[Dion]

Disney's liability, prior knowledge questioned

Citing “an insider,” TheWrap, a media industry publication, reported Wednesday that Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort was aware of an ongoing problem of guests feeding alligators and had ignored staff requests to put protective fences in place. The Polynesian Village Resort is adjacent to the Grand Floridian and a short walk along the Seven Seas Lagoon, where the alligator attacked the boy.

The Grand Floridian is Disney’s starship resort in Orlando and guests are often invited to the beach to watch movies and fireworks. Disney may have been concerned about scaring guests with overly explicit signs about animals, Branson says. “Think about the danger of saying this pond contains wild animals that can eat you or your children,” he says. “But can you physically fix the problem? If you can’t swim there, why put a beach there? The sign says one thing, but the appearance says another.”

David Shiner, an attorney and managing partner Shiner Law Group in the Miami area, says the state’s law doesn’t require an owner of a land to anticipate the presence of harm from wild animals unless the owner either owns the wild animal or introduced it. “They didn’t own the alligator,” he said. “But if they know people are going into these areas, Disney has a duty to warn them if they knew of the presence of alligators.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...oned/86036062/