Texas Man Sues Over California Misadventure on Disney Monsters, Inc. Ride

I don't know what is more surprising: that a Texas woman is suing the Walt Disney Co. over alleged negligence by the operators of the Monsters Inc., Mike and Sulley to the Rescue! ride at California Adventure or that the ride opened way back in January 2006. I didn't even realize the Monsters, Inc. movie was that old.

Ruth Sisson claims in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed Tuesday that the cast members working the ride caused her 27-year-old handicapped son to fall out of his wheelchair and be injured and that they refused to taking him to the hospital because they were merely guests and not guests staying in one of the Disney properties.

Disney's spokesperson has not gotten back to the Weekly with a response, but this post will be updated should one come.

Sisson, her son and other family members were at Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim on April 26. The son suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, is completely paralyzed and communicates only through facial expressions, according to the complaint. Relatives moved him onto one of the attraction's cars, but the metal bar designed to keep riders from falling out could not be lowered all the way down and no additional straps were available, the suit alleges.

A cast member without warning moved the cars forward so that other passengers could board, but the impact caused the disabled man to be “launched from his wheelchair underneath the steel pole that had not been properly engaged,” the suit claims. He was “crushed into the bottom of the car with no means of escape,” alleges the complaint, which lists a broken left leg, a nose bleed and a scratch on his head as his resulting injuries.

The man was first treated at UCI Medical Center in Orange but an orthopedic surgeon in Texas later informed him his leg may never be the same again because of his neurological disorder, according to the lawsuit. “Had simple safety precautions been adhered to in this case an avoidable injury, like the one experienced by Mr. Graves, would not have occurred,” according to the complaint.

Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!

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