Whether it’s Hershey Park to the north, Dutch Wonderland to the east, or any of the other similar facilities near York and across the Commonwealth, going to an amusement park should be a fun experience for the entire family. Unfortunately, some theme park trips end prematurely not by choice, but by necessity—and more specifically, because negligent management by park owners and operators leads to you or someone close to you suffering a serious injury.
If you’ve been hurt at an amusement park because of an unreasonably dangerous condition within the park, you may have grounds for legal action, which a knowledgeable premises liability attorney can help you pursue. No matter what injuries you’ve suffered or what losses they will cause you to experience, your York amusement park injury lawyer will guide you through every step of the recovery process and work tirelessly to get you every cent you deserve.
When Are Theme Park Owners Liable for Injuries?
If you read all the legal-ese printed in tiny type on your entrance ticket, you’d be forgiven for thinking that amusement parks are never legally liable for injuries that happen inside their parks. In reality, though, you may be able to step around this kind of waiver and file suit anyway if you can prove that a theme park owner failed to provide reasonably safe premises for you to use as a paying customer.
“Premises liability” law is complicated, but broadly speaking, property owners who allow people onto their land for commercial purposes have a legal “duty” to:
- Warn those guests about known hazards
- Cordon off or repair those hazards reasonably quickly after learning about them
- Regularly inspect their property either personally or through an employee for hazards they have yet to discover
As a York theme park accident attorney can further explain, you have a right to file suit over any injury caused by a hazard that was not “open and obvious,” that you weren’t warned about if the landowner either knew about it or should have known about it through regular property inspection.
Building a Strong Claim Around an Amusement Park Injury
Of course, amusement park owners will never just accept financial liability for an injury out of the goodness of their hearts. Instead, you’ll likely face a great deal of opposition to any claim you try to file over a theme park accident, even those that obviously stemmed from the property owner’s negligence. As the “plaintiff” filing suit, the burden of proof is on you to prove that you should be paid by the “defendant” you’re suing, rather than on the defendant to prove that they aren’t liable for your injury.
This usually requires lots of evidence drawn from multiple sources, including things like:
- Surveillance or personal camera footage of the accident occurring
- Photos of the accident scene
- Photos of injuries caused by the accident at various stages of healing
- All medical records related to care received for the injuries
- Witness testimony
- Input from subject matter experts—for instance, a professional in theme park ride maintenance who can explain to a jury whether a ride was properly maintained or not
Support from a seasoned lawyer can be key not just to collecting all this information after an amusement park injury in York, but also to making effective use of it during settlement negotiations or court proceedings.
Get in Touch With a York Amusement Park Injury Attorney
If your day out at a theme park ended with you or a family member suffering a preventable injury, you have limited time to enforce your right to pursue financial recovery. On top of that, the park owners you intend to sue will likely fight tooth and nail to minimize their own liability at your expense, and that’s not the kind of fight anyone is prepared to take on alone.
Fortunately, you don’t have to fight alone if you first seek help from a respected York amusement park injury lawyer. Call Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers today to discuss your legal options.
