The latest batch of Orange County filings.
On August 13, Stephen Addezio, a guest at Blizzard Beach, filed a lawsuit claiming that he "was given permission by the lifeguard on duty and the green light from the ride authorizing Plaintiff to go down the Snow Stormers water slide. Unbeknownst to Plaintiff, the rider in front of Plaintiff had become stuck on the slide prior to him. Plaintiff made impact with the rider causing Plaintiff to sustain injuries as set forth herein."
The Space Mountain trip lawsuit generated some publicity. Here is the material allegation from the complaint:
On or about September 27, 2017 at approximately 3:00 p.m., Plaintiff, SAMANTHA HOWARD, together with her husband, two daughters, grandson and daughter’s boyfriend visited Defendant’s premises located at the above address as a business invitee. Plaintiff, family and friends decided to ride Space Mountain. When it was Plaintiff’s turn to get into the car she attempted to climb down into the car, but due to poor lighting she wasn’t aware that the safety restraint lap bar was still engaged in the down position and her foot got caught in the lap bar. Plaintiff lost her balance and fell causing her to sustain catastrophic injuries.
The falling
scooter lawsuit made a lot of press and had generated a good bit of confusion/comment on the
disABILITIES! forum:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...y-world-bus-ride.3763529/page-2#post-60947279 with some questioning how the accident could have happened. Unfortunately, the complaint is quite vague on this point. The two allegations which describe what happened state:
- At the aforementioned time and place, the bus also contained a passenger seated on a motorized scooter rented or obtained from the Defendant and the motorized scooter was not secured at the location to the safety device on the bus wherein such scooters are to be secured.
- Negligently entrusting a dangerous instrumentality, to-wit: a transport bus, to a driver who allowed passengers, in particular EMILY A. ROSE, to sit in the vicinity of an unsecured motorized scooter, when it was foreseeable that the scooter would tip over when the bus made a turn;
This is a minor thing but a guest sued Disney Parks for a fall while at Old Key West. She later amended the complaint - changing Disney Parks to Disney Vacation Club Management LLC. I guess that makes sense. I just never thought that a separate entity owned the
DVC properties.
And to update previously filed lawsuits.
Last week, Disney filed a motion to dismiss a slip and fall lawsuit filed by Barbara Keough who claimed she fell while walking down the walkway to Kali River Rapids. Disney's motion argues (from the summary)
This case arises from an alleged trip and fall on or about September 16, 2018 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In paragraph 5 of Plaintiff’s Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that she “fell at the Kali River Rapids park attraction as a result of a hazardous condition while walking down the walkway…” Aside from paragraph 5, the Complaint is completely devoid of any other facts regarding the alleged incident. Plaintiff’s complaint should be dismissed as Plaintiff has failed to plead any facts in support of her negligence claim. The Complaint consists of nothing more than conclusory factual allegations and legal conclusions. Moreover, Plaintiff fails to allege a dangerous condition for which Defendant could be liable.
Disney also filed discovery requests at the same time. That may seem redundant but getting a court to rule on a motion to dismiss takes months (if you are lucky) so Disney's counsel is probably being more cautious than pessimistic.
There's been no response to Disney's motion to dismiss the Poly Dock Bird(s) Attack lawsuit. It's been more than 30 days since Disney filed the motion. Perhaps that's unremarkable for Florida courts. One court I practice in requires responses to motions be filed only a matter of days before the hearing on the motion.
A
prior post mentioned that Disney has moved for summary judgment on Eva Maceil's lawsuit seeking damages after she stepped down from the public stockage in Liberty Square. While there earlier this month, I hurriedly snapped a photo.
* Note - I'm adding names to the lawsuit descriptions for two reasons. The name is a matter of public record and, more importantly, it helps me keep track of the status of the lawsuit.
Last week, there were two other lawsuits filed in Orange County. I don't have access to those complaints yet.
No substantive movement in the bed bugs lawsuit. Court ordered mediation is to happen in October. There's been no response to the suggestion of death in the dog lady lawsuit. There's still a month or so before one is due.