Woman injured on Harry Potter theme park ride in California is awarded US$7.25 million

The entrance to Universal Studios in Universal City, California, Aug. 23, 2016. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A U.S. federal jury has awarded US$7.25 million to a 74-year-old Arizona woman for a spine injury she suffered in a fall while exiting the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Pamela Morrison was getting seated on the popular attraction with her grandson in September 2022 when she was asked to exit after her harness failed to secure properly. Morrison slipped and fell when stepping from a moving walkway onto solid ground, according to her lawsuit.

Her attorney, Taylor Kruse, argued that Morrison’s fall — which caused a spinal compression fracture — was due to employees’ failure to halt the moving walkway and allow the woman to exit safely.

“It would have cost them four seconds to stop it, but instead they wanted to keep the ride moving no matter what, to make its quota of 1,800 riders per hour,” Kruse said Tuesday.

Lawyers for Universal Studios Hollywood argued that Morrison was focused on her grandson and not on where she was stepping, so the fall was her fault.

After a three-day trial, the California jury deliberated for four hours on Feb. 14 before finding the theme park responsible for creating the dangerous conditions that led to Morrison’s accident. She was awarded $250,000 for future medical expenses, $2 million for past pain and suffering, and $5 million for future pain and suffering, Kruse said.

A message seeking comment on the verdict was sent to Universal Studios Hollywood.

“The fall changed her whole life, and that’s what the jury saw,” Kruse said. “Obviously we feel that this was a very just result.”

The Associated Press