LOCAL : Ex-Disney Executive Sues, Says Company Made Him a Scapegoat
A former executive has filed a $20-million lawsuit against Walt Disney Inc., charging he was forced out and wrongly blamed for problems with the Splash Mountain and Pleasure Island rides.
Jeffrey A. Rochlis contends Disney hired him in 1987 as executive vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering without telling him of complications with the Splash Mountain ride at Disneyland in Anaheim and Pleasure Island at Disney World, Fla.
Officials then kept him out of meetings about the projects and blamed him for failures, Rochlis alleged in the Superior Court action.
” . . .Members of Imagineering’s creative group were directed to conceal from plaintiff critical problems in the projects Splash Mountain and Pleasure Island and in other projects which reflected poorly on the performance of the creative group,” court papers said.
A Disney corporate spokesman said he was unaware of the suit and had no comment.
The damages requested are for lost stock options from Rochlis’ contract.
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