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A lady of Spain took a ride with Indiana Jones five years ago, and now the admission price at your favorite theme park may be going up.

Or, that encounter could mean that a bigger, faster successor to Cedar Point’s Millennium Force roller coaster may never be built.

Amusement park industry experts differ on what the effect will be of a ruling this month by the California Supreme Court about a case in which a woman died after being on a ride at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.

In brief, the court said that such rides, under California law, must adhere to the same safety standards as buses, taxis, or airplanes, a much higher threshold than a “reasonable care” measurement used in Ohio and many states.

Experts are speculating about what the decision means for the industry, which has packed the West Coast state with theme parks. Will it prompt higher insurance premiums for park operators, will it put a halt to development of more dangerous thrill rides, and will the stricter safety standard spread to other states?

“A majority of ride manufacturers are out of our country and they’re not used to the level of litigation and liability in our country,” said Boyd Jensen, a lawyer who has represented Knott’s Berry Farm, which is owned by Cedar Fair LP of Sandusky.

“If they were to read the court’s decision and take it at face value, they might wonder how they could ever build a ride or any device that could meet the highest safety standard.”

Shortly after the court’s ruling, John Robinson, head of the California Attractions and Parks Association, an industry advocacy group, said the decision “puts roller coasters out of business.”

The International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions, in Alexandria, Va., declined to discuss the issue. But it issued a statement that says the ruling ignores previous court decisions that found the transportation aspects of amusement park rides were incidental to the central entertainment aspects, and thus there is no “common carrier” standard.

The case was filed by the estate of Cristina Moreno, a Spanish citizen, who sued Walt Disney Co., alleging her September, 2000, death stemmed from being violently shaken on the Indiana Jones Adventure ride. She died of a brain aneurysm.

A trial court ruled in the park’s favor, but a state appeals court and then the state’s highest court disagreed.

The decision said the rides are “common carriers” and thus obligated “to exercise the highest degree of care for the safety of the passenger.”

Operators, the court ruled, must use “the utmost care and diligence” for rider safety rather than a weaker “reasonable care” standard of many states, such as Ohio and Michigan, where Cedar Fair operates the Michigan’s Adventure amusement park.

Kurt Anselmi, a Michigan lawyer who has represented theme parks, said, “It’s far easier to convince a jury that you’ve done ‘reasonable care’ than the ‘utmost care and diligence.’”

The ruling won’t stop bigger and more push-the-envelope roller coasters from being built in California or elsewhere, he said. But it could cost the parks more in insurance premiums.

Bill Linkenheimer, past president of the American Coaster Enthusiasts, said he hopes the thrill rides will continue to be built, even in California.

“I find it funny that they’re compared with public transportation,” he said. “When you go to a subway station in New York, there’s nothing keeping you away from the tracks and falling off the edge and getting electrocuted.”

Brian Witherow, head of investor relations for Cedar Fair, said the Sandusky company that owns six amusement and five water parks nationwide doesn’t expect a significant impact from the ruling. Insurance costs, he said, have been decreasing.

“If this leads to the government doing the regulating and paying more attention, from an industry standpoint that will only make things even better,” he said.

Dennis Speigel, head of International Theme Park Services consulting firm in Cincinnati, doesn’t expect the ruling to kill roller coasters. But, he said, it could result in more lawsuits in California.
The head of claims for theme-park insurer American Specialty Cos. Inc., of Roanoke, Ind., said the ruling will affect only California parks at first.

But Mark Thompson said it eventually could change the way Disney, Cedar Fair, and others operate. “And I would think that definitely their rates are going to go up and more than likely the state of California will increase their inspections as a result.”

At the least, the ruling creates confusion for the theme park industry, said Rich Allen, chief operating officer of S&S Power Inc., a thrill ride manufacturer in Logan, Utah.

“Actually, I’m not sure what it may or may not mean for the industry,” he said. Ride manufacturers and operators already adhere to a high safety standard and have a good record, he said.

However, accidents happen. S&S Power built the former VertiGo ride at Cedar Point, which would slingshot about a half a dozen passengers 300 feet into the air at 50 mph. In a bizarre incident, which was never solved, one of the supporting towers broke while not in use.

Separately, a woman fell to her death at Knott’s Berry Farm in 2001 from the Perilous Plunge waterfall ride. Investigations found that the woman’s weight, 292 pounds, was a factor in her slipping out of safety restraints.

Attorneys for people suing amusement parks in other states are likely to cite the California ruling to support their cases, said some experts.

Ohio has a “common carrier” law, but it does not pertain to amusement park rides, said J. Michael Vassar, a Toledo lawyer. Still, he, too, said he expects lawyers suing in Ohio for someone hurt on a ride will cite the Disney case.

Whether that standard will be accepted in Ohio is questionable, he added. “They’re kind of a renegade,” he said of California. “They’re the first one to try novel theories across the board, including legal theory.”

Barry Novack, the Beverly Hills, Calif., lawyer representing Ms. Moreno’s estate, said the ruling sets the safety bar for park operators.

“That means it can’t be business as usual,” he said. “It means they may have to post appropriate warning signs that these rides can cause serious injury and death and there may have to be changes with respect to dynamics, ridership, and ride restraints.”

Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.

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