Moreys Piers Discussion Thread

[the ghostIt all started with a donkey]

This article from screamscape ALONE seems to counteract everything they are claiming in the lawsuit.

Park News - (6/15/11) The latest news report regarding the Ferris Wheel death at Morey’s says that investigators believe the girl was either kneeling or standing on the seat to lean out the window, causing her to fall. The gondola was inspected and determined to be in perfect working order: the doors properly latched, no mechanical defects found and the railing was high enough to prevent someone from accidentally falling out.

I do feel sorry for them... really very sorry... but I don't think they should win this case. She's 11... not 2... if she fell out and there are 0 problems it is VERY HARD for me to be able to point fingers at the park when they did nothing wrong. There is an age where you should be able to ride a Ferris Wheel on your own without falling out, and IMO 11 is well past that age. I mean, in Europe they don't even have fences around rides... I'm sorry if I sound insensitive, but this is a stupid lawsuit... plain and simple.

[BaMiTsPaTBonafide Donkey Expert]

^I agree with you. While I cannot imagine losing a family member, or a child at that, it is stupid to try to blame the park when the ferris wheel is in perfect working condition. Someone from the group she was with should have been with her, and that is not the park's fault. If the family does file a lawsuit and wins it would frustrate me to no end.

[terdfergI know quite a lot about Donkeys!]

The parent's argument for seatbelts bothers me because a car moves at high speeds with other free-moving vehicles. It is not like there is another ferris wheel on a turntable next to this one.

[the ghostIt all started with a donkey]

Bleh... some of the comments on that thing are actually intelligent(for once) but at the same time there are people who are talking about "the hidden dangers of rides." It annoys me to NO END when people try to create a problem that isn't there... it also annoys me that based on the facts it seems as though some people believe a park would willingly put in an attraction that is known to be dangerous, because that's clearly what they mean by "the hidden dangers of rides."

[CardCrazeI wrote the book about donkeys!]

*sigh*

This girl had an accident. It's a shame, it really is, and I'm so sorry for the parents.

But to claim the ride needs seatbelts, or a "cage" is just beyond nonsense. The girl was 12, she should have known standing and leaning over the edge wasn't the brightest idea. And the shame of it all is that the park will suffer, and changes could potentially be made to the Ferris Wheel, all because some parents found a sue-happy lawyer and tried to get rich off their daughter's unfortunate death.

[ilriderWhat would donkeys be like on the moon?]

I expect the park will settle with the parents if/when a lawsuit is filed. It ends up being cheaper than a trial in the long run, and the park doesn't receive the black mark of losing at trial.

[SaweetDude04Macaroni and Donkey]

Looks like it didn't take long for New Jersey to crack down
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/14/new.jersey.ferris.wheels/index.html?hpt=us_c2

[DirkFunkThis B&M donkey is so smooth!]

There's another thread on the boards asking why there are lots of attendants at US amusement parks. Legal liability in this country is why. If the parents find out that other parks and amusement operators have seat belts on their ferris wheels (and some do) they'll put forth an argument that the park was negligent in its operation by not providing some semblance of a restraint system to prevent people from doing something enormously stupid. And they might win. When it comes to liability lawsuits in Europe, the need to prevent stupid people from doing stupid things generally does not work in the courts and instead gets thrown out quickly.

[Sue“Fear can make a donkey attack a lion”]

Seatbelts don't solve a thing. If someone wants to get out, what's to stop them from taking off a seatbelt?

The lawsuit is ridiculous as well since the park did nothing wrong. If anything, they should sue whoever she was on the trip with for letting her go off on her own. Even if there's not a chaperone at all times, it should be required that students stay in groups.

[DirkFunkThis B&M donkey is so smooth!]

There's nothing to stop anyone from removing a seatbelt. The thing is though, a functioning seatbelt requires the rider consciously remove it. If you're in the seatbelt, you can't accidentally cause yourself to fall out unless you remove it, which switches the onus of responsibility onto the person taking it off. The legal argument then would be that Morey's didn't do enough to prevent people from being able to accidentally fall out of the ferris wheel; I guarantee that's what they bring to the table.