rollercoasters and brain injury

June 18, 2001

Disney Says It Will Hand Over Brain Injury Records

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOS ANGELES (Reuters Health) Jun 11 - Walt Disney Co. officials say they will

comply with an order by a judge, who has already sanctioned the company once, to

provide a list of people who suffered brain hemorrhages on their park rides.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Madeline Flier has already fined Disney $2500

for " willful bad faith " in failing to supply those names to lawyers for a woman

suing the company over a brain hemorrhage she said she developed after riding

the Indiana Adventure at Disneyland.

The case is proceeding amid new concerns over high-speed roller coasters. Last

week, a 28-year-old woman died from a brain hemorrhage after riding the Goliath

attraction at Six Flags Magic Mountain north of Los Angeles.

That woman, Pearl Santos, was found slumped over and unconscious at the end of

the 3-minute ride, and Los Angeles County medical examiners determined that she

died from bleeding around the brain stem and a ruptured cerebral artery.

Flier told Disney at a hearing in late May that she would impose further

sanctions for " ongoing " violations of her orders if the company did not supply

the names by June 25.

Ray Gomez, a Disney spokesman, said Friday that a computer glitch was

responsible for the company's failure to supply the full list of names sought by

46-year-old plaintiff Deborah Bynum's attorney, and he said that lawyers for the

entertainment giant would " absolutely " comply with Flier's order.

He said only one document out of several hundred requested was missing - because

it was categorized in Disney's system as a neck injury - and that company

officials were poring over records by hand to make sure that none were left out.

But Barry Novack, Bynum's attorney, said that Disney has repeatedly dragged its

feet in turning over the records and said that Flier sanctioned the company only

after finding repeated violations of her orders.

" [Disney] only gave me those [injured people] they thought I would know about, "

Novack said.

" I'm giving sanctions because I find the responses appear to be willful bad

faith, " Flier said at the May 25 hearing. " The violations are clearly in

violation of the order and they seem to be ongoing. "

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior

written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays

in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Recommended Posts