Disneyland Settles Injury Lawsuit

One week before trial was to begin, Disneyland agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to settle a lawsuit with a woman who suffered a brain hemorrhage in 1995 while on the Indiana Jones Adventure.

“The matter has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties,” said attorney Barry Novack, who represents Zipora Jacob, the 46-year-old Los Angeles scientist injured on the ride.

Both Novack and Disneyland declined to reveal the amount of the settlement. And Disney spokesman Ray Gomez said the settlement “doesn’t acknowledge problems with the attraction itself.” No safety modifications will be made as part of the settlement.

Gomez said Disneyland settled the suit because “generally it’s more efficient and simpler to reach a settlement outside a jury verdict.”

Jacob’s lawsuit, filed in July 1996, argued that Disneyland did not do enough to warn park-goers of the risks posed by the Indiana Jones attraction, one of the park’s most complex rides.

Disneyland, in turn, contended in court documents that Jacob assumed the risk of injury when she rode the thrill ride, which simulates a rugged, off-road adventure with sudden drops and turns. Park-goers who ride Indiana Jones, Disney attorneys said, assume an inherent risk similar to someone taking a white-water rafting trip or going horseback riding.

Jacob rode the Indiana Jones ride with her two children in July 1995. When the ride was over, her suit claimed, she staggered out, vomited and collapsed. She later underwent four surgeries to treat a hemorrhage that led doctors to implant a permanent shunt in her brain, according to her suit.

Disneyland had argued that while such a hemorrhage can result from extreme shaking, they believed Jacob might have had a predisposition to such a medical problem.

The volumes of documents amassed in the nearly 3-year-old case provided a rare look into one part of Disneyland’s vigorously protected safety record.

Logs of injuries on the Indiana Jones ride, compiled by Novack, revealed that hundreds of park-goers have left the ride complaining of injuries ranging from broken teeth to facial contusions as well as minor mishaps such as split lips. The court records also showed how the park continued to modify the ride for safety and comfort reasons long after it opened to the public in March 1995.

In January, a Los Angeles Superior Court officer fined Disneyland $7,050 for blocking efforts by Jacob to obtain additional injury and safety records.