New Disney Signs Will Warn About Alligators After Boy's Death

By Erich Schwartzel And Sara Randazzo 

Walt Disney Co. will install signs warning theme-park guests of alligators in the area after a 2-year-old boy was snatched and killed by one of the animals at the company's Orlando, Fla., resort, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In Florida, where alligators frequently pop up in swimming pools and other places that aren't their natural habitat, many beaches, golf courses and other public areas feature warnings about the animals. Signs posted near the spot where the boy was taken on Tuesday evening said only that swimming wasn't allowed, without mentioning alligators.

Walt Disney World has shut down its beaches since the attack, and on Thursday said it was considering further changes. "We are conducting a swift and thorough review of all of our processes and protocols," the company said. "This includes the number, placement and wording of our signage and warnings."

Disney has "a responsibility to protect their guests from foreseeable -- that's the critical word -- risk or harm," said John Nockleby, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Given the vague nature of Disney's no-swimming signs, Mr. Nockleby added, "it's a pretty strong case of liability."

Lane Graves of Elkhorn, Neb., was wading in a man-made lake near Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa when the predator attacked and dragged him into the water. Rescue divers searching the Seven Seas Lagoon found his body in the water about 17 hours later.

With millions of annual visitors and often deep-pocketed ownership, theme parks tend to attract all kinds of lawsuits -- some of which are immediately dismissed and others that have lasting implications for the way they do business. Previous incidents on Disney property have resulted in lawsuits.

After a boy was critically injured on Disneyland's Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin ride in 2000, the park changed its policy and told employees to immediately call 911 in an emergency, rather than first contact a communications hub at the park that then notified authorities. Disney settled a lawsuit brought by the family of the boy, who died eight years later.

Disney has reached confidential settlements in other wrongful-death suits, including one stemming from a 1998 accident on Disneyland's Sailing Ship Columbia attraction that left one man dead and his wife severely injured; and a 2003 incident in which a man died on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster.

Companies facing high-profile incidents on their property try to settle quickly and confidentially, Mr. Nockleby said. Among other benefits, that can limit the amount of time the incident remains in the news.

Dragging it out into what could be a yearslong court proceeding or trial could "scare everybody in the country, who will think, 'I'm not going to a Disney resort,'" Mr. Nockleby said. "That's the real cost of this."

Write to Erich Schwartzel at [e-mail] and Sara Randazzo at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 16, 2016 19:10 ET (23:10 GMT)

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