Orlando, Florida In a case against Funtime, the Austrian maker of the ride, an Orange County jury has awarded $310 million to the parents of Tyre Sampson, a 14-year-old boy who died after falling from an amusement park ride in 2022.
After plummeting 70 feet from the Orlando Free Fall ride at Icon Park, Tyre Sampson passed away on March 24, 2022. Funtime was ordered by the jury to give Sampson’s parents, Yarnell Sampson and Nekia Dodd, $155 million apiece. Funtime did not show up in court to defend itself, thus the trial was short—it lasted only one day.
Icon Park, which leased space to Orlando Slingshot, was not a party to the trial; the ride’s operator, Orlando Slingshot, had previously reached a settlement with Sampson’s family for an unknown sum.
According to a statement from Tyre’s family lawyers Ben Crump and Natalie Jackson, the jury’s verdict supports our long-held contention that Tyre’s death was caused by willful carelessness and a failure to put safety before profits.
The family will have to seek enforcement of the damages in an Austrian court in order to obtain the given amount, even though the verdict is a legal triumph.
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