Latest news with #PamelaMorrison
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
$7.25M awarded to Queen Creek woman after fall on Universal Studios Hollywood's Harry Potter ride
A woman who suffered a spinal injury at Universal Studios Hollywood was recently awarded $7.25 million by a jury after a dayslong trial and hours of deliberation. Pamela Morrison, 74, of Queen Creek, was seated with her grandson on the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride on Sept. 30, 2022, when an employee asked her to exit because her safety harness was not properly secured, according to the Associated Press. The ride was already moving, and Morrison fell. Taylor Kruse of Los Angeles City Law, an attorney for Morrison, said that incident resulted in a spinal compression fracture that "changed every aspect of Ms. Morrison's life." "Universal Studios could have taken 5 seconds to stop the ride and allow for a safe exit, but they chose to keep the ride moving at all costs," she said. Universal Studios Hollywood declined to comment on the case and awarded damages. In court documents, attorneys for the theme park argued that Morrison's own negligence contributed to her fall. During the trial, lawyers said Morrison was focused on her grandson and not on where she was stepping, according to AP. Jurors in the case participated in a lengthy deliberation, according to court documents. In one handwritten note sent to U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, jurors asked, "If one juror feels they (are) incapable of coming to a decision of an amount of damages, can they excuse themselves from the trial? Can seven jurors make the decision?" Ultimately, jury notes show that the jurors opted to continue deliberations until they reached a unanimous verdict. Morrison received $250,000 for future medical expenses and $7 million in noneconomic damages. Kruse said they came to "a just verdict." She said the awarded damages will compensate Morrison for her "pain, suffering, disfigurement, anxiety, humiliation" and "future medical treatment." Accusations fly: Arizona joins unfair competition lawsuit vs. Deere & Co. Company blames 'politics' This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ woman's attorney: Fall on ride 'changed every aspect' of her life
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Yahoo
Woman suffered crushed spine on Harry Potter ride; jury awards her $7.25 million
An Arizona woman has been awarded $7.25 million by a federal court in California after a day of magic at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with her grandson ended with her in an ambulance. Earlier this month, a jury found Universal Studios Hollywood responsible for the crushed spine that lawyers said 74-year-old Pamela Morrison suffered when exiting the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride in September 2022. She had been asked to exit the ride after her harness failed to secure, then slipped when stepping from the moving walkway onto solid ground, according to court documents. "The belt was still moving, and so my foot went on that belt and then ... my other foot went on to the stationary floor, and it knocked me off my feet," said Morrison, describing the fall in court documents. At trial, her attorney, Taylor Kruse, argued that the fall was due to employees' failure to halt the moving walkway and allow the woman to exit the ride in a safe manner, causing her to suffer an intensely painful injury that temporarily prevented her from using the bathroom independently, according to reporting by Law360. Kruse argued that stopping the belt would have been a safe, easy and reasonable thing to do, but the Universal City amusement park wanted to "keep the ride moving no matter what" and meet its goal of seating 1,800 riders per hour, the legal site reported. Much of the case hinged on a few seconds of surveillance camera footage showing the fall. The defense team for Universal Studios argued, according to the legal site, that the video showed that Morrison was focused on her grandson and not on where she was stepping, so the fall was her fault. In court documents, the company's attorneys alleged that Morrison "failed to use and exercise, for her own protection, the proper care, and precautions reasonably prudent people under the same or similar circumstances would have exercised." Nevertheless, the jury was not swayed, finding the theme park to be responsible for creating the dangerous conditions that led to Morrison's accident. Safety expert Ban Choi, of the Institute of Risk & Safety Analyses, said the design of the ride was dangerous because it required people to step perpendicularly off the moving walkway onto the stationary floor. "Entering and exiting a moving walkway perturbs the gait stability of the walkers, even when entering/exiting in the longitudinal direction of the moving walkway," he wrote in a review of the incident submitted to the court. "Given that Plaintiff Morrison was walking in the lateral direction of the moving walkway while feeling rushed to get off the moving walkway, her gait instability would have been greater." Read more: Ex-UCLA star Tyler Ebell, a.k.a. Mighty Mouse, won't be asked to save the day after surrendering officer license A previous Times analysis showed that being injured when getting on or off a ride is fairly common, accounting for about 1 in 8 accident reports at Southern California theme parks. After the fall, Morrison was transported to a local hospital in an ambulance and incurred significant medical expenses. She suffered a fracture in her lower back and a significant tear in some of the muscles around her hip that help with movement and stability, according to court documents. A jury awarded her $250,000 for economic damages, $2 million for past noneconomic damages and $5 million for future noneconomic damages, according to court documents. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
25-02-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Woman suffered crushed spine on Harry Potter ride, wins $7.25 million in court
An Arizona woman has been awarded $7.25 million by a federal court in California after a day of magic at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with her grandson ended with her in an ambulance. Earlier this month, a jury found Universal Studios Hollywood responsible for the crushed spine that 74-year-old Pamela Morrison suffered when exiting its Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride in September 2022. She had been asked to exit the ride after her harness failed to secure, then slipped when stepping from the moving walkway onto solid ground, according to court documents. 'The belt was still moving, and so my foot went on that belt and then ... my other foot went on to the stationary floor, and it knocked me off my feet,' said Morrison, describing the fall in court documents. At trial, her attorney, Taylor Kruse, argued that the fall was due to employees' failure to halt the moving walkway and allow the woman to exit the ride in a safe manner, causing her to suffer an intensely painful injury that temporarily prevented her from using the bathroom independently, according to reporting by Law360. Kruse argued that stopping the belt would have been a safe, easy and reasonable thing to do, but the Universal City amusement park wanted to 'keep the ride moving no matter what' and meet its goal of seating 1,800 riders per hour, the legal site reported. Much of the case hinged on a few seconds of surveillance camera footage showing the fall. The defense team for Universal Studios argued, according to the legal site, that the video Morrison was focused on her grandson and not on where she was stepping, so the fall was her fault. In court documents, the company's attorneys alleged that Morrison 'failed to use and exercise, for her own protection, the proper care, and precautions reasonably prudent people under the same or similar circumstances would have exercised.' Nevertheless, the jury was not swayed, finding the popular theme park to be responsible for creating the dangerous conditions that led to Morrison's accident. Safety expert Ban Choi, of the Institute of Risk & Safety Analyses, said the design of the ride was dangerous because it required people to step perpendicularly off of the moving walkway onto the stationary floor. 'Entering and exiting a moving walkway perturbs the gait stability of the walkers, even when entering/exiting in the longitudinal direction of the moving walkway,' he wrote in a review of the incident submitted to the court. 'Given that Plaintiff Morrison was walking in the lateral direction of the moving walkway while feeling rushed to get off the moving walkway, her gait instability would have been greater.' A previous Times analysis showed that being injured when getting on or off a ride is fairly common, accounting for about one in eight accident reports at Southern California theme parks. After the fall, Morrison was transported to a local hospital in an ambulance and incurred significant medical expenses. She suffered a fracture in her lower back and a significant tear in some of the muscles around her hip that help with movement and stability, according to court documents. A jury awarded her $250,000 for economic damages, $2 million for past non-economic damages and $5 million for future non-economic damages, according to court documents.
