Florida Theme Park Accident Guide

The Florida Theme Park Accident Guide was created by Victory Law Firm to help injured residents obtain maximum compensation. Call our lawyers for a review.

Theme parks are supposed to be happy and safe places. You go there to have fun and enjoy time with family and friends. If you have suffered a serious injury at a place like Universal Studios, then you likely are wondering what you can do to get justice. Our Florida theme park accident lawyers are here to help you through your case and provide you with the results that you need. We hope you call us today to set up a free, first consultation.

Causes of Theme Park Accidents

In order for you to have a safe and fun time at a theme park, the park has to provide structures that are sound and stable and maintain operational protocols that are properly observed. That’s why they have operators at every ride. It is to ensure the smooth and safe operation of the attractions at the theme park.

Injuries can happen just about anywhere and more often than not, they happen for the following types of reasons:

• There may be an issue with the mechanics of an attraction. Cables could break. The ride could become stock. The seatbelts and restraints can have issues and fail. And the brakes on the attraction can have failed which leaves people in a world of hurt if this causes an accident and injury.
• If a structure were to fail because of corrosion or otherwise, the injuries for that can be catastrophic.
• There are also issues with human errors such as mistakes made by the operator. If you were not given enough space in between departures on an attraction, then there can be issues with safety that cause an accident. If you were not properly restrained into an attraction and you had an accident that way, it can be absolutely tragic. Other errors that someone might make include not engaging safety features or not stopping the rides properly.
• Other types of injuries that we see happen because of a collision with an attraction or other people or vehicles on the scene of a theme park. People have been known to be thrown from rides and swings or slides. If the riots have a poor design and even if someone’s wearing all the proper restraints, hazardous injuries can happen.
• In some cases, it’s because of the choices that people make when they arrive at a theme park. Faking someone’s height or not listening to safety warnings, such as going on a ride not meant for someone with heart conditions, can cause someone to have issues.
• If there was a water park that had inflatable devices that don’t involve any restraints and people get hurt in those attractions, we see these types of cases a lot. Especially if people are not warrant of the safety risks before they get on this attraction.

If you are unsure whether or not you have a case, we hope you reach out to our Florida theme park accident lawyers today to set up a free consultation and get to know your rights.

Regulations for Theme Parks

Florida has regulations for amusement parks and theme parks such as Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, etc. This is meant to keep you safe in a world where profit is valued over safety sometimes. When rules and regulations are ignored and people get hurt, then liable parties must be held accountable, which we are dedicated to doing for you as Florida theme park accident lawyers.

Unfortunately, if you were injured at a theme park or amusement park such as Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, Busch Gardens or Sea World and you get hurt badly, then you need to understand that these places have an exemption from having to submit an accident report or conduct an investigation. This might make our case difficult, but it’s nothing that we are not familiar with.

Rest assured we know what we are doing when it comes to handling these cases and providing you with the justice that you need. When you suffer an injury in a theme park, it is often due to negligence and carelessness, as well as ignoring safety rules and regulations. While they might make it harder for us to actually win this case, we will not let that hold us up in our fight for your justice at all.

Reporting Your Accident at Universal Studios

If you suffered an injury at Universal Studios, you are going to have to deal with the aftermath of the event and have to document your accident and injury. If you are not in mortal peril after your accident, you likely have time to address making a report. Keep in mind, however, that this is still a very busy place and trying to stop the running of the park to address you and your injuries can be challenging.

Let’s say, for example, while you were on a ride you got a huge cut on your arm because of a protruding edge on an attraction and, while you aren’t bleeding to death, it is a serious cut and you’d like to get some proof of this sharp edge that you got hurt on. Trying to get this evidence in an amusement park like Universal Studios can prove to be pretty challenging when they are trying to continue to run people through the attraction like business as usual.

That’s when we come in to help you with the challenging part of your case. Essentially, our Florida theme park accident lawyers want to help you make this all easier. Every step of your case should be smoother because you had a lawyer by your side. We want you to call as soon as you possibly can to set up a free, first consultation to address your accident and any possible liable parties that may have been involved in you having this injury that you now need to suffer through. We can help you with evidence collection and ultimately fight for results that are fair.

Getting Results

When we determine your results, they are going to be based on what happened to you and the accident you were involved in. Our Florida theme park accident lawyers are going to be thoroughly investigating the incident that happened to you to try to find out what your legal rights are. We are going to see some hang-ups because of the nature of the accident. You were hurt at a theme park and oftentimes that means a big one like Universal Studios that might have a strong defense for these types of cases.

Depending on what happened to you at the theme park, whether it was an injury that happened on a ride that required extreme medical intervention or a milder incident, your compensation will be based upon those facts. More often than not you are going to be seeking compensation for medical bills and expenses. These can create very significant financial losses after an accident.

The pain and suffering that you feel after your accident is also a huge factor in your compensation award after an accident at a theme park or amusement park. These are your damages and we will fight against even the largest of insurance companies to provide you with results that are as fair as we can possibly make them. Even if we are going up against a huge insurance company that represents a place like Universal Studios, we want you to have fair results.

You might seek compensation for reasons besides pain and suffering, as well. We have seen a lot of people include in cases like this the value of the wages they lost if they had to miss work to recover from their injuries. It can be an especially significant loss when injuries occur out of town and you can’t get home to get to your job until you are recovered enough to travel. If you suffered a permanent damage that leaves you unable to work after this, then we want to pursue the damages for that as well.

You can receive compensation, too, for both past and future damages. If you are going to be living with any of the previously mentioned damages for quite some time or even forever, then we want you to be able to see that reflected in your results.

Our Florida theme park accident lawyers are dedicated to being able to provide you with this compensation for all the financial and physical damages you’ve had to suffer. We are here for you, even if it is a challenging fight.

Frequently Asked Theme Park Accident Questions

How Do I Choose an Attorney if I Was Seriously Injured at Universal Studios?

Orlando, Florida is one of those areas in the country that is known for their theme parks. We have many in the area that tourists and locals enjoy alike. With the amount of people that come in from out of state, out of country and locally, there are going to be injuries involved. Just last week we were was talking to someone who was in from out of the country, and they had injured themselves at one of the local theme parks.

What’s very important is that you get an attorney that is knowledgeable with working on cases against the theme parks. There are many in central Florida and the Orlando area, and each one has their own particular way of handling their cases. There are some theme parks that are reasonable and like to work with injured parties, and those cases can be resolved in a more reasonable and timely manner; and there are some theme parks throughout Orlando, Florida, that tend to be more difficult, and they tend to fight everything and drag everything on.

You need to make sure you have an attorney that knows that and make sure the attorney has handled cases against a variety of these theme parks and know what their tactics are, know how to deal with them, so they can advise you that this theme park is difficult to work with so you should expect a long and protracted fight, or this theme park is reasonable and we should be able to resolve this case without too much of your time, without too much of expense. That’s very important because it’s a very detailed area in terms of who the insurance companies represent, who those clients are. Making sure that you have an attorney that is knowledgeable with all those different ins and outs and the differences between the theme parks is going to be key in keeping you updated, keeping you informed, and insuring that you get the best possible outcome of your theme park injury case here in Orlando, Florida. If you have any other questions about that, please contact us.

Should I Notify the Theme Park of My Injury?

When we have a client that comes in, they’ve been injured somehow at one of the local theme parks, a question we get a lot is, “Should I have advised the theme park? Should I have told them about my injury? Should I have contacted an employee and let them know what happened?”

In Orlando, Florida, we have a lot of theme parks. We have a lot of people who visit these theme parks, many of them from out of state or out of the country. That is a question that they’re going to have when something like that happens. Whether it’s a small injury, whether it’s a large injury, whether it’s insignificant to you or significant to you, whatever it may be, we suggest that you do advise the theme parks. Let them know what happened. There needs to be a record of the incident. There needs to be some type of documentation. You need to be able to get the employees’ eyes on and let them see what happened. Let them know that a claim was made.

We’ve had experience in this area. Oftentimes, we’ll see a client come in and, unfortunately, they have not let the theme park know. That is one of the tactics that they’ll use to fight and deny your case. They’ll say, “We don’t have any record of this happening. How do we even know what happened at the theme park?” We would say that it is very critical to let the theme park know that you’ve been injured, that way they can prepare a report and, if they do prepare a report, make sure that you get a copy of the report.

Make sure that, if you do fill out the report, you read the report. Oftentimes, in those documents, there’s information in there that can be used against you. Sometimes, depending on that, we would advise against not signing the report. At least make some kind of report verbally, and make sure that someone comes on site to inspect the situation. A lot of these theme parks have their own medical staff. They can get you the medical treatment that you need right away. This is very important.

Several of the theme park cases that we’ve handled involve the originating report of the incident from the theme park’s medical staff. They essentially have EMT-trained individuals that work at these theme parks, and they will come out there, assess the situation and, if they’re able to help you, they’ll help you there. If they’re not able to help you, if the injury’s too significant, they will call for outside help. All of this is critical to making sure that your claim is handled properly and to make sure that you get the best outcome possible.

One thing that is very important is, when you do make the claim and you’re either filling out the form or speaking to some kind of personnel from the theme park or their medical staff, to let them know exactly what you’re feeling. Let them know exactly what happened. Let them know where you’re injured and how the injury is affecting you. Once you have this documentation, they’ll be able to help you in processing your claim as it goes forward.

Aside from that, we would not give any more detailed information to any of the theme park employees or to anyone representing the theme park employees until you have spoken with an attorney experienced in this field. If you have any other questions about falls at theme parks, please don’t hesitate to contact our office.

Should I Speak to the Theme Park’s Insurance After a Serious Injury?

When we had a client come in and they were talking about their fall at one of the local theme parks, a question we often get is, “Should I be speaking to the theme park representative? They’ve reached out to me. They have sent me letters. They’re trying to get me to talk to them.”

We would say, under most circumstances, no, do not speak to the representatives of the theme park or the insurance company if they are asking you to give them a statement or some kind of recording or any kind of detailed explanation of what may or may not have happened. We say in certain circumstances because if you have hired an attorney and discussed the facts of your case with the attorney, and your attorney decides that it’s in your best interest to speak to the insurance company, in terms of helping you cooperate with the investigation of the case, you may do that, but that’s in very limited circumstances. For the most part, we would say, no, do not speak to the insurance company. We would say do not speak to the insurance company alone, ever, in any of these situations.

Sometimes we have clients who, when they’re at the theme park, a theme park representative will try to reach out to them while they’re lying there on the ground or while they’re being helped by EMT’s. Be careful of giving any great detail into what happened. Let them know what body part you’ve injured, let them know what may or may not have happened. Aside from that, just give them the basics of the situation so they can fill out an incident report. If they do that, make sure that you get a copy of that, and make sure that you read the incident report before you fill it out, sign it, and give it back to them.

We’ve had cases where some of these incident reports have questions in there which basically have the person signing it admit that they were negligent or admit that they’re not going to pursue any claim against the theme park. Be very careful with speaking to the theme parks. Don’t ever speak to the theme park’s insurance representative without an attorney. In some cases it’s okay, if you’re with your attorney or under the guidance of your attorney, to speak with them; that way you can help in the investigation, and they can’t deny you benefits for not cooperating with their claim. If you have any other questions about theme park accidents, please contact our office.

What Damages Can I Recover After an Amusement Park Accident?

Just last week we had a client come in who was injured at one of the local theme parks. They had slipped and fallen on the premises there and they had asked me, “What damages can I expect to receive as a result of the theme park negligence?”

In Florida, as a result of someone else’s negligence, a party is entitled to various types of damages. Some of these damages range from getting paid back your medical bills, getting the future medical bills paid if, for example, you need future therapies or future procedures, surgeries, treatments, or anything like that. Those are all compensable, so we can ask for those in terms of damages.

Maybe you’ve been out of work. If you’re out of work, we can get you compensated for past lost wages. If you’re unable to work in the future, we can go after loss of future earning capacity, which is essentially loss of future earnings. Those are one of the damages. Those are all monetary, in terms of us being able to determine those based on actual hard evidence. We know what the medical bills are; we’re given those by your provider. We can estimate what the medical bills are in terms of your future needs by getting information from medical providers as well. If it’s lost wages we’re dealing with, we can just check your records to be able to determine what wages you missed out on and what wages you may miss out in the future.

The other damages are more emotional damages, and they are what’s called pain and suffering. Pain and suffering involves, essentially, what suffering and pain you’ve had to endure as a result of the injuries you sustained. There’s also loss of enjoyment of life. Maybe your injuries caused you not to be able to enjoy life as you once did. You can’t go jogging anymore, you can’t go do weightlifting or hiking anymore, or you’re limited. These are all damages that we can put together for you.

I would say that hiring an attorney experienced in this is going to be critical. They’re going to be able to make sure that they can put all of these damages together in to one package to ensure the best outcome for you. If you have any other questions about damages in theme park accident cases, don’t hesitate to contact our office.

What Happens if the Amusement Park Said I Assumed the Risk of Injury?

We’ve had cases here in Orlando, Florida, where a client has come in and are concerned about the injuries they suffered at one of the local theme parks. One of the issues that they’ve come to us with is, “At some point, I spoke to the theme park and they’re saying I assumed the risk so they’re not responsible.” Maybe you received that in a letter denying your claim, or a representative has reached out to you, or you’ve somehow been informed of that. That’s something that is discussed with the client.

Oftentimes we see the theme parks try to use that as a defense. It really depends on the particular facts and circumstances of the theme parks. What we need to be careful of is some of the theme parks, on their tickets, actually, they have some disclaimers and some waivers of liability. Basically that means if you buy the ticket and you come onto our property, anything that happens to you on this property, you’ve assumed that risk and we’re not responsible for it.

It really depends on the particular facts and circumstances of each case, each purported waiver. Were you told of that waiver? How did you assume the risk? There are many details that go into figuring out whether this is going to actually apply in your case. First and foremost, you need to find an attorney who’s experienced with dealing with these particular issues because they can be very specific. Each theme park has their own different way of handling this, so you really need to be able to look into each theme park, each way that they say they’ve provided you this notice or each way that they’re saying you’ve assumed the risk and whether or not that will hold up.

Again, an attorney experienced in theme park prosecutions in Orlando, Florida, is going to be your best bet at being able to navigate through that and determine whether or not that’s even a real thing, in terms of being able to deny you coverage or deny you damages in an injury at a theme park. If you have any other questions about a theme park injury in Orlando, Florida, please contact our office.

Call Our Florida Theme Park Accident Lawyers Today

If you have suffered a serious injury at a theme park, we want to hear from you right away. Too many people have been injured because of the negligence and carelessness of theme parks.