Lawyers representing a stroke victim who claims the stroke was caused by Walt Disney World’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror have asked for a new trial, a week after an Orange County jury decided there was nothing unsafe about the attraction.
Lawyers for Marvin Cohen, a now-80-year-old man who said he was injured after riding the Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) attraction in 1998, argue that jury members were given inadequate instructions before they began deliberations.
Cohen’s team says Orange County Circuit Judge Jose Rodriguez should have permitted the jury to consider a general negligence claim – rather than solely a premises liability claim, which involves different legal standards – and that the judge should not have barred Cohen’s lawyers from introducing evidence of other similar injuries involving the Tower of Terror, among other errors.
Cohen has said he did not realize that Tower of Terror was a high-speed, sudden-drop attraction when he and his family decided to ride it. He claims that the ride’s drops and rebounds caused his neck to twist as he leaned over to shield a young relative, causing a tear in an artery leading to his brain that ultimately caused a stroke about three weeks later.
The motion ensures that the 8-year-old lawsuit — a rare case claiming that a theme-park attraction is inherently dangerous, rather than alleging that a defect or operational error led to an injury – will continue for at least a few more weeks. This was the first ride-related personal-injury suit against any of Orlando’s major theme parks to go to trial in at least six years.
If Rodriguez denies the request for a new trial, Cohen’s lawyers could still appeal some of the legal rulings made during the course of the suit to an appellate court.
Lawyers for Marvin Cohen, a now-80-year-old man who said he was injured after riding the Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) attraction in 1998, argue that jury members were given inadequate instructions before they began deliberations.
Cohen’s team says Orange County Circuit Judge Jose Rodriguez should have permitted the jury to consider a general negligence claim – rather than solely a premises liability claim, which involves different legal standards – and that the judge should not have barred Cohen’s lawyers from introducing evidence of other similar injuries involving the Tower of Terror, among other errors.
Cohen has said he did not realize that Tower of Terror was a high-speed, sudden-drop attraction when he and his family decided to ride it. He claims that the ride’s drops and rebounds caused his neck to twist as he leaned over to shield a young relative, causing a tear in an artery leading to his brain that ultimately caused a stroke about three weeks later.
The motion ensures that the 8-year-old lawsuit — a rare case claiming that a theme-park attraction is inherently dangerous, rather than alleging that a defect or operational error led to an injury – will continue for at least a few more weeks. This was the first ride-related personal-injury suit against any of Orlando’s major theme parks to go to trial in at least six years.
If Rodriguez denies the request for a new trial, Cohen’s lawyers could still appeal some of the legal rulings made during the course of the suit to an appellate court.
