Disneyland Negligence Case

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Abstract Disneyland, theme park located in Anaheim, California, was sued by Mr. Steven Wilson after an incident involving the roller coaster Splash Mountain. Wilson said the incident left him with a back injury and sued the theme park for negligence. The jury ruled that all though they believed the cast to be negligent, the negligence did not cause the back injury. In March of 2010, Steven Wilson, his wife, and a small group of his friends spend the day at Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California. What was supposed to be a fun filled day ended in what Wilson claimed to be an act of negligence by the employees of the park causing him to leave the cartoon theme park with excruciating back pain. While on the roller coaster …show more content…

Disneyland had a few counterarguments to Wilson’s claim. One of the points Disneyland made was that the car was technically not overloaded with weight. The park also argued that there was no requirement of tying down the car during evacuation, taking blame away from the employee. The employee in charge of running the ride in question also stated during the trial that Wilson never actually lost his balance while trying to evacuate the car. When an expert witness was called in the favor of Disneyland, the witness stated that “Wilson had a long-standing history of degenerative disc disease and the evacuation did not cause or exacerbate Wilson’s back problems.” says Burgin (2014). Burgin (2014) also stated, after explaining that Wilson’s pre-existing back condition was actually a degenerative spine condition, that “Under California law, Wilson had to prove that Disneyland’s negligence was a “substantial factor” in causing his injuries.” The accident, though it could have very well caused Wilson some pain, did not play any part in the initial “injury” itself. This explains why the jury ruled the way that they did. Wilson claimed that he would be seeking a new trial, but would have to provide significant evidence of error in the first trial to win his case. Because he has

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