Another family to sue WDW

[Itchy]

Just saw this in the news.



ORLANDO, Fla. - A well-known Orlando attorney said Thursday that he has been retained by a family who claims a snake bit their 8-year-old son at Disney's Animal Kingdom, causing the boy's grandmother to go into cardiac arrest, which caused her death.

Matt Morgan said the incident occurred in October 2014 at the Walt Disney World theme park.

Morgan said he will file a formal lawsuit against Disney for the injuries sustained by the boy and the wrongful death of the woman. Morgan said the names of the family members are not being released at this time.

According to Morgan, the family claims that the snake escaped at the park and entered an area reserved for the general public. The family said the snake fell from a tree and bit the boy, according to Morgan.

Disney confirmed to News 6 that the boy was bitten by a snake at the park but said it was a wild, nonvenoumous snake, not part of the the park's collection.

Disney said the boy was treated by a park nurse, who put a Band-Aid on his finger, and the family went back into the park to enjoy the rest of their day.

The family said the boy's grandmother witnessed the incident, went into cardiac arrest and died a short time later, according to Morgan.

Disney did not address the woman's death, but a park representative said, "These allegations are an utter mischaracterization of the facts."

Morgan said he will investigate the incident through the court system.



Its terrible about the grandmother, but the snake was not WDW's..











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[joonyer]

Gotta be more to the details of this story. Grandma saw the snake bite and died shortly after, but the family went back into the park to enjoy the rest of their day after the boy was treated with a band-aid???
That just doesn't add up. Guess we'll need to wait for the rest of the story.

[Arielfan98]

I agree something is odd....if my grandmother died I wouldn't be enjoying the rest of my day at the park.

[SBETigg]

Gotta be more to the details of this story. Grandma saw the snake bite and died shortly after, but the family went back into the park to enjoy the rest of their day after the boy was treated with a band-aid???
That just doesn't add up. Guess we'll need to wait for the rest of the story.

I agree. This does not add up. In another article, the park spokesperson also added they had no ambulance call for the grandmother. Very odd. And you know Disney can easily prove that the boy was treated and went back to the park, which does not indicate the grandmother was in distress following the incident. I am sorry that this family had a vacation filled with mishaps and a tragedy, but I would need more to say that Disney was at fault here.

[VWL Mom]

You can bet if they had their MB's on Disney is aware of their every move after the incident. It's sad that the grandmother died but from what I'm reading there's no correlation between the two.

[vicster]

Crazy - the grandmother probably already had heart problems. Pretty sad

[VWL Mom]

If anyone is interested here is the attorney's press conference (http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/raw-attorney-plans-to-file-lawsuit-against-disney/vDjPmJ/).

[Altair]

You just can't make this stuff up. He needs to know what Disney knew and until he does know what Disney knew he can't tell if Disney should have known there was a problem. :bang:

[Terra]

I just read this from a local news site.
I can do nothing but shake my head. Apparently the grandmother died the next day from what I understand.
So sorry for their loss.
At the same time, sounds like they just see a money opportunity, which is honestly sickening in my opinion.
It's Florida, lost of snakes. Get over it.

[1DisneyNut]

You can bet if they had their MB's on Disney is aware of their every move after the incident. It's sad that the grandmother died but from what I'm reading there's no correlation between the two.

This is exactly what I was thinking and I mentioned this would come up at some point back a couple of years ago when Magic Bands and Guest tracking were being discussed.

It will interesting to see this play out. Disney has not used their technology to defend a lawsuit yet so there are probably going to be some surprised attorneys as well as guests. If the family continued on with their vacation that day, Disney has tracking data showing where all they went, where they ate, what they bought and what attractions they visited after this incident including the following days. They also have pictures and videos taken throughout the park automatically that they can now search for and find by their Magic Band ID's. The Magic Bands and tracking data are as much about defending frivolous lawsuits as they are introducing new features for guests.

Beyond that though, it is the Southeast and we have snakes everywhere. They were here before us so it is really us invading their space. It would be impossible for Disney to find every single little wild snake, catch it and move it out of the property and then prevent anymore from ever entering. On top of that, it wasn't even poisonous so his life wasn't in danger and also if the Grandmother had a heart attack because a snake fell out of a tree, she obviously had health issues and shouldn't have been at WDW in the first place. It is sad that the lost her though but it isn't Disney's fault.

This is just one of those cases where one of those low life ambulance chasing attorneys sees an opportunity to try to get a settlement out of Disney.

[Disney4us2]

This is exactly what I was thinking and I mentioned this would come up at some point back a couple of years ago when Magic Bands and Guest tracking were being discussed.

It will interesting to see this play out. Disney has not used their technology to defend a lawsuit yet so there are probably going to be some surprised attorneys as well as guests. If the family continued on with their vacation that day, Disney has tracking data showing where all they went, where they ate, what they bought and what attractions they visited after this incident including the following days. They also have pictures and videos taken throughout the park automatically that they can now search for and find by their Magic Band ID's. The Magic Bands and tracking data are as much about defending frivolous lawsuits as they are introducing new features for guests.

Beyond that though, it is the Southeast and we have snakes everywhere. They were here before us so it is really us invading their space. It would be impossible for Disney to find every single little wild snake, catch it and move it out of the property and then prevent anymore from ever entering. On top of that, it wasn't even poisonous so his life wasn't in danger and also if the Grandmother had a heart attack because a snake fell out of a tree, she obviously had health issues and shouldn't have been at WDW in the first place. It is sad that the lost her though but it isn't Disney's fault.

This is just one of those cases where one of those low life ambulance chasing attorneys sees an opportunity to try to get a settlement out of Disney.


Totally agree... It's on the news here. The personal injury / auto accident attorneys are always advertising on TV. Morgan &Morgan...for the people. Ha!!! I don't think I would use them now if I have a car accident.

[1DisneyNut]

Totally agree... It's on the news here. The personal injury / auto accident attorneys are always advertising on TV. Morgan &Morgan...for the people. Ha!!! I don't think I would use them now if I have a car accident.

If the need was to ever arrive, I would never ever use one of those advertising accident attorneys. They are settlement attorneys and are out to get the quick buck for themselves with an insurance settlement. Instead of working for clients who have legitimate claims, they go for quick easy insurance claims and herd as many through as fast as they can and try to avoid litigation.

[goofyskier]

This is exactly what I was thinking and I mentioned this would come up at some point back a couple of years ago when Magic Bands and Guest tracking were being discussed.

It will interesting to see this play out. Disney has not used their technology to defend a lawsuit yet so there are probably going to be some surprised attorneys as well as guests. If the family continued on with their vacation that day, Disney has tracking data showing where all they went, where they ate, what they bought and what attractions they visited after this incident including the following days. They also have pictures and videos taken throughout the park automatically that they can now search for and find by their Magic Band ID's. The Magic Bands and tracking data are as much about defending frivolous lawsuits as they are introducing new features for guests.....

I agree that this is more then likely a frivolous lawsuit but, does anyone else here find it a little disconcerting that they can track you like this? This actually makes me hate the MB's even more.

[BrerGnat]

I agree that this is more then likely a frivolous lawsuit but, does anyone else here find it a little disconcerting that they can track you like this? This actually makes me hate the MB's even more.

It's no different than store rewards cards "tracking" you. Disney only has data on you when you engage in "their" world. They track you via a list of things you did while in property that required scanning a band. Rides, purchases, entering your resort room.

This happens every day when you pay for anything anywhere with a credit card. If necessary, anyone could be "tracked" as to their habits over a specific period of time. Your monthly credit card and bank statement could paint a pretty accurate picture of where you went over the past month. Not shocking.

[goofyskier]

It's no different than store rewards cards "tracking" you. Disney only has data on you when you engage in "their" world. They track you via a list of things you did while in property that required scanning a band. Rides, purchases, entering your resort room.

This happens every day when you pay for anything anywhere with a credit card. If necessary, anyone could be "tracked" as to their habits over a specific period of time. Your monthly credit card and bank statement could paint a pretty accurate picture of where you went over the past month. Not shocking.

True but my credit card doesn't tell Walmart I'm walking down the sock aisle. It doesn't say I'm in the bathroom and doesn't track my route to / from the store. The whole idea of tracking at this level is unnerving And honestly seems excessive of true.

I should say I am biased though. I don't like the MB system nor the absurdity of planning a 5 minute ride 90 days before I'm going to ride it.

[BrerGnat]

True but my credit card doesn't tell Walmart I'm walking down the sock aisle. It doesn't say I'm in the bathroom and doesn't track my route to / from the store. The whole idea of tracking at this level is unnerving And honestly seems excessive of true.

I should say I am biased though. I don't like the MB system nor the absurdity of planning a 5 minute ride 90 days before I'm going to ride it.

I'm not sure the magic bands track at that detailed a level. They do require an interaction with an RFID reader. I doubt Disney planted them in the amount required for that kind of precision.

[Tekneek]

If it is frivolous, it will be dismissed quickly and relatively effortlessly (for a company like Disney).

As far as the bands go, we used them during an opt-in testing period. There were attraction photos associated with us that we did not scan our bands for (we did not use FP+ entrances for them), so they were picking that information up in some non-obtrusive way. I don't think they can detect and track your every movement around the parks/property, but they probably have a good idea of which attractions your band went on.

[Lizzy]

Totally agree... It's on the news here. The personal injury / auto accident attorneys are always advertising on TV. Morgan &Morgan...for the people. Ha!!! I don't think I would use them now if I have a car accident.

If this is the same Morgan & Morgan attorney, then I am actually surprised that they are representing. Morgan used to work for Disney and uses that fact in his ad campaigns.

I can see where the extra exercise, added to the incident of a snake falling on your grandchild at AK, could cause someone with a heart condition to have an adverse reaction.

I wonder though, were they staying on property? Who took grandma to the hospital? What does her medical record say about when the symptoms began?

Wild snake or not, had it been the child that had passed away, Disney would still be liable because the snake was on their property, and guests on the property are given the assumption that they are safe while attending the parks. So they may get something out of the child's snake bite. And you could go down the line of the fact that if grandma was so upset by the incident she may have gone back to the hotel by herself and then was later taken to the hospital by the family due to chest pains.

Disney will probably end up settling on this one

[1DisneyNut]

I agree that this is more then likely a frivolous lawsuit but, does anyone else here find it a little disconcerting that they can track you like this? This actually makes me hate the MB's even more.


It's no different than store rewards cards "tracking" you. Disney only has data on you when you engage in "their" world. They track you via a list of things you did while in property that required scanning a band. Rides, purchases, entering your resort room.

This happens every day when you pay for anything anywhere with a credit card. If necessary, anyone could be "tracked" as to their habits over a specific period of time. Your monthly credit card and bank statement could paint a pretty accurate picture of where you went over the past month. Not shocking.


I'm not sure the magic bands track at that detailed a level. They do require an interaction with an RFID reader. I doubt Disney planted them in the amount required for that kind of precision.


If it is frivolous, it will be dismissed quickly and relatively effortlessly (for a company like Disney).

As far as the bands go, we used them during an opt-in testing period. There were attraction photos associated with us that we did not scan our bands for (we did not use FP+ entrances for them), so they were picking that information up in some non-obtrusive way. I don't think they can detect and track your every movement around the parks/property, but they probably have a good idea of which attractions your band went on.

Here is a quote from Disney's website regarding the Magic Bands:

Each MagicBand contains an HF Radio Frequency device and a transmitter which sends and receives RF signals through a small antenna inside the MagicBand and enables it to be detected at short-range touch points throughout Walt Disney World Resort. MagicBands can also be read by long-range readers located at Walt Disney World Resort used to deliver personalized experiences, as well as provide information that helps us improve the overall experience in our parks.

You can find the page containing that information here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/my-disney-experience/frequency-technology/

I saw a post somewhere a while back where someone had cut a Magic Band open and sure enough they contain both short range and long range RFID circuits. The short range is used for personal use things such as entering attractions with FP+ and purchase payments. The long range is used for tracking purposes.

We rode attractions without using FP+ and the system took videos as well as still pictures precisely of us so their system knows exactly where you are. The antennas and wiring for this technology are extremely cheap so they could easily blanket the entire park and resort with these things and know within 50 ft of where you were at any given moment if they chose to go to that detail. Regardless, if they have not yet reached that level of coverage, you can bet they will just for instances like these where they can head off frivolous lawsuits. All it has to do is defend one or two of these types of suits and it will have paid for itself.

We really don't know how far they have gone with it yet but as lawsuits come up, we will probably start getting ideas because the data will be presented as defense. One thing we do know for sure right now though, is they definitely collect enough data to know what rides you rode at what times, they have pictures and videos of you riding rides and they also know exactly when you entered and left the park (you can safely assume they have long range at the exits to collect data on how long people stay in the parks).

[#1donaldfan]

Better call Saul !! haaaha.....Someone is always looking for that angle !!

As far as the chips and tracking me in the parks, that bothers me none. I am on their property, enjoying their attractions, they have every right to know what I am up to. If they want to track my bathroom breaks, that's fine too, so long as they don't start charging me extra for the TP. hahaha !!!

[Goofy4TheWorld]

...so long as they don't start charging me extra for the TP. hahaha !!!

Single ply will remain free, but there will be an upcharge for 2-ply, colored, or scented.;)

[Tekneek]

We really don't know how far they have gone with it yet but as lawsuits come up, we will probably start getting ideas because the data will be presented as defense. One thing we do know for sure right now though, is they definitely collect enough data to know what rides you rode at what times, they have pictures and videos of you riding rides and they also know exactly when you entered and left the park (you can safely assume they have long range at the exits to collect data on how long people stay in the parks).

Thanks for the information about the short/long range. I knew, from personal experience, that they were getting it from more than the FP+/payment short range stuff that most people believed were the only use cases, but I had not read further into it.

On one hand, I look forward to the possible filing of lawsuits and the details that may emerge as a result. It would be very interesting to find out, through either the defense argument or the discovery process itself, what data Disney has, what granular level it is collected at, and how long that information is stored.

[gsimpson]

Too bad the ambulance chasing lawyers are still collecting sleaze bags to clog the courts with nonsense law suits.