Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
Thank you to all that have responded to my Disneyland question! This occured on the down hill grade when you walk from Fantasy Land to New Orleans Square. It is in the back by Thunder Mountain. I am pretty sure it was ice cream that was on the ground..it was a very crowded day with many strollers going through it. I just slipped enough to cause me to loose my balance, when I tried to correct I over corrected I think because it was down hill, and I went down on my knees extending my hand to break the fall. Horrible pain, but more than that humiliation, and I just wanted the ground to swallow me up! My family (including my physician son) were a few steps ahead of me, and I called out when I knew I was going down....they helped to side of road. At the time I was trying to hide extent of injury from my son, as I did not want my grandchildren to remember their Disney trip including a trip to er with Grandma. Long story about how badly I was treated, when I asked about filling out accident report, and my claim started because I wrote a letter about how their staff did not make me feel like a valuable customer, and they actually encouraged me to file the claim...Not really looking to make any money off of it, just want my medical bills paid.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Your attitude is commendable in a general sense. Nobody wants to "profit" from misfortune. But think for a moment about who else makes use of that thinking. Insurance companies and guilty defendants. They want everyone to think that any money above and beyond medical bills is "profit" and that anyone asking for compensation for pain & suffering is just greedy. But the REAL greed is in them not wanting to pay what they owe.
The truth is, a pain & suffering award is not "profit." It's compensation for a loss. It's not even considered "income" by the IRS, and you don't pay taxes on it.
Look, just because you don't get a bill for all the pain you felt, doesn't mean it's not real. You suffered it because of their negligence. Why shouldn't they pay for it? It's only fair. We're not talking about gouging anyone for more than you deserve, but why settle for less than you deserve?
I hope my prior response helped you. The fact of stroller wheels going through it would suggest time had passed but with crowds present, there could have been strollers going through this ice cream fairly quickly. That being said, time is the issue here to prove negligence and whether there was enough of it for Disney staff to discover it and clean it up. If ice cream...was it totally melted or even better semi-dried and sticky...if so then it would indicate it was there even longer and create more potential liability from a time sence to discover the hazzard. Did you take any pictures? Do you have the name of any witnesses? Both of these factors would help to prove liability. Remember, injuries/damages alone in this type of case does not create liability and any duty or nebligence against Disney. You would be entitled to pain and suffering damages besides just the payment of your medical expenses if liability is proven. I hope this also helps. Bob
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