Personal Injury Claims Against Amusement Parks
A long time ago, I used do do tort defense work at a prominent Baltimore law firm. My caseload mostly consisted of defending injury cases filed against an amusement park. Summer is the busiest time of year for these operations, and lately I have been seeing a lot of amusement park commercials on television.
These places are popular because of the thrills they promise. I think most customers assume these places are a safe place for thrill-seeking because they are inspected and regulated. You'd be wrong about that. Because of the forces applied to the human body during most amusement rides, injuries are commonplace. But most people don't know that the regulatory scheme varies from place to place, and is usually dictated by state law.
Most amusement operators vigorously defend injury claims. Next time you go on a roller-coaster, take a good look at the signage. If you ride and are injured, you may end up facing an argument that you were contributorily negligent by failing to follow the ride instructions. Or that you assumed the risk of your burst fracture at L4-5 because you rode the coaster anyway, despite knowing that you had a sprained back in 1994 (where the signage says folks with back problems shouldn't ride.)
Remember the description in Fight Club of what a recall coordinator does? To paraphrase, if the cost of the recall ends up being more than the average lawsuit payout times the number of expected claims, they don't do one.
I once defended an injury suit against a park made by a rider who alleged that he had broken his tailbone when he skidded across the stop pool on a water ride and collided with the pool wall. Over the prior few years, four other people had the same problem. Common sense would tell us that the landing pool was simply too small. Unfortunately, it was also the most expensive proposed fix. So the park tried a few stop-gap measures, but folks kept getting hurt. I don't know if they ever just extended the pool. I do know that all of the riders who filed suits faced defenses like the ones outlined above.
So some advice for personal injury lawyers considering ride injury claims against amusement parks. First, expect to go to trial. These places are typically aggressive on claims. Second, locate a liability expert early on in the process. Park staff and their attorneys are very knowledgeable on these issues, so you will need to level the playing field. Familiarize yourself with any state regulations and reporting requirements. Subpoena the inspection file from the regulatory authorities. Fight during discovery to make sure you know of any prior problems with the ride at issue. Get copies of any instructions or signage. Act quickly to pin down witnesses. Most park staff are students who quickly disappear at the end of summer, often to foreign countries. Consider whether there may be a negligent design or failure to warn claim against the ride manufacturer. If you do not have experience in product liability claims, consider locating more experienced co-counsel.
