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Disney has money out the gak - they will settle for around 10 million. Without much fight. Their image matters more than millions to Disney.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
i'm sure that they'll get a big fat settlement and that will make everything all better, right...
it's a shame to see things like this get turned in to a money grab.

Yes, because it is a moneygrab to get compensation for your kids death.

Here's the thing, if the courts work and Disney didn't do anything wrong (such as not having signs or whatever), then they will not have to pay anything but maybe their legal costs.

compensation for the loss of your child? how do you monetize that?
ridiculous.
I can see paying for services etc but to just say her is X amount of dollars doesn't make sense.
i'm more along the lines of thought along with what jreilly89 said, put money towards safety and signage etc.

this case may not turn in to a money grab but think about how often it happens and you'll understand my sentiments on it.
parent x doesn't have a care in the world for little johnny but god forbid something happen and whoa is me someone is going to pay.

honestly I doubt this will ever go anywhere near a court. it will most likely be settled outside of it.

Compensation for all sorts of losses has been calculated by accountants and actuaries and there are fairly standard rates for different sorts of injuries at different ages.

Disney no doubt have insurance for this kind of accident at their theme parks, and are likely to make a generous settlement over and above the going market rate.

If the parents are dissatisfied with that offer, they will need to sue Disney and hope to get a jury to agree that an attack was likely to happen (it wasn't) that Disney's precautions were inadequate (they weren't) and that Disney's offer was inadequate (it is likely to be generous.)

To get to court in the first place they will have to find a lawyer who wants to take on such a shaky case, who probably will be a shyster doing it for a cut of the take, and there's a risk they will go through a year or two of misery and end up with nothing.

All that being said, Hulk Hogan was awarded $140 million for invasion of privacy so it looks like anything can happen in the US civil courts.

I'm pretty sure Disney will give them a ludicrously large pile of cash, in exchange to say things about how Disney has done everything they can to help and have been nothing but supportive.

It's not worth losing your kid, and won't fill the hole in their hearts, but enough money can usually patch it over. Sad, but true.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
All that being said, Hulk Hogan was awarded $140 million for invasion of privacy so it looks like anything can happen in the US civil courts.

I think it's a little different in that Disney wasn't really in the wrong. It's a horrible accident, but Disney wasn't negligent - they have so many people running though their parks that you have an enormously higher ratio of gator to human contact that elsewhere in Florida, and they have nearly never had an incident - if they were sloppy I think this would have been a more regular event.

Gawker, on the other hand, was clearly and unambiguously in the wrong, hurt Hulk Hogan's image causing tangible damages, and the depositions revealed they were execrable human beings to boot. I don't think the Hogan decision was one of those out of left field lawsuit lottery sitations.

I agree totally with everything you posted other than that throwaway line about the Gawker case.

Definitely Disney is not in the wrong and Gawker was.

What I mean is that $140 million was far too much for Hogan, awarded by a jury that was either sympathetic to him or vengeful against Gawker.

If the alligator trial came to court it's possible the jury might want to spank Disney and vastly compensate the family.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Definitely Disney is not in the wrong and Gawker was.

What I mean is that $140 million was far too much for Hogan, awarded by a jury that was either sympathetic to him or vengeful against Gawker.

If the alligator trial came to court it's possible the jury might want to spank Disney and vastly compensate the family.

Hogan had a billionaire backing him, which probably made all the difference. In this case I'd say the money is firmly behind Disney.

Oh they'll definitely settle out of court. Disney being painted as a heartless corporation that allows alligators to eat its guest for months or years in the news would be a nightmare for its profits.

Even though, as many have pointed out, they didn't do anything wrong, they'll settle. It's by far the least painful option.

 Kilkrazy wrote:

Disney no doubt have insurance for this kind of accident at their theme parks, and are likely to make a generous settlement over and above the going market rate.

I suspect you're right.

Again, it was a horrible tragedy. Lots of blaming on the interwebs, if my facebook feed is any indication. While I'd like to think I'd never let my toddler wade in a lagoon in Florida (I've been there several times, and seen the abundance of alligators), let's not forget these poor bastards watched their kid get attacked, actually wrestled with the gator and lost, all while their child was probably screaming in fear and pain.

I can't even imagine that...

 kronk wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:

Disney no doubt have insurance for this kind of accident at their theme parks, and are likely to make a generous settlement over and above the going market rate.

I suspect you're right.

Again, it was a horrible tragedy. Lots of blaming on the interwebs, if my facebook feed is any indication. While I'd like to think I'd never let my toddler wade in a lagoon in Florida (I've been there several times, and seen the abundance of alligators), let's not forget these poor bastards watched their kid get attacked, actually wrestled with the gator and lost, all while their child was probably screaming in fear and pain.

I can't even imagine that...

It is a horrific image. Absolutely no one can argue with that.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 kronk wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:

Disney no doubt have insurance for this kind of accident at their theme parks, and are likely to make a generous settlement over and above the going market rate.

I suspect you're right.

Again, it was a horrible tragedy. Lots of blaming on the interwebs, if my facebook feed is any indication. While I'd like to think I'd never let my toddler wade in a lagoon in Florida (I've been there several times, and seen the abundance of alligators), let's not forget these poor bastards watched their kid get attacked, actually wrestled with the gator and lost, all while their child was probably screaming in fear and pain.

I can't even imagine that...

It is a horrific image. Absolutely no one can argue with that.

You know what, it is all too easy to sit here in judgement and think 'what horrible parents', not necessarily about this case specifically but after similar events (the toddler and the gorilla case springs to mind) but without ever experiencing something like that, it is difficult to empathise.

We moved to the Midlands recently and took the kids to a fireworks display, largest one in the area with something like 5,000 people attending, I think. Anyway, the kids went on a little merry go round ride (they are aged 5 and 3) and when it finished, the wife lifted the 3 year old boy off and then lifted my daughter off, whilst not noticing in that split second, the boy had hopped back on the rider because he wanted another go. It's difficult to explain but essentially, due to blocked eyelines and whatnot, we didn't see him and to all intents and purposes, it seemed like she had lifted him off the rider and he had wandered off. It's difficult to even comprehend the ice grip of panic and terror that strikes you in that moment when you think your 3 year old son is lost in a crowd of 5,000 people in a funfair but bear with me. After 5 minutes of utter, sheer unrestrained panic, we realised he was still on the ride and all was well, but still....

It was by far, the worst moment and feeling of my life to the extent where I cannot even think about that night without feeling sick at the thought of what might have happened. So I can only begin to empathise with this family having seen their child carried off by an animal. It must be an utterly indescribable feeling of terror and panic. So I try never to sit in judgement on other's parenting skills because I know that things can and do happen in the blink of an eye. My heart goes out to this family for this tragedy.

Well the speed a gator can strike is impressive. They are extremely fast once they get in close. The parents could have been holding the hand of the child and it could still have occurred.

Its strange though. On the Gulf Coast we go swimming all the time in ponds and lakes with gators. They typically stay away, unless they are a good bit larger. Just a horrible thing.

 Gitzbitah wrote:
Oh they'll definitely settle out of court. Disney being painted as a heartless corporation that allows alligators to eat its guest for months or years in the news would be a nightmare for its profits.

Even though, as many have pointed out, they didn't do anything wrong, they'll settle. It's by far the least painful option.

Disney has plenty of money and legal advisors to have made sure that they covered themselves with whatever measures were needed, signs, fences, etc. to avoid any liability for people who stray out of safe areas.

Tourists get eaten by wildlife in Australia and it hasn't hurt their tourism and Disney probably has better PR than Oz. If Disney wants to settle because they think it will help their PR spin they will but I don't see Disney being forced to settle or getting sued.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/05/30/woman-fails-to-save-friend-in-attack-by-crocodile-on-australian-beach.html

But Warren Enstch, who represents the area in the Australian Parliament, said the beach was beside a creek where tourism operators run crocodile-spotting tours. Enstch said the two tourists had to have seen plentiful crocodile warning signs in the region.


"You can't legislate against human stupidity," Entsch said. "If you go in swimming at 10 o'clock at night, you're going to get consumed."


The attack occurred near where a 5-year-old boy was taken and killed by a 14-foot crocodile from a swamp in 2009 and a 43-year-old woman was killed by a 16-foot croc while swimming in a creek in 1985.

Might have been especially hungry, or had been fed by tourists; either actively or by litter. It's becoming a problem with wolves and bears in the alberta rockies as tourists seem to be getting stupider.

On the notion of a 'cash grab' law suit: this is the sort of tragedy that can break people. You could legitimately be talking about years of counseling and therapy, missed work or just being unable to do your job for x amount of time.
No amount of money will fix things but there's a huge potential cost to surviving something like this.

Apparently the family has decided not to sue.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/parents-of-boy-killed-by-alligator-at-disney-resort-will-not-sue/ar-BBuyueH?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

Huh. Could Disney have settled before they even decided to sue? Or maybe the parents just wanted to move on.

 jreilly89 wrote:
Huh. Could Disney have settled before they even decided to sue? Or maybe the parents just wanted to move on.

from that article:

The parents’ joint statement did not say if they received any settlement cash from Disney, and did not cite a specific reason for declining legal action.

Walt Disney World President George Kalogridis said in a statement the company will "continue to provide ongoing support for the family, which includes honoring their request for privacy." But he did not specify what the "support" entailed.

It's quite possible they received a 6-7 figure sum with the stipulation that they not disclose to anyone the amount or even if there was a settlement.

 kronk wrote:

 jreilly89 wrote:
Huh. Could Disney have settled before they even decided to sue? Or maybe the parents just wanted to move on.

from that article:

The parents’ joint statement did not say if they received any settlement cash from Disney, and did not cite a specific reason for declining legal action.

Walt Disney World President George Kalogridis said in a statement the company will "continue to provide ongoing support for the family, which includes honoring their request for privacy." But he did not specify what the "support" entailed.

It's quite possible they received a 6-7 figure sum with the stipulation that they not disclose to anyone the amount or even if there was a settlement.

That was my thinking. Maybe a "We're so sorry, but we know we're at fault, here's some hush money" or "We'll cover the funeral expenses"

Yeah but they weren't at fault.

They still would have hushed them with money just to make it go away. They have money to spare.

 SickSix wrote:
Yeah but they weren't at fault.

But there is also a fine line between "it's our fault" and "could we have done more to prevent this".

They have put up warning signs and become more aggressive with removal of alligators since this incident.

There was a no swimming sign up near the water the boy went into. As the gators had not attacked anyone in the lake in, what, 45 years? I'd say there weren't any overly aggressive gators there.

Disney wasn't in the wrong or at fault for this- this is a fact of life in Florida. If there's a body of fresh water, it has a gator in it, or it will have a gator in it at some point.

http://rare.us/story/disney-intern-fired-rehired-after-she-tweeted-out-a-photo-of-this-controversial-sign/?utm_content=inf_10_3427_2&utm_source=socialedge&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Influencer&tse_id=INF_82f485204f5b11e6a541a52d0f601bf9

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Walt Disney World intern is back on the job after she was briefly fired for tweeting a photo of a sign telling employees how to respond to questions about alligators in the theme park’s waters.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that Shannon Sullivan was fired this week after posting the photo on Twitter. It told employees that if guests ask whether alligators live in the park’s waters, they should reply, “Not that we know of.” It added, “Please do not say that we have seen them before.”



Disney said the sign wasn’t authorized and was removed. Sullivan got her job back.

A 2-year-old boy was killed by an alligator at the park last month.

 Gitzbitah wrote:
Disney wasn't in the wrong or at fault for this- this is a fact of life in Florida. If there's a body of fresh water, it has a gator in it, or it will have a gator in it at some point.

This is apparently a fact well known to Floridians, but I suspect most people who have not been to Florida don't know exactly how common they are. I certainly only thought they were in the Everglades, and that one that enjoyed golfing. I would imagine that a great percentage of all Disney visitors had no idea there could be alligators on the property.

People are saying Disney did all they could do, but since after this happened they updated the sign verbiage and are now adding stone walls to make the water more inaccessible to visitors, clearly they didn't do all they could have done prior to this. People are discussing that the parents declined to sue, and speculating there may have been a settlement - lol, why are we pretending there wasn't 100% a settlement? Who issues a press release to say they aren't going to sue someone, and oh, by the way, we started a foundation in our kid's name?

I think Disney was right to settle, because man, I think that would have been a pretty iffy trial if they had. Months and months of news coverage about the kid that got eaten by a dinosaur on your property, depositions of employee after employee who state for the record how many times they saw a gator on the properly, a subpoena for how many gators were removed per year - while your only possible counterargument is that a child and his grieving parents should have known better than to go near a beach at a theme park? Way safer to just give them a day or two's worth of ticket sales, which is probably about $8 million.

 Ouze wrote:

I think Disney was right to settle, because man, I think that would have been a pretty iffy trial if they had. Months and months of news coverage about the kid that got eaten by a dinosaur on your property, depositions of employee after employee who state for the record how many times they saw a gator on the properly, a subpoena for how many gators were removed per year - while your only possible counterargument is that a child and his grieving parents should have known better than to go near a beach at a theme park? Way safer to just give them a day or two's worth of ticket sales, which is probably about $8 million.

This. You can bet your ass that Disney does NOT want that day in court. Ever.

Are you more likely to get the measles than bitten by an alligator in a Disney resort? Yes.

But Alligator stories have more teeth than measles. Pay them. Move on. Train your staff to taze the gators.