Anaheim : Court Upholds Finding in Favor of Disneyland

A jury verdict that found Disneyland blameless in an accident that left a teen-ager partially paralyzed was affirmed Tuesday.

James Higgins was thrown from the Space Mountain ride in 1983 and seriously injured. Two years later, an Orange County jury rejected his claim that the ride had been defectively designed.

He was left with some brain damage, and he testified during his trial that he must use braces to stand and must hold on to something to walk.

Disneyland lawyers said Higgins had intentionally wriggled out of a lap restraint in the Space Mountain rocket car.

The 4th District Court of Appeal approved the verdict, which was based in part on an unusual experiment with a rocket car from the ride that was brought to the Santa Ana courthouse.

Jurors watched as a park employee demonstrated how a rider could escape the restraint. Appellate justices decided that an objection by Higgins’ lawyers to the experiment was groundless.

The appellate decision also focused on evidence of Higgins’ consumption of alcohol. Testimony at the trial showed that Higgins, 18 at the time, and two friends drank several beers each before entering the Anaheim amusement park.

Higgins’ lawyers sought to exclude the evidence, saying it was prejudicial to their case, but Superior Court Judge James L. Smith allowed the jury to consider it. The Court of Appeal found that this was proper.