California Supreme Court rules amusement parks can't be sued for risks "inherent" to rides

Posted | Contributed by rollergator

The California Supreme Court, protecting providers of risky recreational activities from lawsuits, decided Monday that bumper car riders may not sue amusement parks over injuries stemming from the inherent nature of the attraction. The 6-1 decision may be cited to curb liability for a wide variety of activities — such as jet skiing, ice skating and even participating in a fitness class, lawyers in the case said.

Related parks

California's Great America

Imagine that. An attraction that allows you to ram cars into other cars is risky.

This type of ruling is going to make a lot of people in the industry breath easier. But what is interesting to me is that in their effort to reduce injuries on other bumper car rides that they own, Cedar Fair did themselves a great disservice by not upgrading the ride at Great America at the same time.

This type of ruling is a type of ruling that shouldn't be necessary.

Last edited by bjames,

I'm glad to see someone in the industry nut up and take the case. It was obviously risky, because if it ruled the other way, certainly that wouldn't be a great precedent for the industry.

Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog

^Given the case was in CA, I could NOT agree more. If the lawsuit was in "the Heartland", I'd consider it much less risky for the parks to take their chances with the court system.

When I worked there, Rue Le Dodge had 5 speed levels (with 5 the highest) and kept it on 2 for regular operation (we rode 5 at night). 5 was pretty intense. Makes me wonder if someone forgot to turn it back to 2 that morning.

In any case, phwew!

"I go out at 3 o' clock for a quart of milk and come home to my son treating his body like an amusement park!" - Estelle Costanza

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