Courts

Woman Sues Disney After Waterslide Causes Permanent Bodily Injury

I advise you to add Humunga Kowabunga to the 'Do Not Ride' list.

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(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

If the fallout between Disney and DeSantis has taught us anything, it should be that Disney’s lawyers and PR team are amazing. A woman’s life was irrevocably changed by one of the amusement park’s rides and major news outlets are emphasizing the wedgie part and not the grievous bodily harm with their titles. I’m not disputing that a wedgie happened, but someone should be taken to task for burying the lede. Wedgies generally aren’t thought of as being dangerous. Sure, they’ll put a huge damper on your social life, but that blight usually clears up once you graduate high school. But they aren’t always child’s play — wedgies can be fatal. And while the damage caused by the ride wasn’t intentional, it definitely looks like it would have happened to someone eventually. From CNN:

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is facing a lawsuit related to an “injurious wedgie” that court documents allege resulted from riding a 214-foot water slide in the resort’s Typhoon Lagoon water park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

The suit pertains to an incident that took place on October 14, 2019, on the Humunga Kowabunga water slide during a two-week visit to Walt Disney World by plaintiffs Emma and Edward McGuinness and their family. The family visited the resort in part to celebrate Emma McGuinness’ 30th birthday.

…

The suit, which was filed last week in the Circuit Court for Orange County, Florida, alleges that Disney knew, or should have known, of the risk of painful “wedgies,” particularly for women.

Now, before you get all McDonald’s hot coffee tort reformy on me, two things. First, the hot coffee incident was actually horrifying. Second, this was not your average schoolyard wedgie:

With a bit of context as an appetizer, the complaint should make a lot more sense:

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The plaintiffs are seeking “damages exceeding $50,000, exclusive of interest and costs” for the count of negligence…The suit alleges that Disney “was negligent and breached its duties of reasonable care” in failing to provide protective clothing, such as shorts, for the slide; failing to warn McGuinness and other women of the risks; and other design and safety failures.

The suit says that McGuinness assumed the appropriate position with her ankles crossed, “as instructed,” but she became airborne toward the end of the slide and slammed into the slide “which increased the likelihood of her legs becoming uncrossed or otherwise exposing herself to injury.”

The documents state that McGuinness suffered severe and permanent bodily injury. After the water was “violently forced inside her,” blood rushed from between her legs. The injuries were so serious that, after visiting the first hospital, they had to take her to a separate hospital with a doctor that specializes in gynecologic injury.

McGuinness and her husband are suing for compensatory damages and demanding a jury trial. I’d be doing so too — arbitrators have a tendency to negotiate in ways that are deferential to larger companies. In a case like this, I’d pick an impartial jury over some arbitrator that may want to get hired by Disney again any day. Best of luck to the McGuinesses. And if you have a plan to go to Disney’s Florida amusement park, there’s a ride you might want to warn people to skip.

Disney Sued Over ‘Severe’ Injuries Allegedly Caused By ‘Wedgie’ From Water Slide [CNN]

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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