Ruling holds carneys to high standard

Marisa O’Neil

A recent state Supreme Court ruling that holds amusement park

operators to a higher safety standard likely won’t make a difference

at this year’s Orange County Fair, which starts Friday.

Most people are still sorting out what the ruling, which could

hold ride operators to the same standards as those of buses and

trains, will mean in practice.

It may, in fact, take years to see how the courts handle the

decision before it’s clear what it will mean to ride operators, an

attorney for the Outdoor Amusement Business Assn., said.

“It will be full-time employment for lawyers, finding out what

[the court has] done,” attorney Wayne Pierce said by phone from his

Maryland office.

Officials at the Orange County Fair have not yet formed an opinion

on the court’s ruling or determined what effect it may or may not

have, spokesman Jeff Willson said.

The 4-3 ruling June 16 came as part of a lawsuit filed by family

members of a woman who died after riding Disneyland’s Indiana Jones

attraction.

Her family contends the jarring of the ride caused a brain injury

that killed her.

The court decision also applies to portable, carnival-style rides,

Pierce said.

The ruling states that operators of a roller coaster or a “similar

amusement park ride” can -- but not “must” -- be considered a “common

carrier.”

That classification would put them in the same category as city

buses, trains and other public transportation.

Riders on those forms of transportation have an expectation of

being transported safely from one point to another, the ruling

states.

Those carriers must “use the utmost care and diligence” for the

safety of their passengers rather than simply “reasonable care,” the

court wrote.

But people go on amusement park rides for thrills, not to get from

one point to another, Pierce said.

The ruling could open the door to more lawsuits, he said. It may,

however, be difficult for a jury to tell the difference between the

court’s standard of “utmost care” and what he called “garden-variety

negligence.”

The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration does

not plan to change the way it enforces ride safety in response to the

ruling, spokeswoman Renee Bacchini said.

The Department of Occupational Safety and Health, within Cal OSHA,

inspects rides as they are assembled at the fair.

State inspectors closed the Adrenaline Drop ride at the Orange

County Fair in 2003 after a 30-year-old woman was seriously injured.

Inspectors found that nets designed to catch free-falling riders

were too low.

That ride has not returned to the fair.

A second accident the same year injured another rider when a pin

fell from the Booster attraction, hitting her in the face.

That ride was temporarily shut down, but reopened after passing

inspection.

The Booster, which swings and spins riders up to 131 feet in the

air at 50 mph, returned to the fair last year without incident. It

isn’t coming back this year, Willson said.