Our firm recently recovered for a young child, whose arm was mutilated by an aggressive nurse shark kept in an unfenced, unguarded, unsupervised shark tank. Amusement attractions throughout the country provide exciting, interesting and even "educational" involvement of their customers. In doing so, they often have seriously injured customers due to poorly maintained and impaired rides, dangerous animals and a myriad of other amusement park hazards for which they are, by and large, insured.
Negligent security and sexual assault – theme park employees are often peripheral traveling people and the same is true for circus and county fairs. A significant number of children and adults have been attacked and molested because of negligent hiring and retention, policies and execution of those policies. "The county fair" theme park environment leads parents to believe that their children are safe and secure, and everyone's guard is down. Nothing can be further from the truth and diligent parental involvement is always recommended.
In large and world-renowned theme parks, there is, sadly, ample opportunity for unsuspected injury by highly technical and often computer driven rides and equipment that keep raising the "thrill stakes." Even the world's most well-regarded theme parks such as Disney, SeaWorld, Opryland, Universal Studios, Six Flags, Busch Gardens, Hershey Park , or Knott's Berry Farm, report incidents of abduction and sexual abuse, and numerous injuries and deaths related to their park equipment and water sports activities, which are particularly hazardous. Tragically, our firm recovered a record-setting result in Central Florida for the electrocution of a young girl playing miniature golf.
Water falls, wave pools, boating, jet skis, and canoeing activities all have a risk if proper training and equipment is not provided. Most importantly, there must be an appropriate evaluation of the purchaser's skill level to handle the activity, such as snorkeling; scuba diving, caving, mountain climbing, zip lining and or outdoor hikes under questionable weather conditions.
Our firm's experience includes: