Amusement parks are meant to be places to enjoy. Although you don’t go to amusement parks expecting an injury, they happen with distressing frequency. Sometimes, tragedy strikes, and someone even dies from an amusement park accident. If you suffered an injury at an amusement park, you have legal options that you need to know about.
Premises Liability
Premises liability law holds the owners and operators of premises liable under negligence law for dangerous conditions on their premises, if these conditions injure someone. The identity of the owner might not be obvious. Both Busch Gardens and Adventure Island, for example, are owned by United Parks & Resorts.
A property owner’s liability depends on the injured party’s status at the time of their injury. Almost all injured parties at amusement parks are invitees or trespassers.
Liability to Invitees
An invitee is someone the owner expressly or impliedly invited onto the property. For a commercial establishment, this means all customers–the owner’s advertising constitutes the invitation.
A property owner owes their invitees the highest duty of care. Invitees include all guests and (most of the time) all employees. The property owner must repair or warn of known hazards. They must also inspect for non-obvious hazards and either repair or warn of them.
Liability to Trespassers
Someone is trespassing if they are anywhere they have no right to be. Suppose, for example, that someone loses a personal item on a roller coaster, they intrude onto the tracks to retrieve it despite warning signs, and a roller coaster hits them. At least one person has died at an amusement park in that manner.
The owner or operator of premises has a very limited duty of care towards a trespasser. They must avoid only gross negligence or intentional misconduct. Ordinary negligence will not justify compensation in favor of a trespasser. If the trespasser is discovered, however, a duty arises to warn of non-obvious conditions.
Product Liability
It might be the case that your injury arose not from the amusement park’s negligence, but from a design defect or manufacturing defect in some of its equipment. Perhaps a safety latch malfunctioned, for example. If the amusement park had no way to foresee the malfunction, you might need to sue the manufacturer under product liability law.
Fortunately for you, there is no need to prove that a product manufacturer was negligent to win your claim. Instead, you need to prove that an unreasonably dangerous defect caused your accident.
Claims Against Government Entities
In Florida, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) bears responsibility for inspecting all but the largest amusement parks (Disney World, Universal Studios). If their negligent inspection or failure to inspect caused your injury, you have a claim against a state government entity under the Florida Tort Claims Act. You must exhaust your administrative remedies before filing a lawsuit, for example, and you are subject to caps on damages.
The largest amusement park owners inspect their own parks. An injured plaintiff can hold these parks liable for negligent inspection.
Should I Sue or Settle?
Most personal injury victims would rather settle their claim than go to trial. This makes sense even if you lack experience negotiating—let your lawyer do the negotiating for you. The irony is that to win the negotiation game, you have to prove that you can win at trial if negotiations fail. You are least likely to end up at trial if your lawyer has a track record of winning there.
Do You Need a Tampa Bay Personal Injury Lawyer?
If you suffered a serious amusement park accident, you probably need a Tampa personal injury attorney to help you gather evidence, prove the facts of your case, and apply these facts to the relevant law. Don’t worry about money because under the contingency fee system that almost all personal injury lawyers use, you only pay attorney’s fees if you win compensation for your claim.
Contact the Tampa Premises Liability Law Firm of Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today
For more information, please contact the legal team of Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers for a free initial consultation with a Premises Liability lawyer in Tampa. We have convenient locations in Florida: St. Petersburg, Safety Harbor, Clearwater, New Port Richey, and Tampa.
We serve throughout Pinellas County, Hillsborough County, Pasco County, and its surrounding areas:
Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers - Clearwater Office
1811 N. Belcher Road, Suite I-1
Clearwater, FL 33765
(727) 787-2500
Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers - Congress Ave Office
2360 Congress Avenue
Clearwater, FL 33763
(727) 591-5610
Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers - Tampa Office
6601 Memorial Hwy Suite 202
Tampa, FL 33615
(813) 686-7588
Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers - New Port Richey Office
2515 Seven Springs Blvd.
New Port Richey, FL, 34655
(727) 815-8442
Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers - St. Petersburg Law Office
840 Beach Dr NE Suite 202
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
(727) 787-2500
Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers - Safety Harbor Law Office
202 9th Ave S Suite A-2
Safety Harbor, FL 34695
(727) 787-2500
