$765,000 Settlement
While visiting an amusement park with her family, the 42-year-old plaintiff, a real-estate agent, boarded a cart on the park's only slow-moving "dark" ride. Upon exiting the ride, the plaintiff slipped on a puddle, which caused her to fall and, because her foot caught in a pinch point on the cart, she was dragged and twisted along the ground for 20 feet before the operator heard her screams and stopped the ride. While being dragged, the plaintiff's right femur snapped in two just above the knee.
The ride was designed to operate with a moving walkway for boarding and exiting. However, plaintiff's counsel found that, just two weeks before the accident, the park had ceased using the walkway but had not updated its operating procedures. The procedures in place required two employees for ride operation, but only one was at his station. That sole employee was a summer worker from Great Britain who had returned to that country by the time suit was filed. He refused to voluntarily testify and as trial approached the availability and content of his testimony became an intriguing evidentiary issue.
Without the walkway in place, the single employee became task-saturated and unable to monitor exiting passengers, thereby delaying an emergency stop. It was argued that had the ride been stopped, the plaintiff's leg would not have been broken.
The case settled two weeks before trial after a lengthy mediation.
Type of action: Negligence & Tort
Injuries alleged: Broken femur above knee requiring surgery for implant of plate and screws
Name of case: Withheld
Court/case #: Withheld
Tried before judge or jury: N/A (mediated)
Name of mediator: Sarah E. Worley, Pre-Trial Solutions
Special damages: $16,000 (medicals); $500,000 (in impaired earning capacity and 70-percent permanent impairment of right leg)
Amount of settlement: $765,000
Date: October 2004
Attorneys: John J. Carroll and Bradley M. Henry, Meehan, Boyle, Black & Fitzgerald, Boston (for the plaintiff)
December 13, 2004
