Walt Disney World Co. v. Wood, 489 So. 2d 61 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1986) is a court decision by the Florida District Court of Appeal illustrating the principle of joint and several liability when combined with comparative negligence.
In 1971, Aloysia Wood was injured on the Grand Prix bumper-car ride at Walt Disney World when her then-fiance, Daniel Wood, rammed his car into the rear of hers. The jury assessed her damages at $75,000. The jury then returned a verdict finding Aloysia Wood 14% at fault, Daniel Wood 85% at fault, and Disney 1% at fault. The court (under the doctrine of joint and several liability) then ordered Disney to pay 86% of the damages - its percentage plus the husband's percentage - because the husband was unable to pay his portion.
This case is sometimes cited in calls for tort reform.
Famous quotes containing the words walt, world and/or wood:
“In the far South the sun of autumn is passing
Like Walt Whitman walking along a ruddy shore.
He is singing and chanting the things that are part of him,
The worlds that were and will be, death and day.
Nothing is final, he chants. No man shall see the end.
His beard is of fire and his staff is a leaping flame.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“The old world stands serenely behind the new, as one mountain yonder towers behind another, more dim and distant. Rome imposes her story still upon this late generation.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We worshipped,
we parted green from green,
we sought further thickets,
we dipped our ankles
through leaf-mould and earth,
and wood and wood-bank enchanted us.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)