Suit filed in Big Thunder Mountain Railroad litigation

[AVP]

Source: Law Offices of Aitken, Aitken and Cohn

Suit filed in Big Thunder Mountain Railroad litigation for the wrongful death of Marcelo Torres.

Jaime and Carmen Torres, on behalf of themselves and the Estate of their deceased 22-year-old son, Marcelo Torres, have today filed a wrongful death action in Orange County Superior Court.

An additional lawsuit was filed on behalf of Vicente Gutierrez, Marcelo Torres' best friend, who suffered, and continues to suffer, substantial personal and psychological injuries from the Big Thunder Mountain Incident. A lawsuit was also filed on behalf of the Van De Keere family, Phillip, Jacqueline, Rebecca, Darren and Amy, for the physical and emotional injuries suffered as a result of the incident.

Marcelo Torres' death occurred on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, at Disneyland, on September 5, 2003 when Train #2 "I.M. Brave" derailed and deteriorated as it entered the last turn of a tunnel, immediately preceding "B-lift." Marcelo Torres died of extensive internal bleeding resulting from severe blunt force trauma to his chest, causing among other injuries, rib fractures and lacerations to his lung.

The lawsuits name as defendants both Walt Disney World Co. and the Walt Disney Company ("Disney") and seek compensatory and punitive damages.

[Lani]

I'm kind of surprised it took this long. Thanks for posting this, Adrienne.

[sediment]

Walt Disney World Co is a separate company?

[Darkbeer]

Walt Disney World Co. is also known by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, basically a wholly owned company (aka division) of the parent company "Walt Disney Company".

[Darkbeer]

MouseInfo has placed the actual legal complaint on its site, you can view it here...

http://www.miboards.com/attachment.p...achmentid=8090

[I Heart Disneyland!]

What was determined to have been the cause of the accident in the first place? I LOVE Disneyland, but, would not be surprised if it were brushed under the rug as something the kid did wrong to cause his own death. (Please, don't fire off angry notes to me, just an observation.) And, he very well MAY have done something to have caused it, I don't know. That's why I am asking!

Thanks!

[Darkbeer]

^ Go read the actual lawsuit documents, and you will see that the only thing that Mr. Torres did "wrong" was to sit in thre front row, as that was the seats that would be most affected by the "derailment" of Big Thunder.... It wasn't Mr. Torres who forgot to place the support wire when installing a new wheel, or not removing the train from the attraction when many Disney employees noticed something was wrong (but "felt pressure from Management" to keep the train on the circuit).

Nobody who has looked into this situation has even remotely claimed that it was even partially due to guest error.

[sediment]

And why hasb't this been settled already? Clearly DIS can't win this. And the Torres family probably wants some restitution quicker than the few years that DIS lawyers can drag this out.

[Lani]

What was determined to have been the cause of the accident in the first place?

After the State Division of Occupational Safety and Health published its accident report, we published a very detailed, plain-English explanation that includes diagrams. It's available in our Big Thunder Mountain Accident section of our Web site here: http://www.mouseplanet.com/btmrr_acc...31201btmrr.htm

Hope this helps.

[MommyTo3Boys1Girl]

Read the complete lawsuit, it is very interesting. The train was put out of service with a yellow tag, 2 days before his death, and it states the employees did not know that trains tagged yellow cannot be used! Seems like that is something that should have been made VERY clearn in training!
Not that I am superstitious (spelling?) but it was the 13th run of the day for I.M Brave. Torres did nothing. The train came crashing down on top of him. He was alive when the first CM got to him. At the time of the incident, they allow a train to be added to use in an attraction before it had a test run.

Wonder how much money they want?

[sediment]

I know of some 7000 other working days in which nothing happened (requiring a shutdown and a complete inspection by the state) on the 13th run of any train.

[MommyTo3Boys1Girl]

Like I said, I am not being superstitious. You can look at it this way too. The train was making noise before this 13th run, and they didn't pull it. They planned to but didn't.

[I Heart Disneyland!]

^ Go read the actual lawsuit documents, and you will see that the only thing that Mr. Torres did "wrong" was to sit in thre front row, as that was the seats that would be most affected by the "derailment" of Big Thunder.... It wasn't Mr. Torres who forgot to place the support wire when installing a new wheel, or not removing the train from the attraction when many Disney employees noticed something was wrong (but "felt pressure from Management" to keep the train on the circuit).

Nobody who has looked into this situation has even remotely claimed that it was even partially due to guest error.

Horrifying situation! I'm glad to hear that no one at the corporation is trying to blame Mr. Torres, maybe I've read too many Mouse Tales books about how the parks hide stuff so well when it happens. Thanks for the info! I appreciate it!

[JEFFJAGUAR]

Remember something....

The lawyer will get 1/3 of the settlement so of course he is going to boost it up, no offense meant to the victim.

I remember severalyears ago I was called to jury duty. The lawyer asked me if I would have a problem voting for a huge settlement for the plaintiff (I think she got a small scratch from something exploding near her but she was suing for a couple of million)......

I looked this clown straight in the eye and said, "Of course you're asking for a big settlement, you get 1/3 of it." It was like I had said something wrong...not only was I dismissed but the whole panel was dismissed. As I was leaving, this jerk tells me, "I hope you never have to sue anybody."

Two minutes later when I got back to the jury room, I was dismissed from any further jury duty.

[I Heart Disneyland!]

Remember something....

The lawyer will get 1/3 of the settlement so of course he is going to boost it up, no offense meant to the victim.

I remember severalyears ago I was called to jury duty. The lawyer asked me if I would have a problem voting for a huge settlement for the plaintiff (I think she got a small scratch from something exploding near her but she was suing for a couple of million)......

I looked this clown straight in the eye and said, "Of course you're asking for a big settlement, you get 1/3 of it." It was like I had said something wrong...not only was I dismissed but the whole panel was dismissed. As I was leaving, this jerk tells me, "I hope you never have to sue anybody."

Two minutes later when I got back to the jury room, I was dismissed from any further jury duty.

GOOD FOR YOU!!! I WISH I'D HAD THE NERVE TO SAY THAT WHEN I WAS CALLED TO JURY DUTY!!!

[smd4]

Jeffjaguar, are you isinuating that the lawyer should have done his work for free?

[JEFFJAGUAR]

No of course not am I insinuating lawyers should work for free...

But what I am insinuating is that their astronomical fees are built into the astronomical law suits we see filed in this country like the imbecilic case of somebody suing McDonald's for making the coffee too hot when they spilled it on their lap or the person who sued a phone company when they were hit by a car while making a phone call by a car claiming the phone booth was in a dangerous location.

I am sure the thought of a huge settlement against a multi billion dollar corporation had nothing to do with the lawyer taking the case.

I had a brush with this several years ago when some jack *** was standing in the middle of a street on a double yellow line in my home town and claimed I hit him with my side view mirror causing him to fall into the way of an oncoming car. My mirror was broken and it caused a dent and it cost me $750 in damages. I was sued by this deranged lawyer for $2 million dollars like it was my fault this jack *** put himself in harm's way and in my opinion put himself in the way of my mirror.

Anyway the case was settled for $10 grand when it wasn't in the slightest my fault because his lawyer wanted to make a killing.

Give me a break; the vast majority of these law suits are boosted to 10 times what they should be so the lawyers can collect a large fee and that's what makes our insurance rates sky rocket.

[smd4]

In contigent cases, of which you are writing, the lawyer puts the money to fund the case up front. He will spend thousands, and perhaps tens of thousands, of dollars of his own money to prosecute the action. Therefore, it is in the lawer's best interest, as well as the clients, to go after as much money as possible. This allows folks with little or no money access to the judicial system--which is a good thing.

I'm sorry you were sued for what seems like an outrageous sum. But I still wonder how your car got so close to a pedestrain that he was struck? Crazy people in the street deserve a wide berth.

[AliciasMom]

Kinda OT: I had a guy throw his bike in front of my car when I was pulling out of a gas station once and then he tried to claim that I hit him. I am one of the most cautious and paranoid drivers out there and I actually saw him throw his bike. The first thing I did was call my dad, who was a police officer at the time. I made sure the guy heard me call my dad by saying outloud "Please connect me to officer ______". Right after I called the guy started claiming he was fine and alright and that I didn't need to call my dad. A cop that happen to be at the gas station made us exchange numbers. My parents got one phone call. I think the guy took me for an easy insurance fraud target but then realized that I wasn't as dumb as I looked.