text: A disabled man who spent more than half an hour trapped in Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World” ride in 2009 has won $8,000 in damages from the amusement park, the man’s lawyer said Tuesday. 
   
   Jose Martinez, a resident of San Pedro (Los Angeles County) who is in early 50s, was stuck in the “Goodbye Room” when the ride broke down the day after Thanksgiving in 2009, said David Geffen, a Santa Ana attorney. 
   
   Disneyland employees evacuated other riders but had no way to help Martinez, who is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, Geffen said. 
   
   Martinez suffers from panic attacks and high blood pressure, both of which became an issue as he sat in the boat, the “Small World” song playing over and over and over, Geffen said. 
   
   “He was half in the cave of the ride and half out,” Geffen said. “The music was blaring. They couldn’t get it to go off.” 
   
   Disneyland employees should have called firefighters to evacuate Martinez, but instead they waited for the ride to be fixed, Geffen said. Martinez was eventually treated at a Disneyland first aid station, the lawyer said. 
   
   Besides failing to take proper care of Martinez while he was stuck on the ride, Disneyland did not notify disabled riders that if “It’s a Small World” broke down, they could be trapped, U.S. District Judge James Selna ruled Friday. Martinez sued Disneyland in February 2011 in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana. 
   
   In a statement, a Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown said Disneyland “believes it provided all appropriate assistance to Mr. and Mrs. Martinez when the ride temporarily stopped and is disappointed that the court did not fully agree. 
   
   Geffen said the ruling was had resonance. 
   
   “This is a really important ruling not just for (Martinez), but for anyone that rides the rides at Disneyland — because they do break down often and they do not tell people,” Geffen said. “The court’s saying that this kind of injury is foreseeable and that (Disneyland) has a duty to warn people.” 
   
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   ANAHEIM (CBSLA.com) — A disabled man was awarded $8,000 from Disneyland in a federal lawsuit after he became stuck for 30 minutes on the “It’s A Small World” ride. 
   
   U.S. District Judge James Selna ruled in favor, in part, for Jose. R. Martinez and his wife, Christina Buchanan-Martinez. According to court records, the judge had also earlier ruled in favor, in part, for Disneyland Resort. 
   
   The trial focused on disabled access to Disneyland’s first aid station. Disneyland spokeswoman, Suzi Brown, says that the issue has since been fixed. 
   
   Martinez, who suffered a spinal cord injury at the age of 16, became stuck on the ride on Nov. 27, 2009, and filed an official lawsuit in 2011. He suffers from chronic problems with diabetes, hypertension, and anxiety disorder, according to court records. 
   
   “Martinez’s anxiety increased as his bladder began to fill,” said Judge Selna in a ruling last November that granted Disney’s motion for summary judgement that dismissed the majority of the complaint. “Martinez also developed a severe headache and recognized that he was experiencing autonomic dysreflexia, which is often caused by an overly full bladder.” 
   
   According to Selna, Martinez did have medication for the ailment with him in his backpack, but he and his wife never made an attempt to reach it, nor did they ask a Disney employee to retrieve it. 
   
   The ride’s well-known melody played loudly on repeat until guests complained, at which point the music was turned off. 
   
   Martinez’s attorney, David Geffen, stated that his client was awarded $4,000 for “pain and suffering” and the rest was for a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 
   
   Selna’s Friday ruling also stated that Disney has a duty to warn disabled guests that they could become stuck on the ride for an extended period of time, under the condition that it breaks down. 
   
   “I find a breach of the common-law duty to provide safe premises,” Selna said in his ruling. “I find that the breach caused harm to Mr. Martinez in that he was stuck on the ride. I find he was further harmed by not having the option to make an informed decision as to whether he wanted to take the ride, not-withstanding the possibility of the inconvenience in the event of an outage.” 
   
   Disneyland expressed disappointment of Friday’s ruling in a statement. 
   
   “Disneyland Resort believes it provided all appropriate assistance to Mr. and Mrs. Martinez when the ride temporarily stopped and is disappointed that the court did not fully agree.” 
   
   (©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
target: – A disabled California man who spent a hellish half-hour stuck on Disneyland's "It's a Small World" ride as the theme song blared over and over again has been awarded $8,000 in damages. The man, who is in his early 50s and is paralyzed from a spinal cord injury, was left in the "Goodbye Room" when the ride broke down and other riders were evacuated from the boat, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The man's lawyer says his client suffers from panic attacks and high blood pressure—and a full bladder made the situation even worse. The judge awarded the man $4,000 for "pain and suffering" and another $4,000 for a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. "I find a breach of the common-law duty to provide safe premises," the judge said in his ruling, saying Disney has a duty to warn disabled visitors that they could be trapped for an extended period of time when rides break down, CBS reports.