AMUSEMENT PARK ACCIDENTS

San Francisco Injury Lawyers > Amusement Park Accidents

Each year, millions of people attend amusement parks throughout California. For some, however, a day of fun turns to tragedy when they are injured or killed due to a faulty ride. The injuries may happen when the brakes fail, causing a car to careen into another car. Or the ride may shake so violently or turn so sharply that rider suffers injuries such as brain damage (a "closed head" injury), "soft-tissue" injuries, broken bones, even death. Employees may be careless in helping riders onto or off of the rides, causing the rider to fall and sustain injuries such as broken bones.

Amusement parks that charge patrons for admission to its park and attractions are considered by the law to be "common carriers," just the same as buses, trains, and other modes of transportation for a fee. As such, they owe the highest degree of care to their attraction riders to ensure their safety, and are liable to riders ("passengers") for injuries or death if they are the slightest bit careless ("negligent"). The definition of a "passenger" includes persons who are in the process of getting on or off the ride.

Amusement park rides have inherent dangers due to their speed of mechanical complexities, but are operated for profit and held out to the public as being safe. They are operated in the expectation that thousands of patrons, many of them children, will ride them. Riders of roller coasters and other "thrill" rides want to feel the illusion of danger while being assured of their actual safety. The rider expects to be surprised, even frightened, but not hurt.

For the common-carrier rule to apply, it is not necessary for the attraction to be a "thrill" ride. Even tamer attractions, such as a horse-drawn stagecoach or surrey, comes within the definition of a common carrier. Thus, if the horse gets spooked and causes the stagecoach to roll over, the riders are entitled to recover for their injuries under the common-carrier rule.

An amusement park is required to provide rides that are " safe and fit for the purposes to which they are put." This means that the right and its cars must be in good working condition to carry park goers. For instance, the amusement company owes a duty to ensure that the brakes on the ride are in good working order and that seatbelts and safety bars are working properly and are properly secured by its employees.

Under the rules that apply to common carriers, when an amusement park patron is injured or killed while on a ride, there is an inference that the amusement park was negligent in operating or maintaining the ride, or that the amusement park was negligent in making sure that the attraction was safe and in proper working condition. The burden of proof is then switched to the amusement park to prove that someone else was liable for the patron's injuries or that the amusement park took all reasonable steps to protect its patrons from injury or death.

San Francisco Injury Lawyers > Amusement Park Accidents

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AMUSEMENT PARK ACCIDENTS