A note before we get into this one: everything below comes directly from a legal complaint, and legal complaints contain one side’s allegations, not established facts. Nothing here has been proven in court, and we want to be upfront about that distinction before sharing any of the details.
Universal Orlando Resort and Mack Rides, the manufacturer responsible for designing and building Stardust Racers at Epic Universe, are now named in a new lawsuit tied to an incident that the complaint says occurred on October 13, 2025.
According to court documents, the complaint was filed on August 17, 2026, by a plaintiff named Jennifer Lundy on behalf of her minor son, who is identified in the filing only by the initials L.L.
According to the complaint, L.L. lost consciousness as a result of forces generated while riding Stardust Racers. The filing states that the child had no head, neck, or upper body restraint or support at the time he was unconscious, and alleges that he sustained injuries to his head and face, along with orthopedic and spinal injuries, and required medical assistance after getting off the ride. The complaint describes these injuries as severe and permanent, though again, these are allegations made in a legal filing, not findings that a court has confirmed.
The lawsuit seeks payment for medical care and treatment expenses and is seeking more than $50,000 in damages. It also alleges that Universal owed a duty to the family, as well as to other guests generally, to operate and maintain Stardust Racers in a reasonably safe condition, and to notify guests if the ride was not safe to operate. On September 18, 2026, the case was moved to federal court.
It’s important to understand that this is not an isolated legal filing. This lawsuit follows a string of other legal complaints connected to Stardust Racers, including a batch of five additional lawsuits reported this past December, each alleging injuries sustained on the ride along with claims of negligence in its design, operation, maintenance, and overall control. Taken together, these filings represent a genuine pattern of legal scrutiny directed at this specific attraction since it opened.
This history also includes the most serious incident connected to the ride. In September 2025, a 32-year-old guest named Kevin Rodriguez Zavala was found unconscious after riding Stardust Racers and later passed away. A medical examiner’s report attributed his death to multiple blunt impact injuries. A final report released in December stated that no criminal acts were found to have occurred in connection with his death. We’re including this context not to draw any direct conclusion about the current lawsuit, but because it’s part of the same broader legal and safety conversation surrounding this specific attraction, and readers deserve that full picture.
As of this writing, we are not aware of a public statement from Universal specifically addressing this newest complaint, and we’d encourage anyone following this story closely to look for direct statements from Universal or official court filings rather than relying solely on secondhand summaries, including this one, for the full picture.
We want to be clear about what this article is and isn’t. It is a summary of what has been alleged in a legal filing, which is now part of the public record. It is not a determination of fault, and it is not a statement that Universal or Mack Rides did anything wrong. Lawsuits are frequently settled, dismissed, or decided in ways that don’t match the original allegations, and that process takes time.
If you have a trip to Epic Universe planned and are weighing whether to ride Stardust Racers, that’s a personal decision best made with full information, including checking for any official updates Universal may release as this case moves forward.
We’ll continue to follow this story as it develops and share verified updates as they become available, so check back with Theme Park Scope for anything further confirmed in this case.
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