SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – A lawsuit claims Disneyland workers snickered at a disabled girl struggling to get off a Jungle Cruise boat earlier than she fell and broke a leg, resulting in her loss of life from an an infection 5 months later.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court docket in November by the household of Joanne Aguilar, 66, of Ventura, in opposition to the Walt Disney Firm, its theme park division and Disneyland, the Southern California Information Group reported this week.
In a response filed with the court docket Dec. 29, Disney denied the allegations and stated it’s searching for a jury trial, the information group reported.
In line with the lawsuit, Aguilar went to Disneyland on Aug. 22, 2021, along with her grownup daughters Andrea Mallul and Zenobia Hernandez.
The lawsuit says Disneyland workers on the Jungle Cruise trip instructed the household a wheelchair-accessible boat was unavailable and Aguilar opted to board with the help of her daughters.
On the finish of the trip, workers “positioned small unsecured blocks on high of the prevailing steps contained in the boat to scale back the peak of every step” and the daughters tried to assist Aguilar get out of the boat, the lawsuit says.
It claims that workers didn’t help however snickered and giggled as they watched Aguilar battle earlier than she misplaced her stability on the blocks, fell backward and fractured the femur in her proper leg.
Aguilar had surgical procedure at a neighborhood hospital the place she spent 10 days earlier than transferring to a rehabilitation heart. In line with the lawsuit, she spent 5 months on the heart, acquired an an infection, went into septic shock and died on Jan. 29, 2022.
The lawsuit claims wrongful loss of life and violation of the People with Disabilities Act. It seeks financial damages for ache, psychological struggling, humiliation, medical prices and funeral bills.
The case was assigned this month to U.S. District Choose Cormac Carney on the Santa Ana courthouse.
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