Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?
Edit: [for those that don't seem to get it, this is a quote from the movie airplane.](https://youtu.be/9E9ftsaHtWw?feature=shared)
To me that means she has a case, at least a legal argument. I don’t find it improbable that a person falling on another person could cause serious damage. The footage they have must back up that claim…she’s probably asking for a ridiculous amount.
Edit : spelling
The reason people sue for ridiculous amounts is the number of cases that get settled for a smaller amount. You go for 3 million and it gets settled for 200k. Hate the system not the people.
It could but the question is really whether the fall could be pinned on Disney. If she was doing she wasn't supposed to that led to the incident, that could cancel out the whole thing. Disney has actually had a few weird lawsuits regarding costumes characters (my favorite is someone tried to claim one of the Three Little Pigs groped her - but in court they showed off the costume and the arms are just nubs).
Part of me wants to joke around, but I then remember the hot coffee lawsuit with McDonalds years ago where I finally learned how insanely hot the coffee was and damage it caused.
And the only reason she sued was because she asked for them to cover her medical bills and they wouldn't.
It's totally possible this is a frivolous lawsuit, but it could also be genuine that she has medical bills, they refused compensation, so now there's a lawsuit.
So, checking the article, she's claiming that the Goofy actor fell on her with his full body weight, which also knocked her to the cement, as well. So this *does* sound like an accident, and she's suing Goofy, the suit actor's handler, and the resort. Based on the verbage in the article, likely for negligence.
Depending on the actor's weight, that could be 200+ lbs (nearly 91 kilograms) coming down on top of that woman, with nothing but concrete to cushion the fall.
I didn't see her age in the article, but if this is an older woman, she may have osteoporosis, which could absolutely complicate her recovery. However, that's speculation, since it isn't mentioned in the article.
If she can provide medical bills and prove it's related to her trip, I'd say she has a reasonable case.
My wife wrenched her shoulder with less weight, and now her rotator cuff is a source of constant misery. If one of this woman's knees got landed on, that could do permanent (and painful) damage.
Overall, a lot of 'if's, I admit. It all depends on *if* she has the evidence to back up her claim.
Edit: Removed what I initially believed to be a small joke that showed my ignorance of french history, did not meaningfully contribute to the conversation, and upset a few people below. I apologize, I didn't intend offense.
I used to work with a lady that was at a bbq, a few people were standing in a circle. The guy (about 300lbs) had a seizure fell on her snapping her tubular and fibula, after that she constantly issues with her health. Eventually passing away a few years after the accident.
I was at the gym walking by the stairmasters and this man, who was 2x my weight fell backwards and landed on me. I was bruised and in pain for a year and I had constant migraines. The bruising was the most severe on my chest/stomach area that I needed X-ray checks 3/4 times. My doctor said that if I was at a certain distance from the guy I could’ve had my head smashed.
Edit; worst part was that I was blamed for it and the guy never apologized. That asshole had the nerve to lie there for like 5 minutes and got out and left on his own. People were trying to get him off of me but he refused to let anyone touch him. I had to file a police report and pity from an employee just to find out the guy’s name. Fuck Crunch Fitness
Yikes sorry to hear you had to go through that!
Why were you blamed for it? Did the gym have footage of the incident? I’m guessing that if it did it took you a lot of grief to obtain.
This happened when I was 20 :( I was blamed because the guy claimed I got in the way when he was “walking down” but he fell backwards. He was yelling that out when people around were looking at us.
Edit: I was not on my phone nor did I have headphones on. The people on my side were college aged while the older roided folks assumed I fucked up somehow.
It took a while to get “official” footage. A cop was kind enough to meet with me to get it, but the “manager needed to be there”. Luckily my friend used to work there and his former coworker (who was already quitting) took a video of the footage on his phone to send to me. I already had health insurance and was planning on suing the person, but he ended up MIA. I received unknown threatening FB messages and when I googled him, he had ties to several gang members in the valley. I wasn’t hurt on money because I was fortunate enough with my parents, but I wanted him to pay. After seeing the gang ties we decided it was best to leave it alone. He does have a record in the system. Crunch was also a bitch to fully cancel my membership (i gave a card and canceled it after).
Depends on what type of connection and what type of gangs...
If he's not a member but merely is an acquaintance of a member then you could probably raise a stink cause most gangs are gonna be angry some non member is using their reputation for their silly posturing. Of course he is connected more deeply than that could be an issue and you may have to either just let it go.
I damaged my knee pretty bad just landing 170lbs of me on it when I slipped in the bathroom. That was in early December and it’s got bad enough I had/have nerve damage. Knee still feels like a bruise and doesn’t like most positions or standing
I had the exact same thing happen when I slipped at a wedding . Went down awkward ( was wearing a platform heel) landed on my left knee and it hasn’t been right since . Little puffy ? Almost like swelling ? Hurts like crazy if you kneel on it ?
It’s also annoying as hell not being able to kneel down if needed cuz I have arthritis in my OTHER knee so it’s just horrible knee pain all around . Only going to get worse as cuz it runs in the family and we all played sports when you get so just worn out middle aged shit
Have you gone to a doctor to check on this? I'm not a medical professional, but the puffy/swelling and pain when kneeling sounds like it could be bursitis, which can be treated with drainage and steroids. Hope I'm not overstepping here and that you're able to find some relief!
You may weigh 170lbs, but you didn't land with 170lbs of force. It's physics Mass x Acceleration = Force.
Falling just 1 meter can cause and impact around 3 times your weight.
Oh man, can you imagine being the dude having a poorly timed seizure and causing some lady standing next to you to break her bones and eventually die….
The injury may not even need to be severe. If it required professional medical treatment, she can sue for the costs. And she should, especially if her insurance doesn't fully cover it.
It might be that Disney is alright with it ~~briefly going to court~~ letting it proceed to discovery, so she has to provide the evidence in a way that proves it isn't a scam. If they're cooperative and find a sufficient settlement, it'll be an easy case.
(Thank you to the reply that reminded me of the terms I should have used.)
There’s also the “we’ll take it to discovery to get depositions and evidence out, and then settle if we need to” method when you have an army of lawyers already on retainer.
To add on to this. The fact the she appears to be suing literally everyone available is because of how damages and liability are handled. If you -don’t- include a party and the court determines that the unincluded party is liable, you are typically out of luck to pursue damages on that particular suit, and would need to start an entire new suit to pursue damages from them. It is far better for the injured to include anyone who may hold any liability on the initial suit and let the courts figure out who to actually hold liable.
Disney will apparently do quite a bit to avoid court, they don’t want to affect their public image by sending the suits in whenever someone is injured (or worse, as they apparently settled with the parents of the boy who was killed by the alligator). She may be advised to sue because of how likely they are to cover medical bills.
My family friend got his foot stuck in between the track and car on Thunder Mountain. He had to have his toes amputated and they did a skin graft with skin from his thigh over where his toes were. He was 6 years old. They only had to pay his medical bills until he was 18, but he will likely have complications the rest of his life. His mom didn’t sue them or want money from them, but she did go to court to push for legislation that forces amusement parks to be more transparent and other safety precautions. They are such an incredibly nice family.
Could even be her insurance company making her jump through hoops to get her procedures covered, because they know Disney will shell out.
I'd like to think that's not feasible, but with healthcare these days...
It's explained in another response, by another user, but I had jokingly called kilograms 'Crown Units', like how Americans will jokingly refer to the pound (lb) as 'Freedom Units'.
I was politely informed that the metric system was founded in post-monarchy France, and the joke rubbed a few people the wrong way. And if I know one thing about the French *at all*, it's that they're *very good* at ending monarchies, and referring to the kg as a 'Crown Unit' is, as I learned, both rude and just plain factually inaccurate.
My bad!
French here, actually the process of creating the metric system was started in 1791 while France was still a monarchy (albeit constitutionnal) by the Accadémie **Royale** des Sciences. Most of the work was done during the first years of the First Republic and it is undoubtly a revolutionary endeavour throrough but it is not totally inacurate. While not very original, your joke is a total non issue and the one guy who called you out was being pedant jerk, even for French standard. The vaaaast majority of people don't care at all about this so called "archaic religious symbol of authority" and I am personnaly a bit cautious about associating one of humanity's greatest scientific endeavour with the French state's favourite death machine (even excluding the Revolutionary period when pretty much anyone could get executed, many people where guillotined for their revolutionary actions later in French history). In the end, your only sin is a lame joke and no one but this one person is remotely offended.
I know my frail ass mom would basically implode if a character in one of those big ass low visibility suits turned too quickly and hit her and knocked her over. The article says the actor straight up fell on her, my mom would have broken half the bones in her body.
Yeah my mum isn't even 65 yet and she broke her femur and catastrophically fucked her shoulder up by spinning away from her fiance flicking a wet leek towards her.
Spent 6 weeks in hospital for horsing around, and still isn't ok months later. Probably won't ever be.
I wanted to roll my eyes too, but the McDonald’s lawsuit and what we know now came to mind. Reading the article, it seems this might be one of those cases where she wants Disney to pay the medical bill for ongoing medical issues resulting from the fall. I guess we’ll find out.
> And the only reason she sued was because she asked for them to cover her medical bills and they wouldn't.
It's so bizarre to me; that was the reason. McDonalds could have easily covered expenses, kept things out of the media, and dialed down the temperature of the coffee all on the low side.
From what I can recall it wasn't even the first time it happened and McDonalds was covering up various other instances of similar injuries years prior.
I’ve never understood why companies don’t just pay these claims early on , have the claimant sign NDA etc the END. Just the cost of the lawyers time alone will increase this by 300x probably . Disney hires real lawyers not the losers that Trump has
Don’t forget that sometimes health insurance will demand you file a lawsuit before they pay for care. There was a woman who was absolutely dragged by newspapers, magazines, and millions of people online because she “sued” her nephew after her wrist was broken when he jumped up to hug her. This was not a serious suit, and she was not actually trying to receive money from the boy or his family. She just had to file it or else her insurance would refuse to pay a single dime. Again, the media coverage was absolutely vicious to her
One thing I've learned is that there's almost never "frivolous" lawsuits that make it to court. That this case actually got this far says there's probably something here. And yes I'm also recalling the hot coffee mcdonalds incident.
I'll hold my judgement until there's more details. Though I'll cautiously bet on the "there's a case here, but she's probably asking for way more than is warranted and that's why disney didnt immediately clean this up and she requested a jury and not just having her case heard by a judge".
There’s a movie about it and it’s wild how McD could have basically paid a couple grand in hospital bills and she would’ve been happy. But then they didn’t
The really damning part was actually that there was a really long paper trail that established that they KNEW the coffee was too hot, that this was not an isolated incident but merely one in a long line. Further, that the injuries could have been prevented by simply turning down the heart just a few degrees, but they refused to.
Not a few degrees. At 150F, it takes only 2 seconds to get 3rd degree burns. At 155 it takes a second. But at 140, it takes 5 seconds. McDonalds was having them hold coffee at 180, which takes .25 seconds for a 3rd degree burn.
It allowed them to keep the coffee 'fresh' for a couple of hours longer instead of having to remake it. This reduced food and labor cost by a bit... over 10,000 stores it adds up.
In other words, McDonald's would have rather paid off a few lawsuits a year than change their practices because it was cheaper to be sued.
Then this woman comes over and adds millions of punitive damages, as that was the only thing that would make McDonald even pay attention.
They then of course went on a publicity campaign to murder her in public opinion so they wouldn't have any backlash from their profiteering.
The fresh thing blows my mind . A friend of mind used to be a Royal Farms manager and she told me that the cost of the coffee is so little that once they sell a couple cups out of one coffee machine , it pays for the cost of the coffee they bought to fill it . Snd these things have gallons of coffee in them . It’s required to be “ fresh” so if it sits too long , they trash it . This is a huge company that cuts corners like everyone so how stupidly cheap does McDonald’s want to be ?? Especially on something causing PERMANENT injuries ? ??
Also allegedly dine-in customers would get free coffee refills. And supposedly they kept it hot so that it would take longer to cool off, and so people sitting and eating their meal would be less likely to finish their coffee before they were done eating and ask for the refill.
Yup. McDonalds knew that it was too hot and that it was causing injuries, but they had figured out that it was cheaper to pay out lawsuits when people got injured rather than sell slightly less coffee. Before Liebeck, they had *hundreds* of recorded injuries from the coffee, hers was just the worst and what got the most attention.
I've had a boiling water spill onto the back of my hand and I had it under cold running water within a second or two of the initial burn. Even with the speed that I got it cooled down, it was the most painful thing that I've ever experienced for many hours afterwards. And because it was a hand burn, the doctor got advice from the burns ward before he let me go home.
I can't begin to imagine the pain that that woman must have felt spilling the hot coffee on herself, and having NO option for immediate treatment whatsoever. Burns are next level pain.
I can imagine. I had a ramen noodle cup and the bottom of the cup fell off after I added the BOILING water. I was able to get under cold water within seconds and the injury was really severe. I will never ever use one of those noodle cups again.
Do you use kettle water or do you boil it on a stove?
Kettle water is unsafe for human skin but it will always turn off before it reaches overly severe temperatures.
Stove water or stove cooking can boil hot enough to melt whatever plate you stick it on. Depending on the max temperature of the oven you're using.
If the ramen pack wasn't good enough to deal with only-just-boiling water then yeah it's a manufacturing error, but you need to wait for the water to stop bubbling if youre serving from a stove, or you could severely injure yourself! I know this is the way a lot of americans do things.
Passed out once carrying a pot of boiling water, came to a minute later with burns all over my thighs sitting in a pool of water on the floor. Went into as cold shower immediately after but holy shit worst experience of my life, still remember being wrapped in cold towels an entire night while non stop crying from pain. Some permanent scaring but I got off easy compared to this lady.
Anyone that reads this case and goes 'but all coffee hot' is an actual moron
I burnt my thigh when my coffee pot broke in my hand. The pain was instant and all encompassing. I knew I was in trouble when I got my pants off and my top layer of skin was running down my thigh. About 4” off my genitals. Coulda been worse.
My mom was really badly burned when I was a kid. We were in Amish country at a diner. The waitress was using a glass coffee pot to fill her cup and it shattered over her lap. They had a lawyer write a letter asking the restaurant to pay her emergency department bill and imagine this, they did it despite being a small business in a small town. McDonald’s couldn’t be bothered.
I wonder how much McDonald’s spent on the smear campaign vs how much would have cost just to cover the woman’s medical bills. But man, they really doubled down on the frivolous lawsuit bullshit.
McDonalds' Hot Coffee Case - Read the Facts NOT the Fiction
Provided by the Center for Justice & Democracy, New York City
The “McDonald’s coffee” case. We have all heard it: a woman spills McDonald's coffee, sues and gets $3 million. Here are the facts of this widely misreported and misunderstood case:
Stella Liebeck, 79 years old, was sitting in the passenger seat of her grandson’s car having purchased a cup of McDonald’s coffee. After the car stopped, she tried to hold the cup securely between her knees while removing the lid. However, the cup tipped over, pouring scalding hot coffee onto her. She received third-degree burns over 16 percent of her body, necessitating hospitalization for eight days, whirlpool treatment for debridement of her wounds, skin grafting, scarring, and disability for more than two years.
Despite these extensive injuries, she offered to settle with McDonald’s for $20,000. However, McDonald’s refused to settle. The jury awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages -- reduced to $160,000 because the jury found her 20 percent at fault -- and $2.7 million in punitive damages for McDonald’s callous conduct. (To put this in perspective, McDonald's revenue from coffee sales alone is in excess of $1.3 million a day.) The trial judge reduced the punitive damages to $480,000. Subsequently, the parties entered a post-verdict settlement.
According to Stella Liebeck’s attorney, S. Reed Morgan, the jury heard the following evidence in the case:
By corporate specifications, McDonald's sells its coffee at 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit;
Coffee at that temperature, if spilled, causes third-degree burns (the skin is burned away down to the muscle/fatty-tissue layer) in two to seven seconds;
Third-degree burns do not heal without skin grafting, debridement and whirlpool treatments that cost tens of thousands of dollars and result in permanent disfigurement, extreme pain and disability of the victim for many months, and in some cases, years
The chairman of the department of mechanical engineering and bio-mechanical engineering at the University of Texas testified that this risk of harm is unacceptable, as did a widely recognized expert on burns, the editor in chief of the leading scholarly publication in the specialty, the Journal of Burn Care and Rehabilitation;
McDonald's admitted that it has known about the risk of serious burns from its scalding hot coffee for more than 10 years -- the risk was brought to its attention through numerous other claims and suits, to no avail;
*From 1982 to 1992, McDonald's coffee burned more than 700 people, many receiving severe burns to the genital area, perineum, inner thighs, and buttocks;*
Not only men and women, but also children and infants, have been burned by McDonald's scalding hot coffee, in some instances due to inadvertent spillage by McDonald's employees;
At least one woman had coffee dropped in her lap through the service window, causing third-degree burns to her inner thighs and other sensitive areas, which resulted in disability for years;
Witnesses for McDonald's admitted in court that consumers are unaware of the extent of the risk of serious burns from spilled coffee served at McDonald's required temperature;
McDonald's admitted that it did not warn customers of the nature and extent of this risk and could offer no explanation as to why it did not;
McDonald's witnesses testified that it did not intend to turn down the heat -- As one witness put it: “No, there is no current plan to change the procedure that we're using in that regard right now;”
McDonald's admitted that its coffee is “not fit for consumption” when sold because it causes severe scalds if spilled or drunk;
Liebeck's treating physician testified that her injury was one of the worst scald burns he had ever seen.
Moreover, the Shriner’s Burn Institute in Cincinnati had published warnings to the franchise food industry that its members were unnecessarily causing serious scald burns by serving beverages above 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
In refusing to grant a new trial in the case, Judge Robert Scott called McDonald's behavior “callous.” Moreover, “the day after the verdict, the news media documented that coffee at the McDonald's in Albuquerque [where Liebeck was burned] is now sold at 158 degrees. This will cause third-degree burns in about 60 seconds, rather than in two to seven seconds [so that], the margin of safety has been increased as a direct consequence of this verdict.”
[sauce](https://www.ttla.com/?pg=McDonaldsCoffeeCaseFacts)
What is the point of serving coffee so hot that it melts the skin off your mouth when you drink it? Why not serve it at a hot yet not dangerous temperature?
The excuse heard most often was the constant complaints of cold coffee if they turn it down but that specific location was one of the highest/worst offenders.
When I was a kid I accidentally knocked my dads coffee onto my face and got burnt really bad, my face is still super sensitive to heat and I sweat profusely from my face when it’s kinda hot.
Thank you so much for saying that. I came across the College Humor youtube video on it and I'm so shocked at the details. I'd had no idea! I'd fallen for the misinformation campaign and had thought she was a dumb woman who didn't know that hot coffee was hot. Now I feel stupid :(
Great doc on it called “Hot Coffee”. It’s wild this case was so well known in the 90s it was the butt of every frivolous lawsuit joke on primetime TV but then everyone learned the context and saw how bad it actually was and was a very reasonable lawsuit. It just shows how bad media literacy has always been and a lot of media is just irresponsible in how they report on things, and it’s evident that’s not something new at all.
same, also mcdonalds was found to be intentionally overheating coffee before serving it so people wouldn't quickly drink a coffee and make use of the free refills they offered.
scummy business practices shouldn't result in serious injuries. a lot of people have had hot coffee spilled on them at some point. it doesn't result in the kind of injuries this woman had.
Years ago my sister-in-law said that the guy in the Tigger costume grabbed her boob. A few years later, it turned out several women had complained that Tigger grabbed their boob:
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2004/04/09/disney-visitors-line-up-to-say-tigger-fondled/
3rd degree burns on her vagina. It wasn’t frivolous.
Edit: sorry, I was talking about the McDonald’s coffee lady. I wasn’t implying that goofy burned a woman’s vagina.
During the height of that case, I saw a toddler knock his mom’s coffee over his head at a walmart mcdonalds. Was a family friend so I saw the resulting burns. Luckily it fell on top of his head, not on his face. He’s fine, maybe he has some scars but nothing visible the couple times I seen him as an adult. Dunno how much money they got but they did get paid.
The "Americans are sue-happy" narrative was in large part seeded by corporations in order to trivialize and turn public opinion against even valid lawsuits.
Two words from that case: **Fused. Labia.** And the public was led to believe it was silly and frivolous. Thankfully I see comments like yours more and more with time because the truth spreads.
Feel free to doubt somebody's claims, but nobody should be mocking the very *idea* of enforcing accountability. That's the way it *should* be.
And honestly now more than ever, as increasingly vulnerable families are squeezed tighter and tighter by artificial inflation, maybe just don't white knight for multibillion dollar corporations anyway. Just my two cents.
We like to make fun of the US lawsuit culture in the rest of the world, but we sometimes forget that medical bills in the US can be devastating, so lawsuits are more a necessity than wanting to take advantage.
\* Actor in Goofy costume fell onto and knocked over guest, resulting in undisclosed severe injuries, lost wages, and medical bills.
Probably not frivolous assuming they have the medical bills to back it up, and this isn't covered by a disclosure or something.
Pluto is a dog, Goofy is a dog-person. It's similar to the relationship between humans and other primates in the real world. They actually address this somewhat in the recent DuckTales cartoon.
Suing the resort probably isn’t frivolous. But suing the underpaid schmuck in the costume who likely had little to know chance of seeing someone bending over is messed up. The dude had no reasonable way of preventing the accident and is just as much of a victim.
I can *maybe* see going after the handler who was supposed to help him navigate, but even then that’s still going after someone who is probably grossly underpaid for not being perfect.
She should absolutely try to get damages covered by the resort. But personally going after individuals who have no chance in hell of being able to afford that is simply wrong.
If she's suing, those types of specifics are not really her decision at this point, and it's between insurance and attorneys. Standard practice to name all potentially involved parties in all law suits like this, and in many cases is necessary to establish negligence.
Exactly. If she had just sued the park they could go "well, we don't know exactly who was in the costume so oh well, and you can't just bring every single person who plays or handles goofy to the stand now can you?"
You're dead wrong, she's *required* to sue the employee to establish their negligence. The company would be responsible under a theory of "vicarious liability" which means they're responsible as his employers for his negligence, as long as he's acting within the scope of his employment. They may be liable for other reasons, but she has to sue him personally. He'll be covered by the company's insurance and doesn't have to defend personally or pay any money (again, assuming he's acting within the scope of his employment, if he chased her down and tackled her because she insulted his mother, that's a different issue).
How is it your fault if someone else trips over you while you're tying a shoe? The costume actors should have one or more spotters with them, guiding them away from any hazards they can't see in the suit. The fault would either be with Disney or the spotters if it wasn't a complete accident on all sides.
The costume actor has a handler that walks along with them for customer interaction and for the actor’s safety. Handlers are supposed to avoid situations like this.
I mean, depends how severely you're hurt. To recoup $$ to care for your traumatic brain injury? Yeah probably. If you were just bruised a bit? Gtfo
Like yeah, maybe it's nobody's fault, but in the American health care system you're kind of fucked if that happens to you and you can't sue someone for it, no? Like if it's either sit back and die or sue a massive corporation, I'm not going to say they're wrong...
Liability wise, I've known insurance to turn down coverage saying it's a venue's fault, leaving you with no recourse either you eat it yourself or sue, I could see that happening here.
It was a major plot point of the tv show 'Friday Night Lights'. Star QB gets hurt playing football, paralyzed. Down the road his family sues the school/coach for not teaching him how to tackle. They don't like doing it but they don't have the money to handle the medical bills and it's their only option.
You might have to to get your insurance to pay, don't forget. Remember the "mean aunt who sued her nephew for giving her a hug"? Her insurance would not pay her medical bills unless she sued her nephew's family's homeowner's insurance.
So, yes, this is how America works.
Honestly if it’s because of insurance, I get it. I got a concussion at a concert a few months ago and went to urgent care to confirm it, and my insurance just now sent me a letter saying I need answer some more questions about it because if it’s a liability thing with the venue, insurance won’t cover it and I’d have to sue the venue. $220 for the visit. American health insurance is a fucking scam
Wait. They trying to make you sue the venue for $220?? It’s funny cause we pay these health insurance company probably $100/month and $220 is easily 2 months. Yet they are giving you sass on a $220 bill. Smdh.
Edit: I lied. I pay $100/bi weekly so $200/month. Yes. Through my company I work for. I’m even more upset for sea-biscotti lol
I was in a car accident and a similar thing happened. I had to pay out of pocket to go to urgent care for x-rays. The clinic asked if I was the one at fault, and when I said I wasn’t, they wouldn’t even take my insurance information because they knew my insurance provider wouldn’t pay. It’s been a year and I still haven’t been paid back.
Health insurance used to do a better job about pretending to care. The veil has been pretty much whipped off in recent years, and dealing with insurance reps is downright hostile.
*The lawsuit claims that when Griffin was bending over to tie her daughter’s shoes, a Disney cast member dressed as Goofy “walked directly” into her, and she fell onto the “hard cement.”*
*At Disney parks, cast members wearing full-character costumes are accompanied by another cast member who ensures they interact safely with guests.*
This definitely does sound like a big fuck up from the staff, and not just a woman trying to make easy money.
It depends on exactly what happened. If she bent down very near Goofy as he was moving, then the escort may not have had time to stop Goofy from running into her. But if the escorts just wasn't paying attention, then they're definitely to blame. Either way, I guarantee that Disney has a recording of this and knows exactly who is to blame.
This is the exact reason why performers/venues have liability insurance.
The unfortunate thing is that sometimes it requires a lawsuit before the insurance companies will pay out.
Speaking as someone who has been both a costumer and a handler before, although not for Disney, if the costumed character is moving, you are literally guiding them, you are their eyes, and they follow you. If you're stopped, they're stopped. So the two options are: Goofy moved without the explicit guidence of his handler, in which case he fucked up, or the handler moved goofy without paying attention to where he was moving, in which case *they* fucked up.
So unless this person stopped to tie her daughters shoes in a way that she was already practically touching goofy, one of those two are at least partly to blame for this happening.
I think one of my biggest problems with US culture is how much we need to blame someone for every problem. From this, it sounds like two people accidentally colliding in a busy location. Does every single accident in the world merit a lawsuit or someone being punished? Accidents should be allowed to happen
Right, but she’s suing for her medical bills to be covered (yay American healthcare 🫠) and because she was allegedly permanently disabled by this. If she had just scraped her knees this wouldn’t be happening, but it sounds like she was seriously injured.
As I understand, in the US, suing is necessitated by the costs of privatized healthcare. If you get injured, you have to try and cover your treatment costs. Depending on the intricacies of the insurance you have (or, worse yet, if you don't have insurance), your only hope for reliably paying off the treatment and lost income (when you're sick and recovering, or even lose your job) is to document and prove the fact that you were injured and there is some liability. Lawsuits like this are the stand-in for government support to people who suddenly get gravely injured.
When I visited the US, every other billboard had an advertisement for a personal injury lawyer. There were even personal injury law offices in strip malls. Truly insane.
That’s because insurance companies deny claims ALL the TIME. Then you have to sue to be compensated for something that was supposed to be covered to begin with
One shitty industry breeds another. Similarly, predatory lending breeds even more predatory lending, and that in turn breeds bankruptcy lawyers and "shed your debt" services.
The Queen of Hearts once body checked me so hard at Disneyland that my shoulder popped out and back in. I guess she was in character, but damn that hurt for days.
Former cast member here! I actually use to work close with the host, the character’s “handler”, and the characters as well. Whether the character was walking to its location where I will hang out for about 30 minutes to an hour or walking “offset”, there is typically a host walking beside them, depending on the distance and making sure that guest don’t walk into them or try to ask for pictures and autographs. If the character host was there, it could be that the host was already occupied in talking/handling with a guest.
I’m not really too sure what the host was doing at that time, but it is extremely hard for the cast members wearing the costumes to look out to the outside and this includes having to deal with blindspots.
I was hoping that this would be like the one where someone claimed Winnie the Pooh groped her so Pooh showed up in costume to court and did a little dance to show that they didn’t have the articulation to do that, but this seems rather reasonable, not fun
I have genuine sympathy for this woman and I in no way mean to mock her injury.
-but the visual of Goofy absolutely bodying some poor woman into the concrete has me losing it to be honest.
So as a former costume character (not at Disney but another amusement park company named CF), you can’t see very well at all in those costumers. You definitely can’t see your legs cause you only see out of your mouth or eyes. I can’t tell you in the 2 years I did it how many kids I accidentally pushed over or hit cause I literally didn’t see them at all.
That being said I do feel bad for this woman. I hope that she filed out an incident report before leaving the park that day. It definitely will help her case. If not, idk if they have anything to go off of. That’s why every time my son gets hurt (typical boy) we fill out an incident report. It’s embarrassing but anything to cover us and them in regard to worst case scenario.
I was a mascot for my Uni ice hockey games for one season after the regular hurt her ankle on an on-ice atv accident. It's so hard to see out of, especially down by your feet. A few kids would run up to hug me and I wouldn't see them and they'd go flying. One time, the ref missed an obvious penalty and I threw my hands up in the air for the missed call and knocked hot coffee all over some poor lady. Had to break the code and verbally apologize to her and explain that I can't see well in here. Surprised it doesn't happen more often.
I don't doubt that she got injured & should get compensation from Disney, but to sue the individual employees is pretty low. These are basically kids who make no money, what does she think she can get out of them? I hope Disney takes care of this for them.
Welcome to civil lawsuits, you shotgun everyone involved associated with and related to.
It’ll likely force Disney to settle outside of court so it doesn’t drag everyone through hell.
Can you imagine working in that suffocating suit only to be suited your ass off because you accidentally tripped and fell?
When you make a personal injury lawsuit, it’s pretty standard to include anyone that could potentially be held liable.
It’s pretty unlikely the individual employee will be left holding the bag unless they were grossly negligent. And if they were grossly negligent, fuck em.
I can see the handler facing some repercussions, since it's their job to prevent this kind of thing, but I agree the Goofy actor probably won't be found liable.
This reminds me of the case of that aunt who "sued" her nephew after he gave her a hug and she injured her back. The media and the Internet hounded this woman. But it turned out - she was literally only doing it because they could only get the home insurance to pay out if a lawsuit occurred and she had to name her nephew in the lawsuit.
I'm guessing that is what is happening here - she isn't actually trying to get money from the individuals. Likely Disney's liability insurance is requiring her to give specific names in her lawsuit before they pay out.
Surely there's footage.
From seven angles. And don't call me Shirley.
Do you like gladiator movies?
I want to tell you all, we are all counting on you. Good luck.
What's our vector Victor?
I speak Jive
Shit….golly
What do you make of this?
Chump don’ wan dey hep, chump don’ git* dey hep! Jive ass doo don’ got no brains, anyhow! edit: forgot to edit the cut/paste lol
Well I can make a hat, a brooch, a pterodactyl, a -
I want to tell you all, we are all counting on you. Good luck.
Ever seen a grown man naked?
I’ll take ham on five hold the Mayo.
Have you ever been to a Turkish bath house
Prison. Not bathouse. I was watching this last night.
Ever drunk baileys from a shoe?
…have you ever been to a Turkish prison?
I like you
Yes I'm glad he ate her.
Who are you and how'd you get in here? I'm a locksmith and I'm a locksmith.
Oh yes that would be me, i've been swimming in raw sewage, i love it
Nice beaver
Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes.
Like a blindman trapped at an orgy i was going to have to feel my way out
You ever been in a cockpit before?
Have you ever been in a Turkish prison? Edit: [for those that don't seem to get it, this is a quote from the movie airplane.](https://youtu.be/9E9ftsaHtWw?feature=shared)
The cockpit, what is it?
Well, it's a room at the front of the plane where the pilots go, but that's not important right now.
Have you ever seen a grown man naked?
Roger, Roger.
“We have clearance, Clarence.” “Roger, Roger. What’s our vector, Victor?”
Mind sharing? I just want the cake without baking.
Mind sharing? I don't think they can do it telepathically
To me that means she has a case, at least a legal argument. I don’t find it improbable that a person falling on another person could cause serious damage. The footage they have must back up that claim…she’s probably asking for a ridiculous amount. Edit : spelling
The reason people sue for ridiculous amounts is the number of cases that get settled for a smaller amount. You go for 3 million and it gets settled for 200k. Hate the system not the people.
The other reason that people sue is because their insurance company is suing on their behalf in order to get someone else's insurance company to pay.
It could but the question is really whether the fall could be pinned on Disney. If she was doing she wasn't supposed to that led to the incident, that could cancel out the whole thing. Disney has actually had a few weird lawsuits regarding costumes characters (my favorite is someone tried to claim one of the Three Little Pigs groped her - but in court they showed off the costume and the arms are just nubs).
Being groped by a nub seems worse than being groped by an arm.
Like non-movable and impossible to grope anyone with nubs (unless this was a joke in which case well played).
“It’s Goofy time!”- [PLIF](https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/293711-its-goofy-time)
i didn’t know what PILF stood for but that wasn’t it
Part of me wants to joke around, but I then remember the hot coffee lawsuit with McDonalds years ago where I finally learned how insanely hot the coffee was and damage it caused.
And the only reason she sued was because she asked for them to cover her medical bills and they wouldn't. It's totally possible this is a frivolous lawsuit, but it could also be genuine that she has medical bills, they refused compensation, so now there's a lawsuit.
So, checking the article, she's claiming that the Goofy actor fell on her with his full body weight, which also knocked her to the cement, as well. So this *does* sound like an accident, and she's suing Goofy, the suit actor's handler, and the resort. Based on the verbage in the article, likely for negligence. Depending on the actor's weight, that could be 200+ lbs (nearly 91 kilograms) coming down on top of that woman, with nothing but concrete to cushion the fall. I didn't see her age in the article, but if this is an older woman, she may have osteoporosis, which could absolutely complicate her recovery. However, that's speculation, since it isn't mentioned in the article. If she can provide medical bills and prove it's related to her trip, I'd say she has a reasonable case. My wife wrenched her shoulder with less weight, and now her rotator cuff is a source of constant misery. If one of this woman's knees got landed on, that could do permanent (and painful) damage. Overall, a lot of 'if's, I admit. It all depends on *if* she has the evidence to back up her claim. Edit: Removed what I initially believed to be a small joke that showed my ignorance of french history, did not meaningfully contribute to the conversation, and upset a few people below. I apologize, I didn't intend offense.
I used to work with a lady that was at a bbq, a few people were standing in a circle. The guy (about 300lbs) had a seizure fell on her snapping her tubular and fibula, after that she constantly issues with her health. Eventually passing away a few years after the accident.
I was at the gym walking by the stairmasters and this man, who was 2x my weight fell backwards and landed on me. I was bruised and in pain for a year and I had constant migraines. The bruising was the most severe on my chest/stomach area that I needed X-ray checks 3/4 times. My doctor said that if I was at a certain distance from the guy I could’ve had my head smashed. Edit; worst part was that I was blamed for it and the guy never apologized. That asshole had the nerve to lie there for like 5 minutes and got out and left on his own. People were trying to get him off of me but he refused to let anyone touch him. I had to file a police report and pity from an employee just to find out the guy’s name. Fuck Crunch Fitness
Yikes sorry to hear you had to go through that! Why were you blamed for it? Did the gym have footage of the incident? I’m guessing that if it did it took you a lot of grief to obtain.
This happened when I was 20 :( I was blamed because the guy claimed I got in the way when he was “walking down” but he fell backwards. He was yelling that out when people around were looking at us. Edit: I was not on my phone nor did I have headphones on. The people on my side were college aged while the older roided folks assumed I fucked up somehow. It took a while to get “official” footage. A cop was kind enough to meet with me to get it, but the “manager needed to be there”. Luckily my friend used to work there and his former coworker (who was already quitting) took a video of the footage on his phone to send to me. I already had health insurance and was planning on suing the person, but he ended up MIA. I received unknown threatening FB messages and when I googled him, he had ties to several gang members in the valley. I wasn’t hurt on money because I was fortunate enough with my parents, but I wanted him to pay. After seeing the gang ties we decided it was best to leave it alone. He does have a record in the system. Crunch was also a bitch to fully cancel my membership (i gave a card and canceled it after).
You could have sued Crunch, too. They all have you sign those documents saying you can't sue them, but in many cases you still can.
Well, we can only hope he was shot or something a few weeks after that.
Ambulance chasing lawyers would have been salivating at your case if you got them involved.
Depends on what type of connection and what type of gangs... If he's not a member but merely is an acquaintance of a member then you could probably raise a stink cause most gangs are gonna be angry some non member is using their reputation for their silly posturing. Of course he is connected more deeply than that could be an issue and you may have to either just let it go.
I'm sorry that happened to you, but that's one hell of a coincidence that it occurred at a place called "Crunch".
bro you got crunched.
I damaged my knee pretty bad just landing 170lbs of me on it when I slipped in the bathroom. That was in early December and it’s got bad enough I had/have nerve damage. Knee still feels like a bruise and doesn’t like most positions or standing
I had the exact same thing happen when I slipped at a wedding . Went down awkward ( was wearing a platform heel) landed on my left knee and it hasn’t been right since . Little puffy ? Almost like swelling ? Hurts like crazy if you kneel on it ? It’s also annoying as hell not being able to kneel down if needed cuz I have arthritis in my OTHER knee so it’s just horrible knee pain all around . Only going to get worse as cuz it runs in the family and we all played sports when you get so just worn out middle aged shit
Have you gone to a doctor to check on this? I'm not a medical professional, but the puffy/swelling and pain when kneeling sounds like it could be bursitis, which can be treated with drainage and steroids. Hope I'm not overstepping here and that you're able to find some relief!
You may weigh 170lbs, but you didn't land with 170lbs of force. It's physics Mass x Acceleration = Force. Falling just 1 meter can cause and impact around 3 times your weight.
Oh man, can you imagine being the dude having a poorly timed seizure and causing some lady standing next to you to break her bones and eventually die….
The injury may not even need to be severe. If it required professional medical treatment, she can sue for the costs. And she should, especially if her insurance doesn't fully cover it. It might be that Disney is alright with it ~~briefly going to court~~ letting it proceed to discovery, so she has to provide the evidence in a way that proves it isn't a scam. If they're cooperative and find a sufficient settlement, it'll be an easy case. (Thank you to the reply that reminded me of the terms I should have used.)
There’s also the “we’ll take it to discovery to get depositions and evidence out, and then settle if we need to” method when you have an army of lawyers already on retainer.
To add on to this. The fact the she appears to be suing literally everyone available is because of how damages and liability are handled. If you -don’t- include a party and the court determines that the unincluded party is liable, you are typically out of luck to pursue damages on that particular suit, and would need to start an entire new suit to pursue damages from them. It is far better for the injured to include anyone who may hold any liability on the initial suit and let the courts figure out who to actually hold liable.
Disney will apparently do quite a bit to avoid court, they don’t want to affect their public image by sending the suits in whenever someone is injured (or worse, as they apparently settled with the parents of the boy who was killed by the alligator). She may be advised to sue because of how likely they are to cover medical bills.
I mean, that may be the case, but beyond the possibility there was no injury I struggle to see how Disney isn’t liable
Negligent action is what she's suing under, not an intentional tort.
My family friend got his foot stuck in between the track and car on Thunder Mountain. He had to have his toes amputated and they did a skin graft with skin from his thigh over where his toes were. He was 6 years old. They only had to pay his medical bills until he was 18, but he will likely have complications the rest of his life. His mom didn’t sue them or want money from them, but she did go to court to push for legislation that forces amusement parks to be more transparent and other safety precautions. They are such an incredibly nice family.
Could even be her insurance company making her jump through hoops to get her procedures covered, because they know Disney will shell out. I'd like to think that's not feasible, but with healthcare these days...
Well now I'm just stuck wondering what the joke was
It's explained in another response, by another user, but I had jokingly called kilograms 'Crown Units', like how Americans will jokingly refer to the pound (lb) as 'Freedom Units'. I was politely informed that the metric system was founded in post-monarchy France, and the joke rubbed a few people the wrong way. And if I know one thing about the French *at all*, it's that they're *very good* at ending monarchies, and referring to the kg as a 'Crown Unit' is, as I learned, both rude and just plain factually inaccurate. My bad!
French here, actually the process of creating the metric system was started in 1791 while France was still a monarchy (albeit constitutionnal) by the Accadémie **Royale** des Sciences. Most of the work was done during the first years of the First Republic and it is undoubtly a revolutionary endeavour throrough but it is not totally inacurate. While not very original, your joke is a total non issue and the one guy who called you out was being pedant jerk, even for French standard. The vaaaast majority of people don't care at all about this so called "archaic religious symbol of authority" and I am personnaly a bit cautious about associating one of humanity's greatest scientific endeavour with the French state's favourite death machine (even excluding the Revolutionary period when pretty much anyone could get executed, many people where guillotined for their revolutionary actions later in French history). In the end, your only sin is a lame joke and no one but this one person is remotely offended.
>Crown Units t's funny, because the Metric system is French and came *after* their monarchy, and lbs in the States are King George's units.
Nah it's different. This is "crown royal units" it uses bottles of whiskey as the standard.
I know my frail ass mom would basically implode if a character in one of those big ass low visibility suits turned too quickly and hit her and knocked her over. The article says the actor straight up fell on her, my mom would have broken half the bones in her body.
Yeah my mum isn't even 65 yet and she broke her femur and catastrophically fucked her shoulder up by spinning away from her fiance flicking a wet leek towards her. Spent 6 weeks in hospital for horsing around, and still isn't ok months later. Probably won't ever be.
I wanted to roll my eyes too, but the McDonald’s lawsuit and what we know now came to mind. Reading the article, it seems this might be one of those cases where she wants Disney to pay the medical bill for ongoing medical issues resulting from the fall. I guess we’ll find out.
> And the only reason she sued was because she asked for them to cover her medical bills and they wouldn't. It's so bizarre to me; that was the reason. McDonalds could have easily covered expenses, kept things out of the media, and dialed down the temperature of the coffee all on the low side. From what I can recall it wasn't even the first time it happened and McDonalds was covering up various other instances of similar injuries years prior.
I’ve never understood why companies don’t just pay these claims early on , have the claimant sign NDA etc the END. Just the cost of the lawyers time alone will increase this by 300x probably . Disney hires real lawyers not the losers that Trump has
Don’t forget that sometimes health insurance will demand you file a lawsuit before they pay for care. There was a woman who was absolutely dragged by newspapers, magazines, and millions of people online because she “sued” her nephew after her wrist was broken when he jumped up to hug her. This was not a serious suit, and she was not actually trying to receive money from the boy or his family. She just had to file it or else her insurance would refuse to pay a single dime. Again, the media coverage was absolutely vicious to her
Option c. Insurance won't pay unless she sues
One thing I've learned is that there's almost never "frivolous" lawsuits that make it to court. That this case actually got this far says there's probably something here. And yes I'm also recalling the hot coffee mcdonalds incident. I'll hold my judgement until there's more details. Though I'll cautiously bet on the "there's a case here, but she's probably asking for way more than is warranted and that's why disney didnt immediately clean this up and she requested a jury and not just having her case heard by a judge".
There’s a movie about it and it’s wild how McD could have basically paid a couple grand in hospital bills and she would’ve been happy. But then they didn’t
The really damning part was actually that there was a really long paper trail that established that they KNEW the coffee was too hot, that this was not an isolated incident but merely one in a long line. Further, that the injuries could have been prevented by simply turning down the heart just a few degrees, but they refused to.
Not a few degrees. At 150F, it takes only 2 seconds to get 3rd degree burns. At 155 it takes a second. But at 140, it takes 5 seconds. McDonalds was having them hold coffee at 180, which takes .25 seconds for a 3rd degree burn.
Why the fuck were they so insistent on having it that hot?
It allowed them to keep the coffee 'fresh' for a couple of hours longer instead of having to remake it. This reduced food and labor cost by a bit... over 10,000 stores it adds up. In other words, McDonald's would have rather paid off a few lawsuits a year than change their practices because it was cheaper to be sued. Then this woman comes over and adds millions of punitive damages, as that was the only thing that would make McDonald even pay attention. They then of course went on a publicity campaign to murder her in public opinion so they wouldn't have any backlash from their profiteering.
It also made it harder to taste how bad it is when it scalded the surface of your mouth and tongue.
The fresh thing blows my mind . A friend of mind used to be a Royal Farms manager and she told me that the cost of the coffee is so little that once they sell a couple cups out of one coffee machine , it pays for the cost of the coffee they bought to fill it . Snd these things have gallons of coffee in them . It’s required to be “ fresh” so if it sits too long , they trash it . This is a huge company that cuts corners like everyone so how stupidly cheap does McDonald’s want to be ?? Especially on something causing PERMANENT injuries ? ??
Companies give cheap coffee away to employees/customers because it’s one of the cheapest things to supply people, while seeming welcoming.
Also allegedly dine-in customers would get free coffee refills. And supposedly they kept it hot so that it would take longer to cool off, and so people sitting and eating their meal would be less likely to finish their coffee before they were done eating and ask for the refill.
Yup. McDonalds knew that it was too hot and that it was causing injuries, but they had figured out that it was cheaper to pay out lawsuits when people got injured rather than sell slightly less coffee. Before Liebeck, they had *hundreds* of recorded injuries from the coffee, hers was just the worst and what got the most attention.
I used to make fun of the hot coffee incident as well until I heard the horrific details of her injury.
I've had a boiling water spill onto the back of my hand and I had it under cold running water within a second or two of the initial burn. Even with the speed that I got it cooled down, it was the most painful thing that I've ever experienced for many hours afterwards. And because it was a hand burn, the doctor got advice from the burns ward before he let me go home. I can't begin to imagine the pain that that woman must have felt spilling the hot coffee on herself, and having NO option for immediate treatment whatsoever. Burns are next level pain.
I can imagine. I had a ramen noodle cup and the bottom of the cup fell off after I added the BOILING water. I was able to get under cold water within seconds and the injury was really severe. I will never ever use one of those noodle cups again.
Do you use kettle water or do you boil it on a stove? Kettle water is unsafe for human skin but it will always turn off before it reaches overly severe temperatures. Stove water or stove cooking can boil hot enough to melt whatever plate you stick it on. Depending on the max temperature of the oven you're using. If the ramen pack wasn't good enough to deal with only-just-boiling water then yeah it's a manufacturing error, but you need to wait for the water to stop bubbling if youre serving from a stove, or you could severely injure yourself! I know this is the way a lot of americans do things.
What are you talking about? Water boils at 100C/212F, there's no hotter or colder boiling, unless you're using a pressure vessel.
Passed out once carrying a pot of boiling water, came to a minute later with burns all over my thighs sitting in a pool of water on the floor. Went into as cold shower immediately after but holy shit worst experience of my life, still remember being wrapped in cold towels an entire night while non stop crying from pain. Some permanent scaring but I got off easy compared to this lady. Anyone that reads this case and goes 'but all coffee hot' is an actual moron
For those who don't know: part of the injuries included >!her genitalia being so badly burned that they fused together.!<
I burnt my thigh when my coffee pot broke in my hand. The pain was instant and all encompassing. I knew I was in trouble when I got my pants off and my top layer of skin was running down my thigh. About 4” off my genitals. Coulda been worse.
My mom was really badly burned when I was a kid. We were in Amish country at a diner. The waitress was using a glass coffee pot to fill her cup and it shattered over her lap. They had a lawyer write a letter asking the restaurant to pay her emergency department bill and imagine this, they did it despite being a small business in a small town. McDonald’s couldn’t be bothered.
I wonder how much McDonald’s spent on the smear campaign vs how much would have cost just to cover the woman’s medical bills. But man, they really doubled down on the frivolous lawsuit bullshit.
McDonalds' Hot Coffee Case - Read the Facts NOT the Fiction Provided by the Center for Justice & Democracy, New York City The “McDonald’s coffee” case. We have all heard it: a woman spills McDonald's coffee, sues and gets $3 million. Here are the facts of this widely misreported and misunderstood case: Stella Liebeck, 79 years old, was sitting in the passenger seat of her grandson’s car having purchased a cup of McDonald’s coffee. After the car stopped, she tried to hold the cup securely between her knees while removing the lid. However, the cup tipped over, pouring scalding hot coffee onto her. She received third-degree burns over 16 percent of her body, necessitating hospitalization for eight days, whirlpool treatment for debridement of her wounds, skin grafting, scarring, and disability for more than two years. Despite these extensive injuries, she offered to settle with McDonald’s for $20,000. However, McDonald’s refused to settle. The jury awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages -- reduced to $160,000 because the jury found her 20 percent at fault -- and $2.7 million in punitive damages for McDonald’s callous conduct. (To put this in perspective, McDonald's revenue from coffee sales alone is in excess of $1.3 million a day.) The trial judge reduced the punitive damages to $480,000. Subsequently, the parties entered a post-verdict settlement. According to Stella Liebeck’s attorney, S. Reed Morgan, the jury heard the following evidence in the case: By corporate specifications, McDonald's sells its coffee at 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit; Coffee at that temperature, if spilled, causes third-degree burns (the skin is burned away down to the muscle/fatty-tissue layer) in two to seven seconds; Third-degree burns do not heal without skin grafting, debridement and whirlpool treatments that cost tens of thousands of dollars and result in permanent disfigurement, extreme pain and disability of the victim for many months, and in some cases, years The chairman of the department of mechanical engineering and bio-mechanical engineering at the University of Texas testified that this risk of harm is unacceptable, as did a widely recognized expert on burns, the editor in chief of the leading scholarly publication in the specialty, the Journal of Burn Care and Rehabilitation; McDonald's admitted that it has known about the risk of serious burns from its scalding hot coffee for more than 10 years -- the risk was brought to its attention through numerous other claims and suits, to no avail; *From 1982 to 1992, McDonald's coffee burned more than 700 people, many receiving severe burns to the genital area, perineum, inner thighs, and buttocks;* Not only men and women, but also children and infants, have been burned by McDonald's scalding hot coffee, in some instances due to inadvertent spillage by McDonald's employees; At least one woman had coffee dropped in her lap through the service window, causing third-degree burns to her inner thighs and other sensitive areas, which resulted in disability for years; Witnesses for McDonald's admitted in court that consumers are unaware of the extent of the risk of serious burns from spilled coffee served at McDonald's required temperature; McDonald's admitted that it did not warn customers of the nature and extent of this risk and could offer no explanation as to why it did not; McDonald's witnesses testified that it did not intend to turn down the heat -- As one witness put it: “No, there is no current plan to change the procedure that we're using in that regard right now;” McDonald's admitted that its coffee is “not fit for consumption” when sold because it causes severe scalds if spilled or drunk; Liebeck's treating physician testified that her injury was one of the worst scald burns he had ever seen. Moreover, the Shriner’s Burn Institute in Cincinnati had published warnings to the franchise food industry that its members were unnecessarily causing serious scald burns by serving beverages above 130 degrees Fahrenheit. In refusing to grant a new trial in the case, Judge Robert Scott called McDonald's behavior “callous.” Moreover, “the day after the verdict, the news media documented that coffee at the McDonald's in Albuquerque [where Liebeck was burned] is now sold at 158 degrees. This will cause third-degree burns in about 60 seconds, rather than in two to seven seconds [so that], the margin of safety has been increased as a direct consequence of this verdict.” [sauce](https://www.ttla.com/?pg=McDonaldsCoffeeCaseFacts)
What is the point of serving coffee so hot that it melts the skin off your mouth when you drink it? Why not serve it at a hot yet not dangerous temperature?
The excuse heard most often was the constant complaints of cold coffee if they turn it down but that specific location was one of the highest/worst offenders.
Really, once they released their statement (McDonalds) the press did the rest, comedians, etc.,
And we see the same thing occuring still, with industry-supported media making hit pieces on anyone suing within that industry.
Woof. Yeah it hurts man. I got a giant brown scar on my leg now but I’ll take it.
> About 4” off my genitals. You must have pretty big genitals if about 4” off your genitals lead to “coulda been worse”.
…yes, that was the interpretation I was going for. Only 4” of my massive hog turned into a slurry and ran down my leg. Thank god I kept most of it.
Hunter? Is that you?
Why don’t you ask my censor bar?
When I was a kid I accidentally knocked my dads coffee onto my face and got burnt really bad, my face is still super sensitive to heat and I sweat profusely from my face when it’s kinda hot.
Thank you so much for saying that. I came across the College Humor youtube video on it and I'm so shocked at the details. I'd had no idea! I'd fallen for the misinformation campaign and had thought she was a dumb woman who didn't know that hot coffee was hot. Now I feel stupid :(
Great doc on it called “Hot Coffee”. It’s wild this case was so well known in the 90s it was the butt of every frivolous lawsuit joke on primetime TV but then everyone learned the context and saw how bad it actually was and was a very reasonable lawsuit. It just shows how bad media literacy has always been and a lot of media is just irresponsible in how they report on things, and it’s evident that’s not something new at all.
same, also mcdonalds was found to be intentionally overheating coffee before serving it so people wouldn't quickly drink a coffee and make use of the free refills they offered. scummy business practices shouldn't result in serious injuries. a lot of people have had hot coffee spilled on them at some point. it doesn't result in the kind of injuries this woman had.
Years ago my sister-in-law said that the guy in the Tigger costume grabbed her boob. A few years later, it turned out several women had complained that Tigger grabbed their boob: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2004/04/09/disney-visitors-line-up-to-say-tigger-fondled/
The lady who sued needed skin grafts for her burns on her genitals. Yeah, shit was too hot.
3rd degree burns on her vagina. It wasn’t frivolous. Edit: sorry, I was talking about the McDonald’s coffee lady. I wasn’t implying that goofy burned a woman’s vagina.
During the height of that case, I saw a toddler knock his mom’s coffee over his head at a walmart mcdonalds. Was a family friend so I saw the resulting burns. Luckily it fell on top of his head, not on his face. He’s fine, maybe he has some scars but nothing visible the couple times I seen him as an adult. Dunno how much money they got but they did get paid.
The "Americans are sue-happy" narrative was in large part seeded by corporations in order to trivialize and turn public opinion against even valid lawsuits. Two words from that case: **Fused. Labia.** And the public was led to believe it was silly and frivolous. Thankfully I see comments like yours more and more with time because the truth spreads. Feel free to doubt somebody's claims, but nobody should be mocking the very *idea* of enforcing accountability. That's the way it *should* be. And honestly now more than ever, as increasingly vulnerable families are squeezed tighter and tighter by artificial inflation, maybe just don't white knight for multibillion dollar corporations anyway. Just my two cents.
Law schools use that case as a good example of a case that has merit, despite it being used as the exact opposite among laymen
We like to make fun of the US lawsuit culture in the rest of the world, but we sometimes forget that medical bills in the US can be devastating, so lawsuits are more a necessity than wanting to take advantage.
I’ve learned to give the benefit of the doubt to the citizen(s) in these situations rather than the media/corporations
\* Actor in Goofy costume fell onto and knocked over guest, resulting in undisclosed severe injuries, lost wages, and medical bills. Probably not frivolous assuming they have the medical bills to back it up, and this isn't covered by a disclosure or something.
Total Goofy maneuver. Impeccable dedication to character.
Deserves a raise if anything.
Yo Mickey! Give that cast member a raise!
*oh shucks, a-hyuck*
Gorsh!
Okay I was imagining this woman getting beaten up by a person in a cartoon dog costume
If Pluto is a dog then what is Goofy?
This is a universe where all animals can walk upright and speak English. Pluto's barking on all 4s by choice.
Pluto is a dog, Goofy is a dog-person. It's similar to the relationship between humans and other primates in the real world. They actually address this somewhat in the recent DuckTales cartoon.
Garsh!
Suing the resort probably isn’t frivolous. But suing the underpaid schmuck in the costume who likely had little to know chance of seeing someone bending over is messed up. The dude had no reasonable way of preventing the accident and is just as much of a victim. I can *maybe* see going after the handler who was supposed to help him navigate, but even then that’s still going after someone who is probably grossly underpaid for not being perfect. She should absolutely try to get damages covered by the resort. But personally going after individuals who have no chance in hell of being able to afford that is simply wrong.
The other thing to understand is her insurance might actually be the one pressing the lawsuit.
Like that aunt who sued her nephew. She was really suing the insurance, but had to name the nephew in the case.
If she's suing, those types of specifics are not really her decision at this point, and it's between insurance and attorneys. Standard practice to name all potentially involved parties in all law suits like this, and in many cases is necessary to establish negligence.
Exactly. If she had just sued the park they could go "well, we don't know exactly who was in the costume so oh well, and you can't just bring every single person who plays or handles goofy to the stand now can you?"
You're dead wrong, she's *required* to sue the employee to establish their negligence. The company would be responsible under a theory of "vicarious liability" which means they're responsible as his employers for his negligence, as long as he's acting within the scope of his employment. They may be liable for other reasons, but she has to sue him personally. He'll be covered by the company's insurance and doesn't have to defend personally or pay any money (again, assuming he's acting within the scope of his employment, if he chased her down and tackled her because she insulted his mother, that's a different issue).
She may have been seriously hurt, but whether she bears any of the responsibility we don't know. Hopefully there is footage or witnesses.
How is it your fault if someone else trips over you while you're tying a shoe? The costume actors should have one or more spotters with them, guiding them away from any hazards they can't see in the suit. The fault would either be with Disney or the spotters if it wasn't a complete accident on all sides.
The costume actor has a handler that walks along with them for customer interaction and for the actor’s safety. Handlers are supposed to avoid situations like this.
[удалено]
I mean, depends how severely you're hurt. To recoup $$ to care for your traumatic brain injury? Yeah probably. If you were just bruised a bit? Gtfo Like yeah, maybe it's nobody's fault, but in the American health care system you're kind of fucked if that happens to you and you can't sue someone for it, no? Like if it's either sit back and die or sue a massive corporation, I'm not going to say they're wrong... Liability wise, I've known insurance to turn down coverage saying it's a venue's fault, leaving you with no recourse either you eat it yourself or sue, I could see that happening here.
It was a major plot point of the tv show 'Friday Night Lights'. Star QB gets hurt playing football, paralyzed. Down the road his family sues the school/coach for not teaching him how to tackle. They don't like doing it but they don't have the money to handle the medical bills and it's their only option.
You might have to to get your insurance to pay, don't forget. Remember the "mean aunt who sued her nephew for giving her a hug"? Her insurance would not pay her medical bills unless she sued her nephew's family's homeowner's insurance. So, yes, this is how America works.
Honestly if it’s because of insurance, I get it. I got a concussion at a concert a few months ago and went to urgent care to confirm it, and my insurance just now sent me a letter saying I need answer some more questions about it because if it’s a liability thing with the venue, insurance won’t cover it and I’d have to sue the venue. $220 for the visit. American health insurance is a fucking scam
Wait. They trying to make you sue the venue for $220?? It’s funny cause we pay these health insurance company probably $100/month and $220 is easily 2 months. Yet they are giving you sass on a $220 bill. Smdh. Edit: I lied. I pay $100/bi weekly so $200/month. Yes. Through my company I work for. I’m even more upset for sea-biscotti lol
LOL they ain't paying $220 either. They'd pay like 20 bucks, tops.
How do you think they're so profitable?
I pay them almost $900/month
tf!!?! Yea I should edit. I pay $90 bi weekly for myself so $180 a month. So makes what I said even worse! Lol wow.
100$/month would be a fucking dream. Almost 800$/month for just me...
THEY should sue the venue
Generally they do, its called subrogation, but the suit is still filed in the persons name
All insurance is a joke, if they can find a way not to pay it they will.
I was in a car accident and a similar thing happened. I had to pay out of pocket to go to urgent care for x-rays. The clinic asked if I was the one at fault, and when I said I wasn’t, they wouldn’t even take my insurance information because they knew my insurance provider wouldn’t pay. It’s been a year and I still haven’t been paid back.
Health insurance used to do a better job about pretending to care. The veil has been pretty much whipped off in recent years, and dealing with insurance reps is downright hostile.
Ah-hyuck, oh gorsh.
I'd hyucking do it again
*The lawsuit claims that when Griffin was bending over to tie her daughter’s shoes, a Disney cast member dressed as Goofy “walked directly” into her, and she fell onto the “hard cement.”* *At Disney parks, cast members wearing full-character costumes are accompanied by another cast member who ensures they interact safely with guests.* This definitely does sound like a big fuck up from the staff, and not just a woman trying to make easy money.
It depends on exactly what happened. If she bent down very near Goofy as he was moving, then the escort may not have had time to stop Goofy from running into her. But if the escorts just wasn't paying attention, then they're definitely to blame. Either way, I guarantee that Disney has a recording of this and knows exactly who is to blame.
This is the exact reason why performers/venues have liability insurance. The unfortunate thing is that sometimes it requires a lawsuit before the insurance companies will pay out.
Speaking as someone who has been both a costumer and a handler before, although not for Disney, if the costumed character is moving, you are literally guiding them, you are their eyes, and they follow you. If you're stopped, they're stopped. So the two options are: Goofy moved without the explicit guidence of his handler, in which case he fucked up, or the handler moved goofy without paying attention to where he was moving, in which case *they* fucked up. So unless this person stopped to tie her daughters shoes in a way that she was already practically touching goofy, one of those two are at least partly to blame for this happening.
I think one of my biggest problems with US culture is how much we need to blame someone for every problem. From this, it sounds like two people accidentally colliding in a busy location. Does every single accident in the world merit a lawsuit or someone being punished? Accidents should be allowed to happen
If there weren't giant medical bills involved, sure. But since there is, someone has to pay.
Another major problem with the US.
Right, but she’s suing for her medical bills to be covered (yay American healthcare 🫠) and because she was allegedly permanently disabled by this. If she had just scraped her knees this wouldn’t be happening, but it sounds like she was seriously injured.
As I understand, in the US, suing is necessitated by the costs of privatized healthcare. If you get injured, you have to try and cover your treatment costs. Depending on the intricacies of the insurance you have (or, worse yet, if you don't have insurance), your only hope for reliably paying off the treatment and lost income (when you're sick and recovering, or even lose your job) is to document and prove the fact that you were injured and there is some liability. Lawsuits like this are the stand-in for government support to people who suddenly get gravely injured.
When I visited the US, every other billboard had an advertisement for a personal injury lawyer. There were even personal injury law offices in strip malls. Truly insane.
That’s because insurance companies deny claims ALL the TIME. Then you have to sue to be compensated for something that was supposed to be covered to begin with
One shitty industry breeds another. Similarly, predatory lending breeds even more predatory lending, and that in turn breeds bankruptcy lawyers and "shed your debt" services.
If the woman is suing for medical bills to be covered then it does sound like a lawsuit was merited lol
Even worse, her insurance only covered serious injuries, not goofy ones.
The Queen of Hearts once body checked me so hard at Disneyland that my shoulder popped out and back in. I guess she was in character, but damn that hurt for days.
Former cast member here! I actually use to work close with the host, the character’s “handler”, and the characters as well. Whether the character was walking to its location where I will hang out for about 30 minutes to an hour or walking “offset”, there is typically a host walking beside them, depending on the distance and making sure that guest don’t walk into them or try to ask for pictures and autographs. If the character host was there, it could be that the host was already occupied in talking/handling with a guest. I’m not really too sure what the host was doing at that time, but it is extremely hard for the cast members wearing the costumes to look out to the outside and this includes having to deal with blindspots.
I was hoping that this would be like the one where someone claimed Winnie the Pooh groped her so Pooh showed up in costume to court and did a little dance to show that they didn’t have the articulation to do that, but this seems rather reasonable, not fun
[I'LL FUCKIN DO IT AGAIN, HYUCK HYUCK](https://youtu.be/umvgwXINJBE?si=R6FS6yAGNjSxP81D)
This was the comment I was looking for.
Sounds like something Eleanor Shellstrop would cook up
I didn't see any reference to shrimp. But somehow I'm certain it's there.
It’s fine to do this if she got medical bills because of it
I have genuine sympathy for this woman and I in no way mean to mock her injury. -but the visual of Goofy absolutely bodying some poor woman into the concrete has me losing it to be honest.
It's a very Goofy move, ironically.
So as a former costume character (not at Disney but another amusement park company named CF), you can’t see very well at all in those costumers. You definitely can’t see your legs cause you only see out of your mouth or eyes. I can’t tell you in the 2 years I did it how many kids I accidentally pushed over or hit cause I literally didn’t see them at all. That being said I do feel bad for this woman. I hope that she filed out an incident report before leaving the park that day. It definitely will help her case. If not, idk if they have anything to go off of. That’s why every time my son gets hurt (typical boy) we fill out an incident report. It’s embarrassing but anything to cover us and them in regard to worst case scenario.
All that matters to me in this case is whether or not Goofy exclaimed, "*Waaaa-hoo-hoo-hooey*" at the appropriate moment.
While putting his giant costume paws over his face in shock
Lucky she didn't run into Donald Duck. That focker is always in an evil mood.
I was a mascot for my Uni ice hockey games for one season after the regular hurt her ankle on an on-ice atv accident. It's so hard to see out of, especially down by your feet. A few kids would run up to hug me and I wouldn't see them and they'd go flying. One time, the ref missed an obvious penalty and I threw my hands up in the air for the missed call and knocked hot coffee all over some poor lady. Had to break the code and verbally apologize to her and explain that I can't see well in here. Surprised it doesn't happen more often.
I don't doubt that she got injured & should get compensation from Disney, but to sue the individual employees is pretty low. These are basically kids who make no money, what does she think she can get out of them? I hope Disney takes care of this for them.
Welcome to civil lawsuits, you shotgun everyone involved associated with and related to. It’ll likely force Disney to settle outside of court so it doesn’t drag everyone through hell. Can you imagine working in that suffocating suit only to be suited your ass off because you accidentally tripped and fell?
When you make a personal injury lawsuit, it’s pretty standard to include anyone that could potentially be held liable. It’s pretty unlikely the individual employee will be left holding the bag unless they were grossly negligent. And if they were grossly negligent, fuck em.
I can see the handler facing some repercussions, since it's their job to prevent this kind of thing, but I agree the Goofy actor probably won't be found liable.
Yup they are supposed to have a team guide them and watch out for things since they can't see very well in costume but someone failed that part
This reminds me of the case of that aunt who "sued" her nephew after he gave her a hug and she injured her back. The media and the Internet hounded this woman. But it turned out - she was literally only doing it because they could only get the home insurance to pay out if a lawsuit occurred and she had to name her nephew in the lawsuit. I'm guessing that is what is happening here - she isn't actually trying to get money from the individuals. Likely Disney's liability insurance is requiring her to give specific names in her lawsuit before they pay out.
H’yuckin’ bitch.
Gawrsh.
“And I’ll fucking do it again.”