Jury awards family of Tyre Sampson $310 million in Orlando Freefall death case

Funtime released a statement:

Under Austrian law, the US court verdict is not justified. Our company operates internationally, is recognized in the industry and complies with all requirements, which have also been confirmed by the local inspection authority. We deeply regret the accident in Florida, but see no responsibility in the occurrence of this accident, as we had no influence whatsoever on the operator’s intervention in the ride’s safety technology, which was carried out after the official inspections and without our knowledge.

Source: https://www.eap-magazin.de/...-Case.html

In a vacuum this seems like a perfectly reasonable statement. But to make it after not even showing up to court? That's quite a bold move.

Not sure what Austrian law has to do with a product sold and being used in the US.

I think the second half of that sentence is the important bit. It seems utterly crazy to me that a ride manufacturer can be held responsible for a change made post-installation by a third party – whether that be under US law or otherwise.

robotfactory:

In a vacuum this seems like a perfectly reasonable statement. But to make it after not even showing up to court? That's quite a bold move.

I'm no expert on this stuff, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the cost of hiring representation would have wiped out any profit they made on supplying the ride in the first place.

I imagine they took the view that any judgment would be unenforceable anyway.

They would have talked with attorneys in the US and Austria before they made the decision not to defend the lawsuit. And appear to be comfortable that the judgement cannot be enforced against them. The discussions with counsels would have played a role in their settlement negotiations with the family. Expect they do not have much in the way of assets in the US.

Looks like the US and Austria do not have a treaty with respect to recognizing judgments entered in the other country.

https://resourcehub.bakermc.../judgments

New article about the accident. This one focuses on the maintenance tech. Saying he's a whistleblower who was fired for not falsifying records. It doesn't say who modified the rides, but it doesn't say that he isn't the one who did. At the end of the article, it says he's seeking compensation as well.

https://apnews.com/article/...bee0f712d1

If a manufacturer does install seat belts as a proxy measurement, they are still only as good as the maintenance and operating teams overseeing them. Whoever was responsible for maintaining this was negligent with the go/no go sensor, they certainly could be negligent with the seat belts maintenance as well.

IIRC one of the issues during the S:ROS @ SFNE incident was the seatbelts were wildly inconstant lengths. The man who was ejected had the seatbelt fasted, but that particular row the belt was many inches longer than spec. Yeah the lap bar in that case was barley down as well, but you are trusting a teenager to make that go/ no go decision.

Even a well maintained ride like Millennium Force will have slightly varying seatbelt lengths. probably due to stretching, and also you are trying to cut, sew, crimp, and bolt on 108 different seat belts so the result in the exact same length. I think seatbelts make a poor poxy measure, which is why I assume most modern rides are sensor based now.

They don't necessarily have to be the same length, they just all need to be below a certain threshold.