The family of Tyre Sampson, the Missouri teenager who died two years ago after falling to his death while riding a free-fall attraction at an amusement park, received a $310 million verdict Thursday from a Florida jury.
After almost an hour of deliberation, the civil finding against Funtime Handels GMBH, the Austrian business that made the ride, was announced in a courtroom in Orange County.
According to a statement from family lawyer Ben Crump, this decision is a positive step toward making companies answerable for the security of their goods. The jury’s verdict supports our long-standing contention that Tyre’s death was caused by willful negligence and a failure to put safety before profits.
According to Orlando’s NBC station WESH, the manufacturer did not send a representative to court, and court documents did not name a counsel. A request for comment was not immediately answered by a corporate spokeswoman.
Tyre’s mother and father received an equal share of the damages, which were part of a wrongful death case the family filed on March 24, 2022, one month after Tyre passed away.
Tyre, 14, passed away while on spring break with his football squad in Orlando’s ICON Park.
According to the lawsuit, he fell at least 100 feet from the ride, which lacked seat belts, and weighed 383 pounds, which was almost 100 pounds more than the attraction’s 285-pound weight restriction.
Last year, Tyre’s family secured a settlement with ICON Park and Eagle Drop Slingshot, the ride’s owner, two other defendants mentioned in the lawsuit. The sum of the settlement has not been revealed.
Since then, the ride has been taken apart. The Tyre Sampson Act, which was signed into law by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in May 2023, improves the safety requirements for rides at amusement parks.
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