Appeals Court Rejects Woman's Negligence Claim Against Six Flags Great Adventure

JACKSON, NJ — A New Jersey appellate court has rejected a woman's claim that she suffered a back injury in 2011 on a ride at Six Flags Great Adventure's Hurricane Harbor due to poor maintenance by the company.

The woman, Stela Bomtempo, a Union County resident, suffered a compression fracture of her spine while riding the Tornado, a water ride at the amusement park on May 29, 2011. Bomtempo, her husband, a cousin and a friend were at the water park and decided to ride the slide, according to the appellate court documents.

After riding the ride once safely, Bomtempo was injured during a second trip down, contending in court documents that, "as their raft entered the funnel section of the Tornado, it ascended the first high point of the funnel and seemed to skim off the surface of the ride, before abruptly and violently slamming to the surface of the funnel."

According to the ride's description on the Six Flags website, the ride uses specially designed four-person rafts and shoots from a height of 75 feet down a 132-foot tunnel, traveling at 35 feet per second, and shoots riders into a 60-foot-wide funnel, "where you’ll feel the full thundering power of the Tornado. You’ll swirl through the funnel like you’re being blown around with furious force. Your raft swishes up the impossibly high walls at full blast and you'll be powerless to do anything about it. So hang on while you slide wildly back and forth, until you're all shot out the bottom," the site says.

Bomtempo filed suit in May 2013, claiming Six Flags failed to "properly inspect and/or maintain the 'Premises,' amusement rides and all components thereof."

According to the appellate court ruling, Bomtempo did not offer any expert testimony to back up her claim that the amusement park was negligent in maintaining its equipment, and a judge rejected the negligence claim in a summary judgment ruling.

Bomtempo appealed, claiming the judge had improperly refused to accept additional affidavits from her and her husband that were submitted after discovery closed.

The appeals court affirmed the trial court judge's ruling that Bomtempo needed to provide expert testimony to back up her claim that Six Flags personnel had failed to perform proper maintenance at the ride.

"She attempts to argue that the ride malfunctioned when her group's raft was elevated off the ground and then slammed to the surface, but the record lacks any indication that this event plainly bespeaks negligence. The entire purpose of the attraction is to project riders back and forth along the sides of the funnel. This function is forewarned on defendant's website, and thus was clearly and unambiguously advertised as a typical occurrence on the ride," the appellate ruling said.

The appellate judges also upheld the judge's decision to not accept the late affidavits, saying they were prompted in response to the park's request for summary judgment and "were substantively insufficient" to change the judge's decision.

A New York woman filed a similar suit against Six Flags last month claiming negligence on the park of the park after she broke her ankle riding the King Cobra waterslide at Hurricane Harbor.

In that case, the woman and a friend brought a double tube over to the ride, which is specifically designed for single riders, and she was injured when she slammed into the mouth of the cobra at the end of the slide due to the increased weigh of two riders traveling together.

"Unfortunately, we cannot comment on pending litigation, however, the safety and well-being of our guests is always our top priority," Kaitlyn Pitts, a public relations supervisor for Six Flags Great Adventure and Hurricane Harbor, said at the time.

See video of the Tornado below:

Image via Shutterstock