Family Awarded $400,000 in Disney Breach of Contract
A family that owns two concessions at the Disneyland Pacific Hotel in Anaheim won $400,000 in damages from Walt Disney Co. in a lawsuit that accused the entertainment giant of trying to run them out of business after Disney bought the hotel 3 1/2 years ago.
In an order issued Friday, Orange County Superior Court Judge Tam Nomoto Schumann found that Disney breached its contract with the Thayer family, which operates the Hollywood Studio Store, a coffee and pastry shop that sells merchandise from competing studios, and an arcade where hotel guests can buy snacks and sundries.
The Thayers were operating the businesses at the old Pan Pacific Hotel just west of Disneyland when Disney acquired the property in December 1995.
“Basically, since then, our life turned to hell,” one family member, Dan Thayer, said Monday.
The Thayers charged that Disney repeatedly turned off air conditioning and power in the arcade, removed their businesses from its maps, took down signs pointing to the businesses, opened a competing coffee shop and put up trees blocking their signs.
The family claimed it had exclusive rights to provide the services. Thayer said that family members had hoped to negotiate an agreement to sell Disney merchandise after Disney bought the hotel, but Disney officials refused to discuss such an accommodation. The family sued Disney two years ago, and the case went to a nonjury trial last month.
Schumann found that Disney breached its contract with the Hollywood Studio Store and engaged in unfair competition with the vending business, said the Thayers’ lawyer, Thomas Borchard.
Schumann set the damages at $400,000 plus attorney’s fees, which Borchard said were in the $150,000 to $200,000 range.
Disney’s lawyer, Roger L. Bellows, could not be reached for comment.
Schumann also ruled that Disney must restore signs referring to the studio store on hotel walls and list the store in the hotel directory and on informational material, including maps, given to guests.
The Thayers’ lease expires Sept. 1 of this year. The family is negotiating to open similar businesses in Las Vegas or at Universal CityWalk in the Hollywood Hills.
