troubled_diva Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 I worked at the park for 11 years, and now currently work in law enforcement. I can tell you that KI will or already has paid the medical bills, thats just policy. (not sure if Cedar Fair does). I wasn't shocked that these people are sueing...thats just the way greedy America rolls. I was shocked of the alligations of the case. Kings Island like so many other large parks have an excellent maintenance staff, and procedures. If I were a lawyer representing KI, I would not want them to settle. I saw the news story on another station, and their (the plaintiff's) lawyer stated the park's medical staff took over an hour to respond, and only one nurse was working......WRONG! In all my years responding to calls at the park first aid always got there first, and there were ALWAYS at least 3 - 4 emt's ready and on call. I'm sorry these people got hurt, but don't act like you know how the operation works. Another person stated on here that there is always a lawsuit going on at the park that the public hears nothing about, and that is 100% true, and most are found frivolous and thrown out, and the plaintiff's are out a lot of money. I agree with criminaljustice 100%. I'm a major in Criminal Justice and Sociology and I have said on here before that this case will not go to court and was pretty much called an idiot. But most cases never see court, most are thrown out before they can reach court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
criminaljustice Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 "The park is the one that didn't find the problem and caused these people to get injured." - The state has already said that the board would not have been found in that condition in the pre-operational inspections. The "park" did not "cause" the problem. "Do they need to put up a warning the says it's wood and could fall apart at anytime ride at your own risk?" - It's on the back of the tickets dude. "I do know about it. When I worked for General Motors everything I did had my name on it. If something I done gets someone killed I know they will be wanting to talk to me. When you are playing with someones life you don't guess at it." - So everytime a fatal car accident happens you hear about it, you must be a busy person. More people die in car accidents driving to the parks. "As for the Judge they will ask for change of venue to secure fair trial. It will probably be moved to Columbus." - nope Your looking into this as if Kings Island has commited a criminal act. The media has made this a lot worse than it actually needs to be, and is ultimately the ones to blame for the negative responses. I of course have talked with people who still work there, and the media only presented about 50% of what actually happened. They of course left out how well the ride crew on SOB did in handeling the situation, and were praised by even the injured guests. Thats not good tv though, and the media knows that, because we like "train wrecks". Parks deal with these types of cases all the time, and they end up winning the majority, because of peoples lack of knowledge of the industry. Kings Island is an extremely safe park, and has a very good safety record, and an excellent maintenance staff. This accident was not the first and certainly will not be the last one to happen. It would be impossible for accidents on rollercoasters to be prevented, and if you don't think so then get out of the computer chair and do something about it, and present your ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StXsteven Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 "Your looking into this as if Kings Island has commited a criminal act. The media has made this a lot worse than it actually needs to be, and is ultimately the ones to blame for the negative responses. " With all do respect, people WERE hurt. It doesn't matter if the media portrayed it wrong or anything like that, what does matter is people were hurt, and that isnt okay when the ride has gone through many problems before. Last summer they had to close it for roughly a month to fix the track. The fact that they closed it down before, and people are still getting hurt, especially that accident, then some one needs to take action on the subject, I'm not saying its failure to take action, but failure to do what needs to be done. If you want to ask me what I think should be done all I can say is I'm not in charge and theres a reason, I don't know what to do in this type of situation, regarding money, media-portayal, etc.. But what should be done right now is the ride needs to be secured and watched more closely, which is exactly what they're doing, so I think we all need to let it rest until we find out what really happened, and what pki plans to do about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Picard Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 "The park is the one that didn't find the problem and caused these people to get injured." - The state has already said that the board would not have been found in that condition in the pre-operational inspections. The "park" did not "cause" the problem. "Do they need to put up a warning the says it's wood and could fall apart at anytime ride at your own risk?" - It's on the back of the tickets dude. "I do know about it. When I worked for General Motors everything I did had my name on it. If something I done gets someone killed I know they will be wanting to talk to me. When you are playing with someones life you don't guess at it." - So everytime a fatal car accident happens you hear about it, you must be a busy person. More people die in car accidents driving to the parks. "As for the Judge they will ask for change of venue to secure fair trial. It will probably be moved to Columbus." - nope Your looking into this as if Kings Island has commited a criminal act. The media has made this a lot worse than it actually needs to be, and is ultimately the ones to blame for the negative responses. I of course have talked with people who still work there, and the media only presented about 50% of what actually happened. They of course left out how well the ride crew on SOB did in handeling the situation, and were praised by even the injured guests. Thats not good tv though, and the media knows that, because we like "train wrecks". Parks deal with these types of cases all the time, and they end up winning the majority, because of peoples lack of knowledge of the industry. Kings Island is an extremely safe park, and has a very good safety record, and an excellent maintenance staff. This accident was not the first and certainly will not be the last one to happen. It would be impossible for accidents on rollercoasters to be prevented, and if you don't think so then get out of the computer chair and do something about it, and present your ideas. If a fatal car accident happens and I was the cause of it to be fatal because of work I did to the car yes I would hear about it. I would guess that it is that way for people that work on coasters. I am not looking into this as if Kings Island has commited a criminal act. I am looking into this as if Kings Island negligent. If a Judge will not give a fair trial they will ask for change of venue. PKI may want this too, they are not going to want a jury full for SOB riders or anyone that knows anything about it. At this point it's not if they should get paid it's how much, it doesn't make any differance if they could see the wood that caused it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 I am not looking into this as if Kings Island has commited a criminal act. I am looking into this as if Kings Island negligent. If a Judge will not give a fair trial they will ask for change of venue. PKI may want this too, they are not going to want a jury full for SOB riders or anyone that knows anything about it. At this point it's not if they should get paid it's how much, it doesn't make any differance if they could see the wood that caused it. You're looking at it correctly. And this is what the issue of the trial is. As I've said, I handle and Settle Insurance Claims all day long. I find it very hard to believe that Kings Island will not be found liable for damages done these individuals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 Well, in cases that are settled, there is normally no finding or admission of liability by anyone. Not to mention there is a very interesting issue of, as between Cedar Fair and Paramount Parks, who bears most of the responsibility for any losses here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 Taking a look at the time frame it will be very interesting. It will be a lot easier to establish that Paramount acted negligently in allowing SOB to continue to operate than CF, from what I would gather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
criminaljustice Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 Does anyone actually believe that maintenance was doing there morning inspection, saw a problem, and let the ride open anyway?!?!. How many times have you been to Kings Island and a ride is not open in the morning because maintenance is still working on it. I was working at the park last season when it was shut down for an extended period of time, and you know why it was closed.....they found something in the morning inspections. My argument here is these people will have a more difficult time finding the park negligent than if they would have just sued for pain and suffering. A somewhat similar case happened I think in 99, when several teenagers were beat up in the parking lot at the park. They tried to sue because they said park security did not do their job (negligence). They stated if security would have been there the fight would not have happened. The case was thrown out. Most of the injuries that have happened on that ride have been pre-existing in the person who got hurt in the past. Did the park pay the persons medical bills, yes. I think we'll just have to agree to disagree with this issue, because neither of us will convince the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 Does anyone actually believe that maintenance was doing there morning inspection, saw a problem, and let the ride open anyway?!?!. How many times have you been to Kings Island and a ride is not open in the morning because maintenance is still working on it. I was working at the park last season when it was shut down for an extended period of time, and you know why it was closed.....they found something in the morning inspections. My argument here is these people will have a more difficult time finding the park negligent than if they would have just sued for pain and suffering. A somewhat similar case happened I think in 99, when several teenagers were beat up in the parking lot at the park. They tried to sue because they said park security did not do their job (negligence). They stated if security would have been there the fight would not have happened. The case was thrown out. Most of the injuries that have happened on that ride have been pre-existing in the person who got hurt in the past. Did the park pay the persons medical bills, yes. I think we'll just have to agree to disagree with this issue, because neither of us will convince the other. I really don't think that you understand how injury claims work. Rather than make such blatant statements maybe take a look at www.claimspages.com you'll find some information about claims handling there. Or you can message me and I can go into greater detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vortex31 Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 Even if the park is not neglegent for ride inspection it is their responsibility to provide a safe environment for all park goers. If someone would have been killed as a result of this incident KI would be responsible to pay damages. If someone in your family dies on a commercial airline flight accident due to mechanical problems is it the airlines fault or the persons fault who got on the plane in the first place. Its the airlines fault. Does anyone here go on any amusement park ride willing to accept that any injury incurred by them due to mechanical problems is their own fault and not that of the amusement park in question? I don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_Titanic_Mess Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 And don't forget that the CEO of Cedar Fair could be charged with criminal negligence if the cause of the issue with SOB is determined to be negligence by the park. Do you remember when the boy fell from the Drop Zone at PGA a few years back? Jane Cooper was the CEO at the time, and there was a good possibility that she would have been charged with criminal negligence had it been determined that the accident was caused due to negligence. Things were very tense at Paramount for a couple of months during the investigation. As we all know, Paramount was not found to have been negligent, and the boys death was ruled accidental. While the SOB accident was not as serious as the death at PGA, I am sure it has many at Paramount and Cedar Fair a bit worried until the final reason is revealed from the investigation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Bowser Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 I honestly think its funny people LOVE to point the finger... I dont think the couple will get anything from this I mean Crap happens its life dont be greedy life is tooooo short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Eagles 1972-2004 Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 That's ridiculous. The highest person they could find negligent for that would be the maintenance manager. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_Titanic_Mess Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 That's ridiculous. The highest person they could find negligent for that would be the maintenance manager. Absolutly not. The CEO is responsible for the parks. The maintenance worker would be fired, but the CEO would be held responsible. An owner of a business would be held responsible, but since stockholders 'own' these companies, the CEO's are the ones responsible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_Titanic_Mess Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 Drop Zone death: no charges, no explanation (Friday, November 5, 1999) - The Santa Clara District Attorney's Office has announced that no charges will be filed in connection with August's Drop Zone Stunt Tower accident at Paramount's Great America theme park. The investigation of the accident, which left 12-year-old Joshua Smurphat dead, yielded no explanation of how the accident happened. "How he fell from a ride equipped with a contoured seat and an over-the-shoulder safety harness is not known," says a police report which suggests that Smurphat fell from the 129-foot tall ride as his car was descending in a freefall. Gayle Ando, general manager of Paramount's Great America, says that park investigators were also unable to make any conclusions about the cause of the accident. "Despite our extensive investigation to date, we may never know exactly what happened to Joshua." The Drop Zone Stunt Tower reopens Saturday. A news story that I located regarding no charges would be filed on the PGA accident. Cooper, who was CEO at the time would have faced the charge had it been filed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 The CEO would be named as a representative of the corporation. The corporation is an entity and the CEO is represntative of those actions. The loss would have to be as a direct result of the actions of a specific individual in order to result in a specific charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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