large settlement unless it is proven that disney knew there was a problem and then intentionaly took no actions at all to fix it. With how many millions upon millions of people who have ridden the ride their is little concern IMHO that the ride is unsafe. Accidents can happen and the ride should be fixed and medical bills paid, but nothing more unless intentional wrongdoing was shown upon the part of disney. Of course when people hope for huge settlements i hope they arent upset when their are no rides anymore at any park in fear of the trial lawyers trying to sue every company out of business!!!

I'm not suggesting that they should be given money of it was their fault, but it sounds like it was DL's fault. If Disney knew about it ahead of time, that's were the big settlement should come in. The fact that DL's maintenance has been a little suspect in the past few years won't help their cause.

I do agree that there are too many bogus lawsuits out there (hot coffee lady, etc) & agree with tort reform. However if an insurance company gets a taste of their own medicine, I'll not be losing any sleep.

 

[HockeyDadof2]

Do you own your home? Have you renewed your homeowners insurance recently? We in Texas are taking a royal screwing on our homeowners insurance. Mine went up 130%, that's with no claims I might add. When I tried to "shop around" I found that is the norm and that a number of companies aren't writing new policies in TX anymore.

 

[mattjs]

Any confirmation on this? Haven't seen a thing about it anywhere. Any info anyone, one way or the other?

 

[Rneighh]

As a lawyer's wife and his paralegal it takes a bogus client with a bogus claim to make a bogus lawsuit. Yes, a good attorney would not take such bogus claims -- but remember the client had to come into his office looking to "be set for life"!!!!

Renee

 

[YoHo]

Mrs. YoHo is currently in a Torts class, (Civil law) They WILL Get money and it isn't the Lawyers fault, its the system's fault. You wouldn't believe what some of the precidents are. Disney will end up paying big big money.

 

[Bob O]

Their are more than enough ambulance chasing lawyers who will take any case, no matter how bogus as they know for alot of companies its cheaper to give out something than take a case to court.
If this was a accident and not a known problem than the 4 injured parties are only deserving of hospital bills and throw in a theme park pass for pr!!
i heard of the story on the rec.arts disney site where there is a small article but i found nothing on a search of the LA times.
And you arent screwing the insurnace companies, you are screwing everybody who pays any insurance premium and that type of thought process is what lawyers prey on and causes the big jury awards.

 

[Rneighh]

We do a lot of personal injury work and follow jury awards. You are NOT see huge awards here in the mid-west. The conservative heartland is not awarding frivilous suits.

Yes the market is flooded with too many attorneys. Yes the lesser quality attorneys are more willing to take bogus claims. But our general population thinks that a minor auto accident is going to set them for life. Many insurance companies are much less likely to settle claims that they believe are not legitimate.

I would love to know the legal background of those of your making some of these claims.

Renee

 

[YoHo]

Typically, nationwide,
People who due for minor bills, Repair of a car, low cost hospital bills get significantly more then they need whereas the people that actually diserve big money. the people who have enormous hospital bills and so forth get significantly less then they need.
The entire system is stupid.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Insurance companies don't pay for the claims...big or small...the POLICYHOLDER....yes...you the little guys rooting for big payoffs....are the ones who pay the claims.

What an insurance company does is invest the premiums the little guys pay and then keep the profits. Virtually no insurance companies actually profit from the premiums themselves.

So...are you sure you want to root for a big payoff??? It just means Disney (and every other theme park with a similar ride) will pay much higher premiums...and ultimately who gets stuck with the bill?

We do...not the corporations.

These people deserve their medical bills & any economic loss they may suffer. But that doesn't amount to a big payoff. The only time big payoffs should come into play is with neglience...but naturally that isn't always the case.

 

[Jeff in BigD]

Originally posted by HockeyDadof2
Do you own your home? Have you renewed your homeowners insurance recently? We in Texas are taking a royal screwing on our homeowners insurance. Mine went up 130%, that's with no claims I might add. When I tried to "shop around" I found that is the norm and that a number of companies aren't writing new policies in TX anymore.

My folks are homeowners & I'm not sure what their status on this is, but it's something that thankfully a few politicians are looking to put an end to increasing rates.

 

[1HourAway]

Well, I was in MK Sunday night (9/02) and rode SM. It wasn't closed - and their was only a 20 minute wait!!

 

[jlima]

Originally posted by mattjs
Any confirmation on this? Haven't seen a thing about it anywhere. Any info anyone, one way or the other?

I've been surfing various media websites including the Orange County Register and LA-area TV and I haven't found any mention of a Space Mountain accident. I even went into Yahoo and used Space Mountain as a keyword and found nothing; I've also look at the Orlando Sentinel website & haven't found anything there.

If there was an accident it's been kept quiet.

 

[EUROPA]

I think this was started on the newsgroups....here is the first post about it on RADP

Regarding accident at Space Mountain Disneyland From:

http://www.themeparkinsider.com

8/29/2002 - Submitted by Name Withheld on 8/31/2002

During a routine Cascade Ride Stop one rocket (#8) blew through the
brake zones at the final sections of the ride. Another rocket had been
brought to a stop just past the "Re-entry Tunnel" before the station,
and the out of control rocket slammed into the back of the stopped
rocket. Basically a rocket rear-ended another rocket just before the
station. Four Guests were taken to the hospital, and later released.
The incident happened on Thursday afternoon, and the attraction has
been closed ever since. The word we are getting from our managers is
that Space will likely remain closed for the entire weekend, and
possibly for the rest of next week as well. We are supposed to tell
Guests that it is closed for an "unscheduled refurbishment", which
isn't exactly untrue since they are now working intensely on the
attraction to try and figure out what could have gone so horribly
wrong to allow a rocket to careen through brake zones and slam into
the back of another rocket.

 

[Muffy]

This rumored space mt. accident was at DL not WDW. HTH

 

[Panthius]

All this talk of lawyers and settlements and nobody is mentioning why they will get more money than just their hospital bills paid for (and possibly a park hopper). They lost out on maybe a half day of the park they paid for to get in, so at the very least Disney is responsible for the hospital bills and a one day park hopper. Also, the guests were riding Disney's attraction for fun and enjoyment, but they ended up in the hospital due to a fault in Disney's attraction. This sounds like some suffering here, although I am not sure how much money they will get. If anybody who has been posting about these people not deserving more than just a park ticket and hospital bills, if you were in the same situation, would you not want more than that considering Disney is supposed to equal happiness, not hospital visits?

Panthius