Another day....another lawsuit. This time about a bird.

Several years ago during the last morning of a stay at Wilderness Lodge, I was stung on the hand by a bee or wasp in the pool area. It swelled up like crazy on the way home. Stupid me. I probably could have squeezed them for a few bucks or a couple fastpasses or something.
 


"Disney knew that birds fly in the sky and neglected to install netting over the entire 45 square mile property to keep them away from me."
I know you are being facetious, but I bet there are a lot of laws about disturbing the nests of birds. To me, that makes it even more ridiculous. Disney probably can't do anything to remove the birds.
 
As a lawyer who has dealt with personal injury lawsuits for 30 years (on the defense side), I'm embarrassed by many in our profession. The problem often isn't the ambulance chasing attorney, it's the gutless judges who won't throw these cases out.
 


I'm sorry the woman was injured. (An article I read later claims it was a brain injury.) But I just don't know what WDW is supposed to do....hand out pamphlets warning of possible wildlife in the area? And just to cover their butts, of course, because 99% of guests will pitch those pamphlets right into the trash without even glancing through them.

Or they could put up signs. But again, if you start putting up more and more signs, I really think people are more apt not to read them. Plus, then is it up to Disney to make darn sure they don't miss signing every single place a bird has nested on property? That sounds completely impractical. (And my guess is that if they did have a sign, she would have read it and kept right on her way, anyway, so the signs would not have prevented her accidental run-in with the bird.)

So yes, I feel for her, but I don't see how Disney was supposed to prevent this.
 
She's also only asking for $15,000 in damages which seems low for such a "traumatic" injury. Her lawyer is probably hoping that with a smaller amount, Disney would just settle.
 
She is not asking for $15,000. That is a threshold amount between small claims and a jury trial. She is seeking damages in excess of $15,000 meaning she wants her case to be decided by a jury and not in small claims court.
 
When I first read the article linked above and saw this:
"Dixon is suing Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S., Inc., claiming the company failed to keep the resort in a "reasonably safe condition," failed to "adequately warn of a dangerous condition it knew or should have known existed at the subject premises," and provided Dixon with a "false sense of security as she was walking on the premises." "

I instantly thought of the words used during the alligator incident a few years ago. To me, (but admittedly without knowing the extent of the woman's experience or injuries,) it seems that her lawyer is using the Lane Graves incident as fuel for her lawsuit. IMO, it's apples and oranges.
 
The woman isn't claiming that some bird randomly fell out of the sky and bumped her head. Birds can become very aggressive at the time they are nesting, and Florida has some pretty big birds capable of causing injury. It's not unusual for local nature parks to have signs warning of aggressive behavior by nesting birds in certain areas, and there are reports that Disney recently closed off a part of Adventureland because of this exact behavior.

There are very few details available yet, but if Disney knew that there were nesting birds in the area that were attacking people and chose to do nothing, there could be some liability. I realize that warning signs would not likely be all that effective, but if you know people are being harassed or attacked, a warning sign would at least give them the option to stay away from the area or be on the lookout for nesting birds.
 
I know you are being facetious, but I bet there are a lot of laws about disturbing the nests of birds. To me, that makes it even more ridiculous. Disney probably can't do anything to remove the birds.
In the UK, we have very strict laws regarding the conservation of certain birds, especially seagulls, which although are a menace (and I've been harassed by them myself before during my uni years living down in Devon), there's nothing that can be done except that the person should be more vigilant.
 
The woman isn't claiming that some bird randomly fell out of the sky and bumped her head. Birds can become very aggressive at the time they are nesting, and Florida has some pretty big birds capable of causing injury. It's not unusual for local nature parks to have signs warning of aggressive behavior by nesting birds in certain areas, and there are reports that Disney recently closed off a part of Adventureland because of this exact behavior.

There are very few details available yet, but if Disney knew that there were nesting birds in the area that were attacking people and chose to do nothing, there could be some liability. I realize that warning signs would not likely be all that effective, but if you know people are being harassed or attacked, a warning sign would at least give them the option to stay away from the area or be on the lookout for nesting birds.
She could have also provoked said "birds"....
 
We all know it's the bird that should be sued!
I had one poop on me in Gorilla Falls in DAK back in March. Of course, I just took it as good luck (a CM told me it was a sign of good luck) and one of the CMs gave me a pixie dust voucher to redeem a new tee from one of the gift shops. Of course, I didn't sue the bird because I think it would be too bird-brained to understand Legalese.
 

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