Amusement Park Personal Injuries
America is home to thousands of amusement parks and other recreational places such as theme parks, water and forest parks. The world-renowned Disney parks makes California and Florida major destinations for tourists.
If you have been injured at any of these parks, it is important to contact a
personal injury attorney to file suit and receive compensation.
In fact, amusement parks are considered one of the biggest income-generating businesses in the tourism and entertainment industries in the US. Each year, just California takes in approximately $20 billion in revenues from amusement and theme parks alone.
These places are a business and will try not to compensate you properly if you are injured and don’t hire legal counsel.
According to statistics, US amusement parks have attracted nearly 300 million people in 2007 and despite the hard economic times, the number of amusement park visitors continues to grow.
According to certain experts, as the number of visitors and tourists in amusement parks increase, the potential risks of accidents have also relatively risen.
If you have been injured at an amusement park, it is vital to contact an attorney as soon a possible to file your claim for negligence.
Causes of Amusement Park Injuries
The Consumer Protection Safety Commission reported that nearly 5,000 people are treated for serious injuries incurred in amusement park accidents throughout the country each year. If you are in this group, it is vital to seek legal help from an
accident attorney. It has been identified that the potential factors that may cause or lead to an amusement park accident:
- Design defects
- Mechanical failure
- Operator behavior
- Behavior of visitor or consumer
Types of Amusement Park Injury
Although most parks implement safety policies and precautions, accidents still happen. The injuries one may suffer in amusement park facilities may include the following:
- Whiplash
- Brain injury
- Brain trauma
- Head injury
- Spinal cord injuries
Recovery
With amusement park injuries and death, the case settlements can be in the million because the severity of the injuries.
Westchester County in New York agreed to pay $1.25 million to the family of a 7-year old boy who was killed on a boat ride at Playland, the county owned amusement park.
As part of the settlement, the county also agreed to provide additional safety training at the park and a scholarship will be established in the boy’s name for Playland employees who exhibit good safety and consumer service.
The lawsuit was filed by the family of Jon-Kely Cassar, who died on August 3, 2005 while riding the “Ye Olde Mill” ride, an indoor meandering water boat ride. At some point after boarding the ride, the 7-year old Jon-Kely left his boat and ended up in the channel of water, where he was found dead from a blunt head injury.
In addition, in July 200, an
accident lawyer tried a case in Pittsburgh in which a jury awarded $1.2 million to the family of a woman who died when a pavilion collapsed at an amusement park.
The jury found that the park was liable for the collapsing pavilion.