Potter's Bane - That Other Segway Lawsuit

[jcb]

Fell deeds awake; fire and slaughter
spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
​

With apologizes to Skip (and J.R.R.), I confess I didn't notice, last week, that the federal court of appeals in California heard oral argument in the Disneyland Segway lawsuit. If you want, you can listen to a recording of the argument at this link, though for now it is windows media player format only (I will post a link to an mp3 file shortly).

Oral arguments are difficult to describe. They are much more formal than the arguments portrayed on Law and Order. The attorneys argue to a panel of three federal judges who interrupt the attorneys to ask questions. The judges do not typically rule from the bench but from their comments, the attorneys often can tell how the court will rule. Be prepared, the argument appears to last over 50 minutes.

The two Segway lawsuits have run very different courses. The Walt Disney World one having been settled as a class with the Florida judge approving the settlement, holding the new DOJ regulations invalid, and DRAFT filing an appeal from those rulings.

The Disneyland one was dismissed outright, before the DOL issue regulations, but on largely procedural grounds. The trial judge felt the Disneyland plaintiff was being too inconsistent to be permitted to claim she needed a Segway (this is the opening discussion about "estoppel"). DOJ supports the Segway users.

For what it is worth one court news organization has summarized the argument.

 

[Justin Jett]

No apology needed, my friend.

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