Woman suffered crushed spine on Harry Potter ride; jury awards her $7.25 million

An Arizona pistillate has been awarded $7.25 cardinal by a national tribunal successful California aft a time of magic astatine the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with her grandson ended with her successful an ambulance.

This month, a assemblage recovered Universal Studios Hollywood liable for the crushed spine that lawyers said 74-year-old Pamela Morrison suffered erstwhile exiting the “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” thrust successful September 2022. She had been asked to exit the thrust aft her harness failed to secure, past slipped erstwhile stepping from the moving walkway onto coagulated ground, according to tribunal documents.

“The loop was inactive moving, and truthful my ft went connected that loop and past ... my different ft went connected to the stationary floor, and it knocked maine disconnected my feet,” said Morrison, describing the autumn successful tribunal documents.

At trial, her attorney, Taylor Kruse, argued that the autumn was owed to employees’ nonaccomplishment to halt the moving walkway and let the pistillate to exit the thrust successful a harmless manner, causing her to endure an intensely achy wounded that temporarily prevented her from utilizing the bath independently, according to reporting by Law360.

Kruse argued that stopping the loop would person been a safe, casual and tenable happening to do, but the Universal City amusement parkland wanted to “keep the thrust moving nary substance what” and conscionable its extremity of seating 1,800 riders per hour, the ineligible tract reported.

Much of the lawsuit hinged connected a fewer seconds of surveillance camera video showing the fall.

The defence squad for Universal Studios argued, according to the ineligible site, that the video showed Morrison was focused connected her grandson and not connected wherever she was stepping, truthful the autumn was her fault.

In tribunal documents, the company’s attorneys alleged that Morrison “failed to usage and exercise, for her ain protection, the due care, and precautions reasonably prudent radical nether the aforesaid oregon akin circumstances would person exercised.”

Nevertheless, the assemblage was not swayed, uncovering the taxable parkland to beryllium liable for creating the unsafe conditions that led to Morrison’s accident.

Safety adept Ban Choi, of the Institute of Risk and Safety Analyses, said the plan of the thrust was unsafe due to the fact that it required radical to measurement perpendicularly disconnected the moving walkway onto the stationary floor.

“Entering and exiting a moving walkway perturbs the gait stableness of the walkers, adjacent erstwhile entering/exiting successful the longitudinal absorption of the moving walkway,” helium wrote successful a reappraisal of the incidental submitted to the court. “Given that Plaintiff Morrison was walking successful the lateral absorption of the moving walkway portion feeling rushed to get disconnected the moving walkway, her gait instability would person been greater.”

A erstwhile Times investigation showed that being injured erstwhile getting connected oregon disconnected a ride is reasonably common, accounting for astir 1 successful 8 mishap reports astatine Southern California taxable parks.

After the fall, Morrison was transported to a infirmary successful an ambulance and incurred important aesculapian expenses. She suffered a fracture successful her little backmost and a important teardrop successful immoderate of the muscles astir her hep that assistance with question and stability, according to tribunal documents.

A assemblage awarded her $250,000 successful economical damages, $2 cardinal successful past noneconomic damages and $5 cardinal successful aboriginal noneconomic damages, according to tribunal documents.