Six Flags Injury: What a Theme Park Injury Claim Involves

When You're Not Sure Who Is Responsible for the Injury

A theme park injury rarely involves only one business. The park that sells the ticket is often not the company that built the ride, and the people who inspect or staff a ride may work for yet another company. A familiar brand name on the gate does not by itself identify which company ran the park, the ride or the service involved. Who may be responsible depends on which business controlled the thing that failed.

The first category is the park operator, the business that runs the park and its grounds. Claims against an operator usually rest on premises liability, the legal duty a property owner or operator owes to people lawfully on the property to keep it reasonably safe. A fall on a wet walkway, a broken railing in a queue line or a hazard near an attraction would usually be analyzed under this theory.

The second category is the ride manufacturer. Here the theory is usually product liability, which holds a manufacturer or seller responsible for a defective product that causes injury. A product liability claim looks at the ride itself: how it was designed, how it was built, and what warnings and instructions came with it.

Other parties can matter too. A third-party maintenance or inspection contractor may have serviced or checked the ride. A staffing company may have supplied ride attendants. A food or retail vendor inside the park may control its own space. Claims against these parties often rest on negligence, meaning a failure to use reasonable care in the work each one took on.

More than one party may share responsibility. A restraint that opened, for example, could raise questions about how it was designed, how it was maintained and how it was checked before the ride started. If the list of possible parties feels overwhelming, that is understandable; part of what a conversation with our attorney can cover is which of these roles may fit the facts as you know them.

If a Restraint Failed or an Attendant Missed a Check

The legal starting point is a duty of reasonable care. A ride operator, the person or company that runs the ride at the park, as distinct from the company that manufactured it, owes riders a duty of reasonable care in how the ride is operated, how its restraints are kept working and how its attendants are trained and supervised.

A ride restraint is the mechanical device, such as a lap bar, shoulder harness or seat belt, designed to keep a rider in the seat. Restraints are at the center of many ride claims because they most directly separate a rider from serious harm. A question about a restraint may point toward the operator, the manufacturer or both, depending on whether the issue lies in its design, its upkeep or how it was checked.

What counts as reasonable care depends on what actually happened. It can involve how height and weight restrictions were applied, how riders were loaded and seated, whether restraints were checked before the ride started, whether attendants were watching and able to stop the ride, and whether the ride was run the way its design and instructions called for. No one of these facts, on its own, proves a breach; each is part of the picture.

If you were the one on the ride, your own memory is part of the record. People in this situation often recall details no one else saw: how the restraint felt when it locked, whether an attendant checked it, what was said at loading, what the ride did before the injury. Some injured riders and parents write these details down while they are fresh, along with the time, the ride's name and where they were seated.

Who Inspects the Ride, and What Records May Exist

Fixed-site amusement park rides, the permanent rides installed at a park, are regulated by the states rather than by the federal government. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has jurisdiction over mobile or traveling amusement rides, the kind that move from fair to fair, and it does not have jurisdiction over fixed-site rides at amusement and theme parks.

That leaves inspection and maintenance standards to state law, and the requirements differ significantly. States vary in whether a state agency inspects permanent rides, how often, what a park must record, and what qualifications inspectors need. Some states require parks to report ride-related injuries to a state agency; others do not. The Florida theme park injury guide on this site describes one state's framework as an example; it is Florida's rule, not the rule everywhere.

These rules matter to a claim in two ways. They can help define the standard of care a park was expected to meet, and they shape what records should exist, such as maintenance logs, inspection records, incident reports and any injury report a state requires.

This can be one of the more confusing parts of the process, because the records that may explain what happened are usually not in your hands. Which records a particular state's rules call for, and how they might be obtained, is one of the questions a conversation with an attorney can help sort out.

If You're Worried the Ticket or Pass Terms Signed Away Your Rights

Many injured guests assume that the fine print on a ticket, a season pass or an online purchase ends any claim. That is not a safe assumption either way. A waiver or release is a contractual provision by which a guest agrees, before entering, to give up certain legal claims against the operator. Its aim is to limit or eliminate the operator's liability for injuries.

Whether a waiver is enforceable is a question of state law, and courts in different states apply different standards. Courts often look at how clearly the language was written, whether the guest had a fair chance to see it, and what kind of claim it is being used against. A term printed on the back of a ticket can be treated differently from a document signed at a counter.

Waivers are generally not enforceable to the extent they try to release liability for gross negligence or intentional conduct, though the precise rule varies by state. A waiver also may not reach every party: a release written for a park operator does not automatically cover a ride manufacturer or a contractor.

Waivers signed by a parent on behalf of a minor child raise additional questions, and states answer them differently. Some states give these releases more weight than others, and the answer can depend on the kind of activity and the kind of claim.

If you are a parent wondering whether you signed away your child's rights by clicking through a purchase, that worry is common and understandable. The answer depends on the words of the terms, the state's law and the facts of the injury, which is why the waiver question is treated as a legal question rather than a closed door.

Evidence That Often Matters in a Theme Park Injury Claim

Evidence is how a claim shows what happened rather than what anyone assumes happened. The records that usually matter include:

• Medical records and bills, from the park's first-aid station through later treatment.
• Photographs and video of the scene, the ride, the walkway or hazard, and the injury itself.
• The park's incident report, if one was made.
• Names and contact information of witnesses, including other riders and family members.
• Surveillance or ride camera footage, which the park controls.
• Maintenance and inspection logs for the ride, which the park controls.
• The physical ride or product, if a product such as a restraint or a component is involved.

Injured people and families often keep their own materials together in one place: the ticket or pass, the order confirmation, receipts for treatment and travel, and any messages exchanged with the park. Clothing or personal items damaged in the incident are sometimes kept as well.

Much of the most important evidence, such as footage, ride data, maintenance logs and internal reports, is held by the park or its contractors. That material may be requested through the legal process, and an attorney can send the park a written request, often called a preservation demand, asking that specific records be kept.

Gathering records while recovering from an injury, or while grieving, is hard. If it would help to talk through which records exist in your situation and how they fit together, you can request a case evaluation with our attorney.

If the Park Is in Another State: How State Law Shapes the Claim

The state where the park is located generally supplies the rules that decide a claim, even when the injured person lives elsewhere. A family that traveled to a park out of state is typically dealing with the law of the park's state, and no single state's rule is the rule everywhere. Three sets of rules tend to matter most.

Deadlines. A statute of limitations is the deadline by which a lawsuit must be filed, after which the right to sue is generally lost. Each state sets its own period for injury claims, its own rules on when the period starts to run and its own exceptions, such as rules for minors. Claims against a government-run park or facility may carry separate notice requirements. Because missing the applicable deadline generally bars the claim, the state's own statute text controls the answer.

Fault. If a park argues that a rider ignored instructions, the state's fault rule decides what that argument means. Under comparative fault, responsibility is divided between the injured person and the defendant; in many states, a plaintiff's recovery is reduced by their share of fault, and some states bar recovery once that share passes a set level. Contributory fault is the older rule, still followed in a small number of states, that can bar recovery entirely if the injured person was at all at fault.

A death in the family. A wrongful death claim is a legal claim brought by surviving family members when a person dies as a result of another's alleged negligence or wrongful act. Each state's wrongful death statute decides who may bring the claim and which damages it allows.

Damages are described by category. In an injury claim the law may allow medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering; in a wrongful death claim, the categories are the ones the applicable state's statute names. What, if anything, is recoverable depends on the facts and that state's law.