FlyingScooter Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 Warren County Repairs, lawsuits slow Son of Beast's return Click-2-Listen By Denise G. Callahan Staff Writer Wednesday, May 09, 2007 Kings Island's Son of Beast has been a problem child since day one — and still is. The amusement park opened the 2007 season without the popular roller coaster as repairs to correct a problem that sent 27 riders to the hospital last summer are not done. Kings Island and its owner, Sandusky-based Cedar Fair, are dealing with five lawsuits filed in the Warren County Court of Common Pleas by 11 riders who were hurt in 2006. Kings Island and its former owner Paramount also sued in federal court last year seeking to collect a $20.8 million court judgment from Roller Coaster Company of Ohio, the now defunct contractor hired to build The Beast's son. Craig Ross, vice president of marketing for Kings Island, said he still does not have a firm date for the reopening of the wooden coaster but they "would be very disappointed if it weren't open sometime in June." The signature steel loop was removed and lighter cars will make for a smoother ride, Ross said. Original problems with the ride and the causes of the 2006 accident are separate, Ross said. Federal Judge Susan J. Dlott entered a judgement in favor of Kings Island in 2005 awarding $20.8 million because Kings Island had to buy additional of wood and finish the ride and lost profits because the ride was shut down for extended periods and had to spend millions on marketing. The contractor went out of business so Kings Island was forced to sue its insurer, United National Insurance Co., last year in an attempt to collect the cash. A settlement conference is scheduled for June 27. United's attorney could not be reached for comment. Kings Island has settled some of the lawsuits filed by people injured in the 2006 accident, said one of the plaintiff's attorneys, Colleen Hegge of Cincinnati. Her client, who suffered a fractured sternum, is headed for mediation at the end of May. She said the latest report from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which oversees amusement parks, blamed the Son Of Beast accident on a design defect — the cars were too heavy and created stress on the wooden support beams. The riders were jolted around and dozens went to the hospital. "Kings Island has made an attempt to resolve these cases after the last report came out," Hegge said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scaparri Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 I have a brilliant solution to this. Just give each of the five people that are suing $10,000, a bottle of lighter fluid, and a torch and let them burn the POS down. I think I'd rather see that than see the thing open again with Gerstlauer trains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 How about we just use that 20.8M to tear down SOB? Then use the extra money to do cool Intamin or B&M stuff. Sounds like a plan to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snuggles Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 Use SOB's wood to build huts for 3rd world countries That will get cedar fair popular! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masked_Maverick Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 I have a brilliant solution to this. Just give each of the five people that are suing $10,000, a bottle of lighter fluid, and a torch and let them burn the POS down. I think I'd rather see that than see the thing open again with Gerstlauer trains. And build an Intamin Woodie in it's place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 Cedar Fair isn't going to tear this puppy down. SOB is about to break another coaster record by featuring the most trims ever on a coaster. Don't you want to brag to your friends about conquering the coaster with the most brakes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reon Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 How about we just use that 20.8M to tear down SOB? Then use the extra money to do cool Intamin or B&M stuff. Sounds like a plan to me! And just as we're all getting into this Maverick/Intamin rant... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snuggles Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 Cedar Fair isn't going to tear this puppy down. SOB is about to break another coaster record by featuring the most trims ever on a coaster. Don't you want to brag to your friends about conquering the coaster with the most brakes? Slowest, tallest, most valleying, with the most brakes, wooden coaster in the world! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RollerC Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 Cedar Fair isn't going to tear this puppy down. SOB is about to break another coaster record by featuring the most trims ever on a coaster. Don't you want to brag to your friends about conquering the coaster with the most brakes? Don't forget the loudest coaster. We all know how loud Villain is when it hits the turn-arounds...just imagine the sound amplified 100x more when it hits the rosebowl going 70. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 ^OMG! At the top of the lift, it is SOOOOO loud! I totally forgot about that! It's like 1000 amps blowing craackcrackkkety crackkkk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RollerC Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 I was talking more about the side wheels...they sound like a dying dog when their's pressure on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingScooter Posted May 10, 2007 Author Share Posted May 10, 2007 SOB is about to break another coaster record by featuring the most trims ever on a coaster. Don't you want to brag to your friends about conquering the coaster with the most brakes? LMAO! Man, you speak the truth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 SOB is about to break another coaster record by featuring the most trims ever on a coaster. Don't you want to brag to your friends about conquering the coaster with the most brakes? LMAO! Man, you speak the truth! Yeah, Kinzel all but called the SOB project a failure in that Cleveland Plain Dealer video interview that was floating around. He said something to the effect of "SOB didn't do what the Paramount company wanted it to do". He also made an allusion that he thought the project should have been for a steel coaster instead. Granted these comments seem harmless enough, but it was a very upbeat interview overall and he enthusiastically praised Kings Island and the Beast. He then dropped into to a more somber tone when the topic of SOB came up. I thought that was very telling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 Thennn...maybe Kinzel will end up replacing SOB with a new Floorless with in interesting inversion right out of the station! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryH Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 Hmmm...$20 million willb uy you a nice B&M, a GCI woodie, or an Intain woodie! Oh well, the sad thing is that I will probably ride the "new and improved" SOB to see what it's like and then after the ride, I will cruse the day when I wanted to ride it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verticalzero Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 Torch the whole layout and start again, this time with a better designer and a fun not so "rough" layout. I'm sure KI has another 35 hectars to put this ride into, or build it so it entwings in and out of the the Beast's layout. I have not been on the new lighter trains, PTC should build a set or 2 for Cedar Fair. It ran brakeless when I rode it back in 2000, but the lift-hill was so loud, KI should be forced to change the safety dogs so you can't hear the ride while riding SOB's dad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingScooter Posted May 11, 2007 Author Share Posted May 11, 2007 Thennn...maybe Kinzel will end up replacing SOB with a new Floorless with in interesting inversion right out of the station! If they get a floorless, it'll probably come from GL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost007jas Posted May 11, 2007 Share Posted May 11, 2007 Thats what they need, another coaster raped from Geauga Lake... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scruffy Posted May 11, 2007 Share Posted May 11, 2007 Will Paramount and Cedar Fair both get 20 million or with it be slip between both companies? I will give SOB another try when it opens this or next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnumfan Posted May 11, 2007 Share Posted May 11, 2007 Maybe Cedar Fair can spend some of that 20 million on Valleyfair. It seems like eternity since when we got our last coaster. Renegade is a pretty good start to us getting some decent coasters in addition to Steel Venom. Yeah, SOB is the loudest coaster that I have ever heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 And the result, nearly two years later. Kings Island's two-year effort to collect on a $20 million court judgment has hit another roadblock. In a 12-page decision issued Tuesday, the Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals in Middletown said an insurance company doesn't have to pay Kings Island that money. A federal court had awarded the sum to Kings Island in 2005 over design and construction problems with its Son of Beast ride. A standard commercial liability insurance policy held by Roller Coaster Co. of Ohio excluded coverage of the types of problems Kings Island encountered with the wooden roller coaster, the court said. Kings Island's claims against the company "allege defective or negligent workmanship and therefore do not constitute an 'accident,' " and thus are excluded from coverage under the company's insurance policy, the court said. "It is well-established that a (commercial general liability) policy does not cover claims of negligent manufacture." Such policies do not insure workmanship but instead insure risks arising from the policy holder's work, the court said. The roller coaster company went out of business, and Kings Island sought payment from the company's insurer, Admiral Insurance Co. But Admiral won't be stuck with the bill, the Middletown court said. Roller Coaster's insurance policy excluded "coverage for harm to the project itself" resulting from the company's contractual duties, the court said. In awarding $20 million in damages to Kings Island, the federal court said parts of Son of Beast's wooden structure were damaged and that the park lost millions of dollars while investigating, evaluating and repairing the damage to the coaster's structure. Son of Beast, the world's tallest wooden coaster when it opened in April 2000, suffered from design flaws that caused repeated closures of the ride, Kings Island has claimed. Kent Wellington, a Cincinnati lawyer representing Kings Island, couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday. It's unclear whether Kings Island can appeal the Middletown court's decision to the Ohio Supreme Court or has any other recourse that would allow it to collect the $20 million. It's also unclear whether the latest decision could have an effect on lawsuits filed as a result of an accident that sent 27 people to hospitals in July 2006. At that time, officials said it was unclear whether the alleged design flaws played any part in the accident. The injury cases are still making their way through Warren County Common Pleas Court, Lebanon. The accident resulted in the ride being closed for nearly a year so it could be revamped. The ride reopened last July. The park will reopen on weekends beginning April 20 and will be open daily for its regular season starting May 23. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slither37 Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Cedar Fair isn't going to tear this puppy down. SOB is about to break another coaster record by featuring the most trims ever on a coaster. Don't you want to brag to your friends about conquering the coaster with the most brakes? Doesn't CF already have this record with Mean (no) Streak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 ^^So, if I'm reading this correctly this lawsuit was BS because RCCA's insurance policy covered strictly issues surrounding construction of SOB, like workers being injured during construction. The insurance policy was never a warranty guaranteeing the quality of the product. Makes sense. Doe anyone more legally inclined, aka Allan, care to interject? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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