Amusement Park Injuries

Amusement park injuries happen more often than most parkgoers realize. Roller coaster disasters may seem like the stuff of horror movie but, unfortunately, it’s a reality for many people every year. Ride malfunctions at amusement parks, fairs, and local carnivals can turn a day of fun into tragedy. Amusement ride injuries aren’t the only risk visitors face – injuries can also stem from slips and falls, unsafe premises, loose animals, food poisoning, and a number of other dangers. After any type of injury at an amusement park in Georgia, come to Butler Prather LLP for legal counsel.

Who Is Responsible?

Amusement park injuries can stem from problems with a ride, lack of equipment maintenance, negligent employees, inadequate emergency response, failure to warn of risks, and unsafe premises. Amusement parks owe duties of care to park-goers, including ensuring the safety of all rides and roller coasters. If an injury occurred because of a ride malfunction, you may have a case against the establishment for negligence. Feel free to contact our Atlanta accident lawyers with any questions. Proving a premises liability claim requires three elements:

The defendant owned, leased, or occupied the property. The defendant you name must have some ownership or other form of responsibility for the property. In a case involving an amusement park, the defendant may be the owner of a private establishment or the state government.
The defendant neglected to properly care for his or her property. There must have been some act of negligence that sparked the incident, such as lack of proper ride maintenance or failure to fix a known risk on the premises.
This negligence led to the plaintiff’s injuries. The defendant’s breach of duty of care must have caused or at least have been a substantial contributor to the plaintiff’s harms.

As a guest at an amusement park, you are an invitee. An invitee is someone who enters a property for the financial benefit of the defendant. Since you purchase a ticket to get into the park, this makes you an invitee. As such, the property owner owes you the highest standards of care according to federal and state standards. Breaking any accepted industry standards, resulting in park-goer injury, is negligence according to the law.

What to Know About Amusement Park Injury Cases

Pursuing compensation for an amusement park injury may not come without its roadblocks. One common defense defendants use in these cases is “assumption of risk.” The defense could try to assert that you assumed the potential risk of injury when you agreed to enter the park. This defense might work in scenarios where negligence did not play a part in your accident, such as if you rode a spinning ride and became nauseated, but it would not work if the park owner or another party is responsible for what happened. One example would be if the ride spun too fast due to a malfunction and made everyone violently ill. The circumstances of your amusement park injury will determine possible defenses.

Amusement park injury claims involve several federal rules and complex standards of care. They also involve the doctrines of premises and product liability. Always seek help from an attorney before deciding to pursue a personal injury lawsuit for an amusement park injury. The Atlanta amusement park lawyers at Butler Prather LLP know how to offer help in these complicated legal situations.