North Dakota Theme Park Injury Lawyer

When Your Park Injury Fits a Premises Claim, a Product Claim or Both

North Dakota park injury claims usually rest on one of two theories. Premises liability is the duty a landowner or the business running a property owes invited guests: reasonable care about the condition of the grounds, walkways, queues and attractions. Product liability is aimed at whoever designed, built or sold a product, such as a ride, a component or a ride restraint (the lap bar, harness or belt that holds a rider in place). A ride operator usually falls under the first theory; a manufacturer under the second. The theory matters because it decides whom a claim is aimed at and which deadlines apply, including the product repose limit discussed below.

Under chapter 28-01.3 of the North Dakota Century Code, a "product liability action" covers any action against a manufacturer or seller, "regardless of the substantive legal theory," for injury or death caused by a product's manufacture, design, installation, testing, labeling or sale, or by a failure to warn or to give proper instructions. Put simply, if a ride or part played a role, the claim likely counts as a product claim however it is labeled. The chapter defines "unreasonably dangerous" as dangerous "to an extent beyond which would be contemplated by the ordinary and prudent buyer, consumer, or user." In everyday terms, the question is whether the danger went beyond what a reasonable rider would expect.

Either theory asks about duty, breach, causation and damages, and North Dakota's comparative fault, covered below, can reduce or bar recovery.

Landowners sometimes raise the recreational-use statute. Under section 53-08-02 of the North Dakota Century Code, an owner "owes no duty of care to keep the premises safe for entry or use by others for recreational purposes," or to warn of dangers. The section does not apply to "an owner engaged in a for-profit business venture that directly or indirectly invites members of the public onto the premises for commercial purposes." Section 53-08-05 adds that the chapter does not limit liability for "willful and malicious failure to guard or warn," or where the owner charges for entry and total recreational charges in the prior calendar year exceeded twice the property taxes on the land (four times for agricultural land). Both appear in chapter 53-08. In practice, a commercial park charging admission may fall outside the shield, but that turns on the facts. Three details tend to point toward the theory an attorney would examine: who owned the land, whether admission was charged, and whether a ride or part was involved.

How the Way You Were Hurt Shapes the Questions the Law Asks

A ride that stops suddenly, a restraint that opens or a component that breaks points toward product liability: a design, manufacturing, or warning and instruction problem, matching the categories chapter 28-01.3 lists. A malfunction by itself does not establish a defect. Forces on a coaster can also cause harm without an obvious failure, covered on the page about roller coaster brain injury.

A slip, trip or fall on wet pavement, a broken step or a crowded queue usually points toward premises liability: whether the business used reasonable care to keep conditions safe and to warn of hazards it knew or should have known about. Water-park injuries other than drowning follow the same two frameworks; a slide's design may raise product questions, its upkeep premises questions.

Operator conduct is its own strand. A business running rides is asked to use reasonable care in loading, checking restrictions, operating and stopping an attraction. What a particular park did is a matter for the records.

A waiver is a written release a guest signs agreeing not to hold a business responsible for certain risks. It does not automatically bar a claim; its scope, the circumstances of signing and the conduct involved bear on enforcement. A signed waiver is therefore not necessarily the end of the inquiry.

When More Than One Party May Share Responsibility for Your Injury

Responsibility is often split among several businesses, each with a different duty and often a different insurer. The park owner or operator owes guests the premises duty. A ride manufacturer or designer may face product claims; chapter 28-01.3 defines a "manufacturer" to include anyone who "designs, assembles, fabricates, produces, constructs" a product or a component part, and a "seller" to include a wholesaler, distributor or retailer. In plain terms, a claim can reach not only the company that built the ride but also suppliers of its parts and businesses that sold it. A maintenance contractor may owe a duty arising from its work.

Identifying every party matters because of how North Dakota divides responsibility. Under section 32-03.2-02 of the North Dakota Century Code, when two or more parties contribute to an injury, "the liability of each party is several only." Each pays only the share matching its own percentage of fault. The exception: persons who act in concert or aid, encourage, ratify or adopt the wrongful act are jointly liable for their combined share. The practical stake is that a responsible party left out of a claim may leave a share of damages that no one else covers.

A government owner adds its own rules. Under section 32-12.2-04 of the North Dakota Century Code, anyone with a claim against the state or a state employee for an injury must give written notice to the director of the office of management and budget within one hundred eighty days after the injury is discovered or reasonably should have been discovered, or within one year for a serious injury. A state-owned site therefore starts a much shorter clock. A claim against a political subdivision, such as a city or park district, carries the three-year period below. Chapter 32-12.1 makes a political subdivision liable for injuries caused by an employee's negligence or by "some condition or use of tangible property" where a private person would be liable.

A useful starting point is three questions: who owned the park, who ran and maintained the ride, and who made it. An attorney can help trace those parties and match each to the rules that apply.

Why the Deadline That Applies Can Decide Whether a Claim Survives

Missing a deadline can end a claim regardless of its merits, and each North Dakota deadline starts at a different point.

Under section 28-01-16 of the North Dakota Century Code, in chapter 28-01, an action "for any other injury to the person or rights of another not arising upon contract, when not otherwise expressly provided" must be commenced within six years after the claim for relief has accrued. This is the general period for most park injuries.

Under section 28-01-18, except as provided in section 28-01-25.2, an action for injuries done to a person "when death ensues from such injuries" must be commenced within two years, and the claim is deemed to accrue at the time of death. A different accrual rule applies when death results from malpractice.

For a minor, section 28-01-25 provides that when a person is under eighteen at the time the claim accrues, "the time of such disability is not a part of the time limited for the commencement of the action." In other words, the clock generally pauses while the injured person is a child. Limits apply: the period cannot be extended more than five years by any disability except infancy, nor in any case longer than one year after the disability ends, and in professional malpractice cases the infancy extension is limited to twelve years.

Product claims also face a statute of repose, an outer limit measured from the product rather than the injury. Section 28-01.3-08 provides that, except as provided in its subsections 4 and 5, there may be no recovery in a products liability action "unless the injury, death, or property damage occurs within ten years of the date of initial purchase for use or consumption, or within eleven years of the date of manufacture." Put plainly, if a ride is older than those limits, a product claim may be closed even when the injury is recent. It "applies to all persons, regardless of minority." Its subsection 3 addresses a manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer that issues a recall in any state or becomes aware of a defect.

For the state, the section 32-12.2-04 notice time "does not include the time during which a person injured is incapacitated by the injury from giving the notice," and the notice must state the time, place and circumstances, any state employees known to be involved, and the relief demanded, as chapter 32-12.2 sets out. Under section 32-12.1-10, except as otherwise provided in that section, an action against a political subdivision must be commenced within three years after the claim accrues.

Because several clocks can run at once, the date of injury, the owner's identity and the ride's age are the facts to pin down first; an attorney can help work out which period governs.

What Happens to a Claim If You Were Partly at Fault

People hurt on a ride often hear, sometimes from themselves, that they did something wrong. Section 32-03.2-02 of the North Dakota Century Code, in chapter 32-03.2, states the rule: contributory fault "does not bar recovery in an action by any person to recover damages for death or injury to person or property unless the fault was as great as the combined fault of all other persons who contribute to the injury, but any damages allowed must be diminished in proportion to the amount of contributing fault attributable to the person recovering."

In plain terms, a person whose share is less than everyone else's combined is not barred, but damages shrink by that share. As an illustration only, someone assigned forty percent of the fault would have damages reduced by forty percent. A share equal to or greater than the others' combined bars recovery. The court may, and on any party's request shall, have the jury find each person's percentage, "whether or not a party."

"Fault" is defined broadly, including "misuse of a product," "assumption of risk," and "failure to exercise reasonable care to avoid an injury or to mitigate damages." That gives a park or manufacturer room to argue that a rider ignored instructions or used equipment improperly. An argument is not a finding. What instructions were posted, what staff said, and what others did all bear on how fault might be allocated, and an attorney can help assess that evidence.

Evidence That Often Matters in a Park Injury Case

Because these questions turn on facts, the records often decide how far a claim can go. Medical records documenting the injury, diagnosis and treatment, along with bills and notes on missed work, show the harm. Incident reports filed with the park record what staff wrote at the time, though a report does not by itself establish cause.

Photos and video of the scene, ride, hazard or equipment show conditions as they were. Maintenance and inspection records, usually held by the operator or a contractor, bear on both premises and product questions. Where a product theory may apply, the item itself can be central, since a claimed defect is examined there. Witness names, including other riders and family, round out the picture.

Families often hold more than they realize: phone photos, ticket records, a wristband, messages sent that day. Much of the key evidence may sit with the park or others, so a list of what the family has and what others hold is often where framing a claim begins.

When a Death Occurs: Wrongful-Death Claims Under North Dakota Law

Wrongful death is a claim brought by family members when a death is caused by another's wrongful act, neglect or default. Under section 32-21-01 of the North Dakota Century Code, in chapter 32-21, the action lies where the conduct "would have entitled the party injured, if death had not ensued, to maintain an action." Put simply, the family can bring the claim the injured person could have brought.

Section 32-21-03 says the action "shall be brought by the following persons in the order named": the surviving husband or wife; the surviving children; the surviving mother or father; a surviving grandparent; the personal representative; and a person who had primary physical custody of the decedent before the wrongful act. If a person entitled to bring it refuses or neglects to do so for thirty days after demand by the person next in order, that person may bring it.

Section 32-21-02 says the jury shall give such damages "as it finds proportionate to the injury resulting from the death to the persons entitled to the recovery." Section 32-21-04 provides the amount recovered is not liable for the decedent's debts and goes to the heirs at law in shares the judge fixes.

The two-year period in section 28-01-18, accruing at the time of death, governs these actions. For a grieving family working out who stands first in line and how that period applies, it can help to talk through what happened with our attorney.