A federal jury has recently awarded a 74-year-old Arizona woman $7.25 million for a spine injury she sustained while exiting the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. The incident occurred in September 2022 when the woman, Pamela Morrison, was attempting to get seated on the ride with her grandson. Due to a harness failure, she was asked to exit the ride. As she stepped from a moving walkway onto solid ground, Morrison slipped and fell, resulting in a spinal compression fracture.
Morrison's attorney argued that the fall was a direct result of the employees' failure to stop the moving walkway, which would have allowed her to exit safely. The attorney emphasized that a mere four-second delay could have prevented the accident. Universal Studios Hollywood, on the other hand, contended that Morrison's inattention to her surroundings, as she was focused on her grandson, was the primary cause of the fall.
