When you attend a theme park such as Universal Studios in Orlando, you may expect to be somewhat frightened by rides, or 
maybe even feel sick after riding a rollercoaster, but mainly, you expect to have fun in a safe environment. Unfortunately for one family visiting Orlando from Guatemala, their family fun trip to Universal Studios turned deadly. Now, the park is being sued for their negligence, which may have led to the man’s death.
Family Lawsuit Against Universal Studios
In 2016, a family from Guatemala decided to take a trip to Orlando and enjoy the theme parks. They rode the Skull Island: Reign of Kong Ride at Universal, which had been open for only six months at the time. After the ride, the 38-year old father told his family he was not feeling well, although his wife thought it was only an upset stomach. While he rested on a bench, his wife and son went on to try another ride. When they returned to the bench, the father had collapsed. He was taken to a hospital where he later died of a heart attack.
In the lawsuit filed by the family against Universal Studios, the family’s lawyer claims that the theme park was negligent in only having safety signs posted in English, despite knowing that many of the visitors to the park each year do not speak English. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that the park was slow to render aid to the man after he had collapsed. Both scenarios led to the man’s death, according to the family attorney.
This point regarding the safety signs may be a difficult and novel allegation to prove as Florida courts have held in the past that in some circumstances there is no duty or obligation to have warning signs in a language other than English.
Premises Liability & Safety
All property owners and tenants have a responsibility to maintain a safe premise for guests to their property—whether that is a home or business—with the highest level of care extended to those invitees who enter a property for business purposes. This is the responsibility of organizations such as Universal. Anytime there is an unsafe condition on the property, or the property owner should have known about an unsafe condition and did not fix it, which led to an injury or death like in this case, the property owner can be held liable for those injuries.
In any premises liability case, the injured party must prove that their injuries, or death, resulted from the owner’s failure to make the property safe, or provide adequate safety warnings about unsafe conditions.
In order to prove liability, the injured party must prove that:
- The property owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition.
- The property owner failed to repair or provide adequate warning signs of the dangerous condition.
- The condition in question is what caused the injury to the victim.
Property owners may not be held liable if it is found that they did not know about, nor did they have reason to know about the dangerous condition on their property.
If you or someone you know has been injured on the property of someone who acted negligently by not repairing or providing warnings of an unsafe condition, you may be eligible to receive compensation for your injuries. Please contact us for a free consultation to discuss your situation. We can be reached at (305) 662-6178.
References:
KTRK. (2019, January 01). Guatemalan family suing Universal Studios over English-only signs. Retrieved from https://abc13.com/guatemalan-family-suing-universal-studios-over-english-only-signs/4995246/
Patondev. (2016, October 24). Premises Liability in Florida. Retrieved from https://panterlaw.com/news-resources/premises-liability-in-florida/
