Spokesman Don Helbig said there have been no new “developments” regarding the ride.
There has, however, been a recent development in Warren County Common Pleas Court. The last lawsuit stemming from an incident that sent 27 people to the hospital in July 2006 was recently re-filed.
Colleen Hegge, who has represented a half-dozen Son of Beast riders in court, recently re-filed a complaint for Jonathan Yanik. A faulty support on the ride jolted the riders. Yanik, who is now 21, required surgery to fix a shoulder injury. She first filed the action in July 2008 but had to dismiss the case because she said Judge James Flannery frowns on time extensions and they needed to wait until after the surgery to continue the case.
She is seeking in excess of $500,000 in compensatory damages and more than $350,000 in punitive damages.
Hegge said all of her other cases have settled without going to trial, but it has been tough to get the amusement park to take responsibility.
“It’s kind of disappointing for us. It’s an obvious injury that was caused by the negligence of Kings Island,” she said. “They’ll say we did cause the accident, but they don’t want to pay for the damages they caused. It’s probably going to be one of these where we’re right up to the day of trial, we won’t get it resolved until then.”
Kings Island’s attorney Harry “Chip” Finke said he cannot comment on pending litigation.
Last fall, a forensic engineer provided video testimony in a civil lawsuit that Kings Island was “negligent” and “put passengers at risk” by using a Band-Aid approach to fixing the ride.
Jennifer Wright of Defiance sued Kings Island over a hip injury she sustained. The jury awarded Wright $76,364 in compensatory damages, and then park officials struck an undisclosed settlement with Wright on punitive damages, before the jury could hear the engineer’s testimony.
Hegge has the engineer on her witness list. The three-day trial is scheduled to begin on March 21, 2011.
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.
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