A man has filed a lawsuit against Walt Disney Co., seeking $240 million in damages following the death of his wife, killed in an accident at the company's Florida amusement park, his attorney said Saturday.
The lawyer for Brian Schenck, of Glen Cove, N.Y., filed the suit in state Supreme Court late Friday against Walt Disney Co. and Walt Disney World Co.The suit charges the entertainment giant with committing "malicious and reckless acts" that led to the death of Patricia Schenck last fall at the Disney World entertainment complex in Florida.
The couple was visiting the theme park with their four children, boys ages 9 months to 11 years, on Oct. 9, 1989, when Patricia Schenck was hit by a Disney-run ferry in the park's Seven Seas Lagoon, said the family's attorney, Joseph Napoli.
The suit maintains that a Disney employee wrongfully reversed the engines of the ferry boat, throwing the woman, who was riding in a stalled skiff with her 9-year-old son, Brian Jr., into the water.
She suffered massive head, neck and internal injuries, several broken bones and multiple cuts, Napoli said.
She died later that day.
Officials for the Disney company were unavailable for comment.