Amusement Park Injuries and Accident Claims: How to Pursue a Settlement

Negligent amusement park and carnival operators are responsible for thousands of accidents every year. Here’s how to seek compensation for injuries.

More than 43,000 Americans are treated for amusement park injuries each year, with the majority of injuries affecting young people under 24 years of age. That’s an average of 117 injuries every day.¹

Traveling carnivals are somewhat regulated by the federal government, while fixed-location theme parks and amusement parks are only regulated at the state level.

All but six states have regulations for amusement park safety. The six states with no oversight are Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming, and Utah.

Common Causes of Amusement Park Accidents

Accidents can happen at small local carnivals, water parks, or big-name theme and amusement parks. Common causes of amusement park accidents exist in parks of any size, and the same types of injuries and potential fatalities result.

Ride Operator Error

Traveling carnivals and theme park rides typically include popular attractions like roller coasters, Ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds, and other moving rides that are controlled by an amusement park employee or carnival employee.

Accidents happen when operators are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, fall asleep while the ride is in progress, or get distracted by other park visitors.

Incompetent operators may ignore riders without seatbelts, or fail to detect riders who are injured or become ill while riding. They are also more likely to overlook developing problems with the ride’s mechanical aspects.

Ride operator error is less common at parks like Busch Gardens, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, Six Flags, Disneyland, and other corporate-owned theme parks. Ride operators employed by year-round theme parks typically must pass drug screens and are trained as apprentices before they can operate rides.

Rides at traveling carnivals and fairs are usually run by one “carny” who may not be screened or extensively trained.

Mechanical Failure

Even the best-maintained amusement park rides sometimes break down. Mechanical failures can occur because of aging and poorly maintained parts. Ride mechanisms are in continuous use for up to 14 hours each day.

Even with the best of maintenance, mechanical failure will eventually happen. When the mechanisms fail, rides can suddenly stop, collide with each other, eject riders, or fail to stop when they should.

Poorly Designed and Defective Rides

To be competitive, many amusement parks, especially theme parks, constantly introduce new and more exciting rides. Sometimes the owners introduce rides to the public before adequately testing for safety and design flaws.

Although it may take thousands of riders before a safety defect becomes apparent, when a defect finally does show up, the results can be disastrous.

Ride Accident Injuries

Injuries from ride-related accidents can include pinched fingers or toes, broken bones, whiplash, lacerations, and abrasions. In the worst cases, riders may suffer fatal injuries after falling from a ride.

Case example: Teen Fatally Injured at Florida Amusement Park 

On March 24, 2022, fourteen-year-old Tyre Sampson fell to his death from the Orlando ICON Park Free Fall drop-tower ride.

The Free Fall ride is purported to be the tallest ride of its kind in the world, at 430 feet tall. The ride did not have seatbelts, only a shoulder harness, and Tyre at 6’2 and 380 pounds, weighed nearly 100 pounds more than the maximum safe passenger weight for the Free Fall ride.

Tyre’s parents, as representatives of Tyre Sampson’s estate, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against ICON amusement park, The Slingshot Group (manufacturers of the ride), and other related businesses.

The suit alleges negligence by the park for failing to post height and weight restrictions for the ride, failing to properly run and maintain the ride, for allowing Tyre to board the ride, failing to ensure he was properly secured, and more.

Product liability claims against The Slingshot Group and other manufacturing parties include defective design, defective manufacturing of the ride, and defective marketing, including failure to warn of the ride’s dangers. The case is pending in Orange County, Florida.

Assaults and Robberies

Amusement park assaults and robberies are on the rise. Because visitors normally carry lots of cash to pay for ride tickets, fast food, and souvenirs, they’re easy targets for criminals. Limited or poorly trained security personnel often fail to stop on-premises crimes.

Park visitors may be victims of purse snatching, pick-pockets, muggings, and violent robberies.

Slip and Fall Accidents

Wet steps, unsafe platforms for getting on and off rides, large cables, debris on the ground, and a myriad of other obstacles set the stage for amusement park visitors to suffer trip, slip and fall injuries.

Slip victims tend to fall backward, causing back injuries, arm injuries, and potential traumatic brain injuries from hitting their head on a hard surface.

Trip victims often pitch forward, suffering injuries to their face, arms, hands, knees, and shoulders.

Theme Parks Owe Visitors a Duty of Care

Even states without specific regulations for carnivals and theme parks have a duty of care to visitors. All businesses open to the public must provide reasonably safe environments. That means amusement park owners must do everything possible to protect visitors from undue harm.

When amusement park owners or employees negligently fail to protect visitors from injury, the park may be liable (legally responsible) for the injured party’s damages.

Even though the amusement park owes you a duty of care, it’s up to you to prove the park is to blame for your injuries.

You can prove liability for your injuries by showing:

  1. An unsafe condition caused your injuries
  2. The park knew of the unsafe condition, or should have known
  3. The park did not remove or repair the unsafe condition
  4. The unsafe condition was the direct cause of your injuries
  5. You would not have been hurt but for the unsafe condition
  6. You didn’t do anything to cause your injury
  7. Your injuries are medically verifiable

Prove Your Claim with Strong Evidence

If you’ve been injured in an amusement park accident, whether on the grounds or while on a ride, you can file an insurance claim for compensation. To succeed in your claim, you’ll need to gather evidence to prove that the park’s negligence caused your damages.

Report Your Injury

Don’t leave the scene. Report your injury to the ride operator and ask for help. For serious injuries, ask someone to call 911. Larger theme parks have security personnel and paramedics on-site. They will provide your initial care and can help decide whether your injuries require a trip to the emergency room.

Never delay or refuse medical attention after an amusement park accident. The insurance company will jump at the chance to deny your claim, arguing that your injuries didn’t happen at the park.

Talk to Witnesses

Witnesses are invaluable. They lend instant credibility to your accident claim. Eyewitnesses who aren’t family or friends are the best. Independent witnesses have no financial interest in your claim so the insurance company will take their version of events more seriously.

Get the name and contact information of the witness. Ask the witness to write down everything they saw and heard, and to sign and date their statement.

Take Photographs and Video

Photographs and video recordings are some of the best evidence you can have.

Take as many pictures of the accident scene as you safely can, from as many angles as possible. Identify the cause of the accident and visually link it to your injury.

If the carny running a ride is acting drunk or giving you a hard time, try to get a video, if you safely can. That’s not something the amusement park owners would like a jury to see and hear.

Verify Your Damages

Collect copies of your medical records, bills, and out-of-pocket expenses. Medical costs are the foundation for calculating personal injury settlement amounts.

If you missed work because of the injury, ask your employer for a wage verification letter.

Compensation for Amusement Park Injuries

Filing an amusement park accident claim begins with the park’s management. In larger parks, the security staff and first-aid team will usually write up an incident report after they’ve helped you.

If your injury didn’t require immediate medical care, it’s still important to make your way to the park’s management office. A park representative will probably ask you to complete an accident/injury report. Make sure it’s as detailed as possible. Ask for their insurance company’s contact information.

If you’re at a smaller, traveling carnival, ask to speak with the owner. There may not be a management office, and the carnival workers may not be willing to help you.

If you aren’t getting anywhere with the carnival workers, contact the local police. Traveling carnivals usually have to get a permit from the local city or town.

The police department can take a report of your complaint and may be able to help you track down the name and contact information of the carnival owner, and possibly the carnival’s insurance company.

Dealing with the Insurance Company

When you’ve fully recovered from minor injuries, you can usually negotiate a fair injury settlement directly with the amusement park’s insurance company.

You can calculate a fair settlement amount by totaling the cost of your medical bills, out-of-pocket expenses, and lost wages. Add one or two times that amount for your pain and suffering.

Put your demand in writing. Attach copies of your medical records, bills, receipts, photographs, and other evidence.

When You Need Help to Win

Severe injury claims are almost impossible to win on your own. Insurance companies for big-name amusement parks will fight you every step of the way.

Some of the challenges you might face include:

  • Comparative Fault: The insurance company will try to deny or reduce the value of your claim by arguing you share the blame for the circumstance leading to the injuries.
  • Assumption of Risk: When a person is aware that a ride or activity can be dangerous and chooses to do it anyway, they “assume the risk.” The insurance company will therefore argue the person has no right to compensation.
  • Waiver of Liability:  To waive means giving something up. The insurance company may argue the fine print on the back of your ticket was a liability waiver stating you agreed not to blame the park for injuries.

A personal injury attorney will help show what really happened, and identify other parties who may be liable, like the defective ride manufacturer.

There’s just too much at stake to manage serious theme park accidents on your own. Most law firms offer free consultations to injury victims and their loved ones.

Get the compensation you deserve for serious amusement park injuries. There’s no obligation, and it costs nothing to find out what an experienced injury lawyer can do for you.

Amusement Park Injury Questions