For me and many others, David Copperfield is the nation’s foremost illusionist/magician. He even earned a spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995. From 1974 until last week, his magic has been just that; Copperfield could do what seemed impossible.
In 2013, an audience member was selected to participate in a trick called “Lucky 13”. The trick required participants to enter a box which is then closed. Miraculously, the participants would then appear at the back of the theater at the MGM Great Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. (If you want to understand how the trick was performed, click here.) The aforementioned audience member, Gavin Cox, had a slip-and-fall during the execution of the illusion and, “was taken to the hospital with a dislocated shoulder. After returning to Britain… he suffered chronic pain [and confusion] and a scan showed a lesion on his brain.”
Most simply described, a brain lesion is an injury or disease affecting the brain. The cost of the two fusion surgeries, plus a diagnosed traumatic brain injury, has been more than $400,000 for the plaintiff. (I have found no information regarding the non-surgical treatment Cox received for his tbi.) Cox filed a multi-million dollar negligence lawsuit in 2014 to cover these medical costs and his pain-and-suffering. In addition to Copperfield, MGM Grand, show producer Backstage Employment and Referral, and building firm Construction Management were named as defendants in this suit.
Given Copperfield’s popularity, this suit has gained a lot of press. (I even found an article about it in Golf Digest.) Two other past participants of the trick have since come forward claiming injury as a result of participating in this trick. Despite this controversy, though, Copperfield is still performing, albeit without this illusion.
