Legal implications for Oklahoma amusement park accidents.
What Are the Legal Implications for Oklahoma Amusement Park Owners When Accidents Happen?
Well, it’s summertime, we think about festive activities and having a good time at amusement parks. And soon it’ll be state fairs, especially here in Oklahoma. And everybody likes a good ride, a fast ride, a big ride, the fastest ride imaginable for the excitement. My name’s Mike Ashworth. I’m the head of personal injury law for the Wirth Law Office here in the state of Oklahoma. We have numerous locations. And we’re going to talk about amusement parks.
Why? In the news the last couple of weeks, there’s been some really kind of scary things going on. You have one roller coaster that is actually stuck upside down. The cars are upside down for people and they’re trapped for three hours requiring an emergency evacuation of them. You know it’s got to be terrifying.
On top of that, you have the other equally terrifying, in fact, to me, more terrifying of what is supposed to be the fastest, tallest roller coaster I believe in the United States. And you see civilians who have taken their cameras and videotaped stress fractures to the supporting structure of that roller coaster. And in addition to that, after they reported it, they kept operating, the company kept operating the roller coaster for a period of time until officials got there, I think after two or three hours, and shut them down.
Responsibility of Amusement Park Owners
Would they be responsible for what happened? Would the owners of the amusement park be responsible for what happened? The answer is yeah. Yeah, they would be. And if someone had gotten severely injured or, heaven forbid, killed, especially on the second example, that would have been something where there could have been a wrongful death case brought. There’s also cases that can be brought by others because they may have been emotionally traumatized that they rode that roller coaster during the time that that stress fracture was there. A little tougher case, but it’s something that could happen. And for the people that were hanging upside down, well, again, that could be an argument for what’s called false imprisonment. They’ve been kept against their will for a period of time until they’re extricated.
Now, the damages in a case like that are what you would have to look at as a lawyer. Are they really financially harmed? Well, that could be very traumatic to people. Imagine being on an aircraft and you find out that one of the pilots has just expended himself. He’s died or he’s passed out or whatever. And all of a sudden you’re going to be freaking out. So when you do these types of things, when you go to the park, just be careful. The government, both the state of Oklahoma and the federal government, do regulate these types of facilities, these types of rides. But understand if you’re at an amusement park on a ride and something goes awry and it’s not your fault, there’s a chance there may be something legally that can be done.
Low-cost Consultation
So if you have a question about things like that, or if you have a question about anything to do with law, I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years, give me a shout. My name’s Mike Ashworth, TulsaPersonalInjuryLawyer.Pro, and the phone number to my group is 918-924-5528. I hope to hear from you and I hope it’s just a general legal question and not something truly tragic. But if it is, we’re equipped to handle you.
