Woman Sues Dollywood for Premises Liability

A Florida woman is suing the theme park Dollywood after she took a head-first fall from a ride at the amusement park. She claims that the mix of sleet and rain made the ride “dangerously slick” and that a lack of adequate safety measures resulted in her injuries. She is claiming permanent injuries in the form of a premises liability case because of her experience on the ride.

Facts of the Case

Tedi A. Brown, of Ponte Vedra Beach, was on vacation with her husband and five children at Dollywood Amusement Park in late December, 2013. The Brown family asked a park employee if a ride, the Waltzing Swinger, was safe to ride in wintry conditions and he replied that the family had nothing to worry about.

The Waltzing Swinger is a “revolving ride with individual seats ascending 25 feet into the air and tilting outward. The swinging chairs lacked locking mechanisms to restrain riders, and anyone could lift the lap bar and become unrestrained . . . when the ride is completed, the chairs come to a stop about ten feet above the ground.”

Once the ride had finished, Ms. Brown thought that it was safe to exit her seat and lifted the lap bar. When she realized that the seats were too high up she attempted to hold on to the lap bar but because of the weather conditions it was too slick. As a result, Ms. Brown fell headfirst about ten feet onto the concrete below, suffering from head, neck, and back injuries in addition to torn ligaments and a broken jaw.

The Brown’s lawsuit claims that “defendants failed to exercise due care and breached the duty owed these plaintiffs by failing to close the Waltzing Swinger … when the weather was a wintry mix of rain and sleet, which rendered the seats and lap bars of that ride dangerously slick . . . The park also failed to warn the family not to raise the non-locking safety bar until the ride was safely on the ground.” Ms. Brown is seeking $475,000 in damages from Dollywood and that amount could increase given the results of her follow-up medical reviews.

Tennessee Premises Liability

Every property owner has a duty to keep their premises safe for others who enter it. In order to file a claim for premises liability, you must be able to prove that the property owner knew or should have known about the danger and neglected to take the steps to remedy the situation before you got hurt. Different types of premises liability cases include:

• Slip and fall;
• Trip and fall;
• Failed maintenance;
• Broken hand or guardrails;
• Inadequate lighting;
• Failed security;
• Assault;

…and other issues of premises liability that result in injury to another person.

Contact a Tennessee Lawyer Now

If you or someone that you know has suffered from an injury in the Nashville area on someone else’s property, let the experienced personal injury lawyers at Calhoun Law, PLC help. Call or contact the office today for a free and confidential consultation of your case.