Cedar Point sued in Dragster incident

Funny, in the video of their interview last summer, they didn't appear to be in any pain or suffering.

What happened was unfortunate, but come on.

Its lame, but you knew someone would try to sue from that. Thats America.

I wouldn't sue I would tell cp if they gave me lifetime passes I would forget about it.

I knew that eventually someone was going to sue them for what happened. Everyone in this is country is greedy and this was just another way to make easy cash.

Ok, they were bleeding, correct? Last time I checked, when you bleed, it hurts. So why don't they have a valid suit?

I'm pretty sure after being treated in CP First Aid they chose to go back out into the park, not seek further medical attention.

I would have to agree with fun on this one, I think it may actually be a valid suit. Sure its not like there was any permanent physical damage, and they were able to move on pretty quickly, but I think theres more to it than just that. If there is something thats nice about lawsuits, its that they help set standards higher. I feel that when all of you are dismissing this as being stupid and pointless, it says that its ok for CP and Intamin to have this sort of thing happen. Well its really not ok, at all. I mean metal shards and oil where thrown at these people at extremely high speeds, as they were reachign high speeds. Luckily no one lost their vision, but if those shards would have moved over just a few inches someone could have easily.

Not to mention there could be some psychological damage. As I recall those injured got free passes for TTD and the girls said they would never ride it again. An accident like this, who can blame em? A lawsuit like this will help show CP and Intamin that this is not ok (like many other lawsuits that are worse for Intamin, but in reality they dont really get the message that its not ok, lets jsut hope CP does and helps Intamin from their mistakes, or as I like to call them, their rides :) ) It will help in setting a standard to make sure something like this doesnt happen. Are they entitled to that much, absolutly not, but asking for what they are entitled to is a slap on the wrist, and cant deliver the right message.

I could be wrong but this is jsut how I feel. I really dont feel this is another one of thos McDonalds lawsuits, and this actual has meaning and hopefully they can learn. I am sure many will disagree, but oh well, Im willing to listen.

You get on a coaster and expect to be as safe as possible. You don't expect to be exposed to something like this. The park should just pay them and go on before this stains their reputation any more.

What if it was YOU who was pelted with wire shards? That kind of stuff is not supposed to happen. Was the cable inspected for problems? If so, did that inspection work? I know that I would sue.

How long did it take for all of those cuts on their face and body take to heal?

I once again have an unpopular opinion...sue me.

^ Seriously, you should feel safe on a roller coaster. And I think those passes for the front of the line are just a slap in the face. At the very least, refund their admission.

I'm going to agree with dexter on this one.

During *any* incident in which there is any type of damage or hurt caused to an individual from any type of machine or in this case a ride, it is almost always impossible for the park/manufacturer to win this case. Unfortunately, we live in a world where it is always unethical when the people are hurt from these devices. That's not the way it was before, but that's the way it us now. There are new standard codes of ethics for engineers thesedays that were not there 20 or 10 years ago. If they push this, chances are they will get their money. It rarely goes the other way around.

Just my two cents as a practicing engineer...

I'm interested to see how much "pain and suffering" is worth to these two. At the time it didn't seem to matter. Now, however, "pain and suffering" is believed to be over $50k. This is not teaching CP and Intamin a lesson for several reasons. One if it is a suit seeking more than $50k but less than $100k how much do you think this will "open the parks eyes"? Intamin and CF could easily foot a settlement on that. Two, individual financial wealth is not an attempt to help others. Stating that it will teach them (CF and Intamin) a lesson is saying that it is an attempt to help others not suffer this. Go with what's his name from Mass. and create legislation that will limit or regulate rides better if you are wanting to help others, don't pad your financial freedom.

How much you want to bet that these two will be on another roller coaster this summer? Mental stress would mean they could never enjoy riding another roller coaster without fear of this event. I fear someone will yack on me everytime I ride Mean Streak. I fell and cut my leg at PKI pretty bad. Did it hurt? Yes. Was I in pain? Yes. Was I suffering? Yes. But the park had taken every precaution to make sure what happened to me didn't happen and it was out of their control when it did. Hey, it doesn't mean I hit three Cherries on the great sue corporate america slot machine. Unfortunate Accident. That is what this and the incident on TTD was. End of story. At this point anything else is for self benefit on behalf of the Plaintiff.*** This post was edited by ldiesman 2/16/2005 12:16:33 AM ***

Hehe, return of the 'boo-boo' incident. :)

You knew it was coming.

It seems like everyone is out to get rich quick, and what a perfect reason? Amusement park + rollercoaster mishap = easy target!

*Part* of the reasoning behind the lawsuit-happy POV is that there's a "societal interest" in making sure that business behave responsibly in creating an environment that is as safe as is reasonable under the circumstances....

Has CF changed either the cables that they use, the mechanicals behind the ride, the maintenace schedule, etc....if not, then there's no reason to believe it couldn't happen again...and next time it COULD be someone's eye, or worse...

I'm NOT saying that there was a significant amount of pain and suffering, I got a paper cut the other day that hurt like heck, and it hardly bled at all...how much is that worth, and why don't they make paper safer, like with rounded edges or something? ;)

Obviously, there should be some idea of reasonable, LOL...but regardless, CF (or any company) would rather settle a case like this than risk a BAD verdict.

Damn the lawyers, damn the judicial system...

I know a performance artist to whom an accident happened because she was giving a bruise to someone while performing blindfoldedly. It wasn't even a big wound or a serious injury, just a bruise on the shoulder.The victim was a professional pianist however and sued her, and now the artist has to pay 1 million $ - something she'll never own her entire life.Can you imagine what life is like when you are never again allowed to own anything because you gave a bruise to someone due to an accident?And the performance artist was not even a U.S. citizen.
It's a true story, folks.
*** This post was edited by superman 2/16/2005 3:55:38 AM ***

We all are quick to blame the riders when it was obvious they erred and caused an accident. In this case, it is obvious CP erred. They knew the cable was having issues and I'm not sure they couldn't forsee something like this happening given the problems they had been having the past two seasons.

I don't like stupid lawsuits but I think this one has some merit. Should they get millions of dollars? No. And, if it can be shown that they needed a band-aid and went back into the park then maybe they don't deserve anything. But, if I were hit by shrapnel on a ride that was known to be having major maintenance issues then maybe I'd be asking for something more than an, "I'm sorry."

They should get the monetary equivalent to the severity of their injuries

That being said, all they needed was "*MINOR*" first aid treatment.

The reason these putz's (sorry jeff) want payment is because the park refused to pay for them to go to the emergency room of a nearby hospital. They were demanding this, and all they had was a few little tiny pin prick injuries.

The media, and the victims have blown this entire situation wayyyyyy out of proportion, and made it sound like it was some horribly devastating accident. Last time I checked, the launch cable and the lubrication on it travel at the same speed as the coaster train. So claims that they were hit by projectiles going 120mph, isn't quite the whole story, cause they were also going 120mph! in the same direction!

People will sue for anything these days, regardless of how petty or rediculous the reason is. When riders were trapped on a local coaster here because of a safety switch malfunction, the season pass holders became irate when the non passholders were given a free return ticket, but passholders weren't! they threatened to sue! and probably will. Yet at no time was anyone in danger. Park officials were passing out bottled water to all stranded guests, while the maintenance team worked to release them. The Fire Dept asked the park to keep trying to get them down by lowering the vehicle, because the more dangerous and scarier method (extracting them by the fire dept) should be done as a last resort.

Consequently, a traffic copter just happened to be in the area and proceeded to beam this incident to televisions WORLD WIDE!

So basically, even though amusement park incidents can be potentially horrific, the reality is, most of them are silly safety switch shut downs caused by those little green sensors along the track.

SAM*** This post was edited by Sam A. Marks 2/16/2005 9:01:47 AM ***

It's absolutely ridiculous. CP and Intamin should counter-sue for having their time and legal team's time wasted. All you pro-boo-hoo-ers, exactly what sort of line do you draw between what is normal risk associated with living your life? You all do realize that people, materials, everything in this world, is destructible, right? Do you want to sue the Weather Channel because you walked outside recently and suffered great mental anguish because your plans were ruined by a rainstorm, I mean you might not make those same plans for the fear and mental torture of not knowing if they might be ruined by rain? How about suing Hollywood because you didn't like a recent movie you saw, I'm sure that caused you great pain and suffering, you probably feel that your time, and money were wasted and you might be hesitant to go see another movie soon. Sounds like your exact same reasoning to me! Nothing can ever be 100% safe, hell, most things can't be 99% safe. That's called reality, and the sooner that the legal system in this country (and now others I guess?) realizes that, the better off the world will be.

If this case gets to a judge that's insane enough, I would expect TTD to be closed all of next year, if not further, if not for modifications than for "public safety". They hopped onto a machine that produces 10,000 horsepower, is created of multi-thousand pounds of steel, is controlled by a computer system that couldn't have existed 15 years ago, and they expect this thing to be failsafe? There's something called inherent risk to anything, and the more power and more "umph" you put into something, the more you push the limits of the abilities of materials and machinery, the more the risk increases, no matter how much design engineering and safety systems you put into something. Try and control a fire in a fireplace, easy right? Now try and control a fire in a magnesium factory, little harder, eh? But both are still concievably "doable".

I'm sorry, I get on this tirade every time something like this comes up because it's completely stupid. Furnish proof of your medical bills, have CP and Intamin pay for them, and leave it at that. Money never has and never will cure "pain and suffering" and there's no real way to qualify those two feelings with cash. The only way it gets qualified is by what the lawyers need to put their kids through college and buy that new boat they've had their eyes on.

In the modified words of Eric Cartman, "Boohooers piss me off ... "