Disney Paying $24K to Walt Disney World Resort Guest whose Foot was Run over by a Food Cart

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Cinderella´s Castle at Magic Kingdom Disney World

Credit: Disney

According to CVN, a Walt Disney World guest largely responsible for a restaurant accident she says left her with a rare nerve disorder was awarded $24,000 in her suit against Disney, almost half the original amount of the award at $59,840.

CVN reports that in the suit Wilson v. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, the Florida State Court’s Ninth Circuit jury found Disney Parks and Resorts only 40% responsible for injuries Jessica Wilson says she suffered in June 2013 when an employee ran over her foot with a food service bussing cart.

Related: Select Walt Disney World Resort guests can purchase extra FastPasses starting this month

Disney's Art of Animation Resort
Credit: Disney

Wilson says the accident, which occurred at a food court in Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, led her to suffer debilitating complex regional pain syndrome, also known as CRPS. The syndrome is a rare nerve condition that causes chronic pain.

CVN reports that as part of the findings by the court, 60% of the responsibility for the accident was attributed to Wilson herself, which likely reduced the jury’s $59,840 award to less than $24,000.

When the case first went to court last Wednesday, Jan. 30, Wilson’s lawyer Nelson Tyrone requested more than $11 million for Wilson and her husband, including more than $4.4 million in future medical expenses.

“All of her doctors say it’s going to be life-long pain, and life-long medication, and life-long treatment [for Wilson]. No matter how good it gets, that’s as good as it’s going to get,” Tyrone said as he detailed the medical treatments Wilson needs for the pain, which reportedly radiate up her leg.

According to CVN, during Wednesday’s closings, Tyrone told jurors the cart, pushed by an unidentified Disney employee, ran over Wilson’s foot as she turned around from a condiment station. Tyrone said Disney employees who testified agreed that workers should push the carts slowly and yield the right-of-way to guests. “Every Disney employee said, ‘if it happened the way she says it happened, then [the worker was] violating the rules,'” Tyrone told jurors.

CVN reports that the defense challenged Wilson’s version of events, noting it had changed over time. During Wednesday’s closings, Wicker Smith’s (a Florida-based law firm) Kurt Spengler told jurors that Wilson stated the wheel ran over her foot twice. However, Spengler said that contention changed when experts testified how difficult it would be to push the wheel over Wilson’s foot even once. “Here we are six years later. [Plaintiffs] are in court asking for millions of dollars, and now here’s the story that’s made to fit the picture after hearing what the engineers say isn’t possible,” said Spengler.

Disney's Art of Animation "Lion King" wing
Credit: Disney

Spengler challenged the severity of Wilson’s injury, arguing that CRPS expert Dr. Richard Rauck testified her symptoms did not match the disease. “Now Mrs. Wilson says, ‘You know what? Twenty-eight days a month my foot looks completely normal,'” Spengler said, referring to discoloration and swelling seen in CRPS. “Guess what? That’s not CRPS, then. Because that’s not what happens.”

Source: (CVN) Courtroom View Network 

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