Injury Claims at Pennsylvania Amusement Parks: What You Need to Know

Pennsylvania amusement parks include Knoebels Amusement Resort, Dorney Park, and Kennywood, while Hersheypark is likely the most popular, drawing millions of visitors each year to enjoy its wide range of attractions. While these parks prioritize safety, accidents, injuries and even deaths can still occur. Depending on the circumstances that underlie an injury sustained at an amusement park, you may be eligible to pursue compensation.

Understanding how injury claims work, and speaking with a Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer, can help you evaluate your legal options.

How does negligence cause injuries at Pennsylvania amusement park attractions?

In Pennsylvania, amusement parks generally owe guests a duty to use reasonable care to keep the premises and rides reasonably safe, including through reasonable inspection, maintenance, and warnings of non-obvious hazards. Additionally, amusement parks must exercise reasonable care in hiring, training, and supervising ride operators.

If an amusement park fails to honor this obligation, visitors may be seriously injured as a result of the amusement park’s negligence. Some of the different ways this negligence can cause injuries at amusement parks include:

• A ride may lack necessary safety restraints
• Inclement weather may affect the rides or surface areas
• Certain rides or ride parts may be defective
• Some rides may not have received proper repairs
• A ride operator may make an error, such as turning on the ride before it is safe to do so

For example, each park and the manufacturers of their rides and components may owe legal duties to visitors. Even if a park follows safety procedures, if a ride component is defectively designed or manufactured and that defect causes an injury, it may give rise to a product liability claim.

What should you do after an amusement park or theme park injury?

Step 1: Seek medical treatment

The first thing you may want to do is seek medical treatment as soon as you possibly can. Doing so will help you:

• Confirm the injuries you sustained at the park
• Receive treatment for those injuries
• Gather medical records to prove you sustained injuries
• Clarify any long-term treatment needed

Step 2: Contact a personal injury lawyer

After seeking medical treatment, you may want to contact a personal injury lawyer. When you speak with a lawyer, you should be prepared to share the following information:

• The injuries you sustained
• The location where you sustained these injuries
• The treatment you have undergone, and will undergo, to address these injuries
• The amount of money you owe for your treatment
• Other damages you sustained as a result of these injuries

Step 3: Gather evidence

To obtain compensation for the damages you sustained as a result of your amusement park injury, you must prove the following:

• You sustained an injury at the amusement park
• Certain parties were negligent, and it was this negligence that led to your injury
• You were less than 51% at fault for this injury
• Your injury led to damages that require financial compensation

To prove the above elements, you need solid evidence. Examples might be:

• Medical reports that document your injury and treatment, as well as the costs associated with both
• Pay stubs that demonstrate the wages you lost due to your injury
• Journal entries that clarify your symptoms, along with the pain and suffering these symptoms have created

A personal injury lawyer can help you gather the evidence you need.

Step 4: Negotiate or go to trial

You can often pursue compensation through an insurance claim and settlement, but you may need to file a lawsuit if the claim can’t be resolved. Your lawyer can file a personal injury lawsuit on your behalf against the parties responsible for the injury you sustained. Two outcomes include:

• Negotiations between you, your lawyer, and the parties responsible for your injury
• Trial

If you enter into negotiations, your lawyer will present your demands, along with supporting evidence. Depending on how negotiations proceed, you may receive some or all of what you request. Unlike going to trial, it may not take very long for you to receive a settlement.

If negotiations do not result in an acceptable settlement, your case may proceed to trial. Trials can be long, complicated, and expensive. While a trial may result in a higher verdict or judgment than what was offered in settlement, there is also the risk that you may recover nothing.

Speak with a Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer today

If you were injured at a Pennsylvania amusement park, you may be eligible for compensation. Use our contact form to speak with a Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer today. KBG Injury Law can help you pursue the compensation you may be entitled to.