Could a park be sued for this?

One of my friends sister was on Villain at SFWoA, her arm was under the lap bar, and she got stapled so bad that her arm was broken. Her family is sueing (sp?) SFInc, and both of her parents are well known lawyers in Cleveland. My question is could SFInc actually get sued for this? Has it happened before? Couldn't SFInc counter-sue the family for the girl not following the rules?

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Since Jeff made Track Record a "perk" for CB members i'll just post my count here: Coasters:99 Parks:14

Hmmmm I don't really know, her arm really shouldn't have been under the bar, I think SFInc might just give them the money to keep it out of court

Six Flags will either lose or settle, IMO, because there is no posted sign telling riders NOT to put their arms under the lap bar that I can remember seeing. I don't know how much the family could reasonably expect to win, but I would guess it won't be much more than cost of hospital expenses plus $5,000 or so. I was hit by a drunken lumber truck driver on my bicycle and broke my neck and my femur and I was only awarded hospital expenses plus $10K.

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No love for the whiners

Why was her arm under the lap bar in the first place? Anyways I highly doubt that you'll get any money at all, but I could be wrong, I'm not a lawyer but the park has all that writing on the back of a ticket, ect. for a reason.

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Don't Fight It, Ride It, RAGING BULL!!!!!!- SFGAm

Yeah, if anything, they will settle, and probably end up putting a sign that says "Please keep hands above the lap bar."

But that is if they even get a thing.

But it shouldn't of been under there to begin with.

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Tim Schroll
gocubs7@hotmail.com
Willard's Whizzer (1976-2002) Farewell my Friend

On the back of the ticket, it says SF is not resposible for any injury that may occur. They could still be held responsible though.

Hurricane, what rule is there for not having your arm under the lap bar? I have seen signs for keep hands and arms in the car at all times, not once at any park I have attended have I seen a sign that states, "Don't put your arms under the lap bars"...

If she was stapled by an employee and her arm was under the bar at the time, the ride op should have seen that and a) remedied the situation of having the rider's arm pinned uncomfortably b) if there was a rule, informed the rider of the rule and remedied the situation/rule infraction.

Either way, what is the park's liability? IMHO, not much, but somewhat, nonetheless. Unfortunately, in cases like this, plaintiffs see the size of the pockets of the company and "go for the gusto".

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Goodbye Whizzer, dear friend. You set me rolling many years ago into this fun hobby...

RIP Whizzer: 1976 - 2002

Chris321, that blanket liability waiver has all but been deemed useless in the courts, many cases have been filed against amusement parks and the courts have rendered that statement on the back of tickets invalid in their rulings for the injured parties.

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Goodbye Whizzer, dear friend. You set me rolling many years ago into this fun hobby...

RIP Whizzer: 1976 - 2002

The ride-op was already fired, according to my friend right after it happened.

This could be settled out of court, but both of the injured girls parents are lawyers, so they dont have to pay any fees, so they could just drag this on for a while.

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Since Jeff made Track Record a "perk" for CB members i'll just post my count here: Coasters:99 Parks:14

Are you kidding? This is America, you can sue for anything!

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.:| Brandon Rodriguez |:.
http://www.coasters2k.com

Forgive my bluntness, but you have to be pretty stupid to put your arm under the lapbar (sounds to me like someone was trying not to get stapled?)

Attention oncoming riders you must be 48 inches and have an I.Q. higher than 30 to ride the Villain!

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The Other Siebert

If the ride op was stupid enough to staple someone with his/or her arm underneath the lap bar. They should have been fired. I kinda thing they out to have been beaten, untill some sense was placed in them.

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Home Park is the Basterd Child of Six Flags! SFAW

You can sue for anything. The real question is will you win. That's for the courts to decide.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

Well, since almost everyone is jumping on the rideops case...

Why didn't she say anything in the first place? I'm sure if she notified the op, he would release the lap bar and we would all live happily ever after. "Going for the Gusto" as redman882 said seems to be the case here...

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Thank You for challenging TOS: The Ride. We hope you enjoy the rest of your day, here at SFCB.

It doesn't matter why she had her arm underneath the lap bar. The ride-op should have never pushed down on the bar with her arm there (let alone staple her). I don't know if the op wasn't paying attention or did it intentionally, but either way they should be fired.

Let's face it, there are a few ride ops who seem to take pleasure in stapling people. And the ride op does have a responsibility to make certain that the rider is properly positioned. I think that they have a reasonably good case against SF.

By the way, the "not responsible for any injury" statement on the back of many tickets is meaningless because it is what is called an illegal contract. In other words, the law says that the park has certain responsibilites. The park and you do not have the legal right to make a contract that contravenes that responsibility by law.

They do tell you "Six Flags and it's empoyees can not and wil not be held resposible for any thing , lost, stolen of DAMAGED during the ride. ;-)

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HAHA. U can sue about anything in this world today. I think is full of b/s that you can. There should be restictions on sueing. And the whole thing about X and some guy sueing that's dumb. I mean yes. It makes us mad and I did travel from Illionis hopeing to ride it but, It wasn't open, It's not like I'm going to frickin sue. I think that law suits are strickly dumb. And ways. That's all I got to say about that.

They sure must have REALLY pushed down that lap bar to break someone's arm...

Canadas Coaster Drew said:

Forgive my bluntness, but you have to be pretty stupid to put your arm under the lapbar (sounds to me like someone was trying not to get stapled?)
Attention oncoming riders you must be 48 inches and have an I.Q. higher than 30 to ride the Villain!
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The Other Siebert

Maybe she was not ready when the ride op stapled her in. How can you say something like that when no one here really knows what happened?

As much as I dislike lawyers, I think that this case will win and should win. The ride op should have paid more attention.

Was her arm actually broken when the bar was closed or at some point during the ride?

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The worst day at Cedar Point is better than the best day at work.