Universal Orlando Is Suing Family of Disabled Girl Over a Mario Keychain?

It seems that a series of unfortunate events has led to a family being trespassed and possibly sued over a $16 Super Mario Bros. keychain.

According to People, Nikki Daou from Jacksonville was visiting Epic Universe at Universal Orlando with her husband and severely autistic 7-year-old daughter for the child’s birthday. The daughter, like many autistic children, is especially fixated on the character of Mario.

Ahead of the family’s visit, she even talked to Universal about accommodations for her daughter via an interview and discussion with the accommodations team, as the child has difficulty with long lines, large groups of people, and confined spaces. The park issued her a card outlining these concerns.

What started the issue?

While at the 1 UP Factory gift shop, the child was getting ready to have a meltdown due to the large crowd in the store. So the mom did what any mom would do, she immediately took her outside. However, the child still had the Mario keychain (taking it would have most likely escalated the meltdown). So her husband stayed in the store, with the price tag, and other merchandise, and was going to pay for it

This is where the misunderstanding happened

The incident was witnessed by plainclothes security, who followed the mother and child outside and accused them of shoplifting, which is an understandable assumption given the circumstances.

Daou explained the situation and that her husband had the price sticker to pay for it. At this point, the security officer could have verified the story, but instead, the family was taken to another building and “interrogated” about the “stolen” item.  She also claims they were issued a no trespass warning for a year and were directed to leave the park.

The family was staying in a Universal hotel, but they checked out the next morning and left.

It gets worse.

A few days later, the family received a letter from Universal’s attorneys demanding the family “pay a $200 civil claim for ‘intentionally’ depriving the park of merchandise without paying for it.”

However, Daou is a litigation paralegal with the firm Morgan & Morgan. Yes, the same law firm that was fighting Disney over their Steamboat Willie parody(that suit was later dropped.)

Now the firm is representing the family. Eric “Rick” Block is the lawyer on the case. 

Block has sent a letter to Universal accusing the theme park of “negligence, abuse of process, libel, and false imprisonment.” He is also asking that the trespass ban be lifted, that Universal pay for the family’s legal fees, and that the theme park make a sizable donation to an autism-focused charity.

Block also said that he will donate his legal fees to charity as well.

According to Florida Politics. Block claims that Universal’s attorney was also angry about the situation,

“To their credit” a Universal litigation attorney reached out and responded to Block’s lengthy letter expressing his anger about how Daou family was treated. Universal and Morgan & Morgan are going to talk this coming week, Block said.”

Universal is not saying anything. 

It’s understandable why the misunderstanding occurred, but this situation was seemingly avoidable if security had just allowed them to pay for the item that the father was allegedly already going to buy.

When it comes to autism, meltdowns happen, and Daou was doing what she could to remove her child from the situation. She wasn’t demanding people deal with a meltdown. She was being a good mom and getting her daughter to a place where she could de-escalate.

Hopefully, the situation will be resolved quickly, and new procedures can be implemented. Maybe next time they could let a Team Member know about the situation first as well. This could also help avoid misunderstandings.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!