Judge throws out Segway lawsuit against Disney, but permits future suits

A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a class-action lawsuit brought by three disabled people upset that Walt Disney World would not allow them to ride personal Segways in its theme parks. But the judge left an opening for a similar suit to be filed against the resort.

In dismissing the original case, U.S. District Court District Judge Gregory Presnell also rejected a proposed settlement Disney had negotiated with the three plaintiffs that had drawn protests from some disability-rights advocates. Under the terms of that settlement, Disney would have been permitted to continue banning the two-wheeled Segways at both Disney World and Disneyland in exchange for deploying its own upright -- but four-wheeled -- scooters for disabled guests to use, paying the three plaintiffs' legal fees and giving them $4,000 each for future Disney vacations.

Critics had argued that the proposed settlement would have unfairly bound other disabled people who did not believe Disney's four-wheeled scooters were an adequate substitute for their own scooters.