A Florida man is suing Disney World, claiming he suffered “catastrophic” injuries while riding a waterslide.
Eugene Strickland filed the lawsuit on Thursday in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Orange County, which includes Disney. Strickland is asking for more than $50,000 and accusing the theme park of negligence.
According to the lawsuit, Strickland went to the Blizzard Beach water park on July 31, 2021, and chose to ride the Downhill Double Dipper waterslide. Strickland weighed 334 pounds at that time.
Plaintiff lawyers point out that the American Society for Testing and Materials recommends that no one weighing more than 300 pounds participate in single-rider waterslides. It is unclear what the specifications are for the Dipper slide.
Strickland plunged down the slide using an inner tube and eventually “became momentarily airborne as a result of the ride’s ‘exhilarating speeds’ and design, resulting on Disney’s inner tube becoming forcibly, suddenly, and unexpectedly dislodged from underneath Plaintiff s body, causing the Plaintiff to land with force onto the hard plastic surface of the slide, sustaining permanent catastrophic injuries as a result.”
Morgan & Morgan filed a lawsuit on Strickland’s behalf, alleging that the inner tube he used was defective.
The theme park brought in “deficient/inadequate/ineffective/underinflated inner tubes to be utilized on the premises knowing that they could forcefully dislodged from under the patrons relying on them,” lawyers representing the plaintiffs claimed.
The lawsuit claims Disney was aware of the “dangerous condition” of the ride, which was a “safety hazard.” Strickland was left with “scarring [and] disfigurement,” according to the lawsuit.
“These injuries are permanent and continuing within a degree of medical probability, and Plaintiff will suffer these losses in the future,” according to Strickland’s lawyers.
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
