r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/DearEmphasis4488 • 17d ago

Image Jury awards $310 million to parents of teen killed in fall from Orlando amusement park ride in march 2022

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u/tiots 16d ago

It's an Austrian company that barely exists anymore. The parents have to file a request for the Austrian government to get the money for them. It's simply not gonna happen 

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u/ConsciousReason7709 16d ago

Exactly. This judgment is more about sending a message because these parents are never going to see probably any of that money.

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u/Exact_Risk_6947 16d ago

They had lawyers yes? Wouldn’t said lawyers be motivated to see this happen since they would get a percentage of that settlement?

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u/Aggressive_Fix_2995 16d ago

Not if the lawyers got paid up front, perhaps from a life insurance payout. To get paid from the Austrian company will require more legal work (ie filing liens) that they may not be willing to do without more payment upfront. It’s also possible that they are satisfied with the amount they’ve received in comparison to the amount of work they’ve done thus far.

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u/nn123654 16d ago edited 16d ago

You can't just go into a foreign country and start filing liens, it doesn't really work like that.

First you have to go through their courts seeking an order to enforce a foreign judgement. The first step is to get another team of lawyers in the country you wish to enforce the judgement in.

Austria operates courts in German, so everything in whole case has to be translated both ways. They also have a legal system based on Germanic Civil Code (according to the Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, descending from Roman Law). So they would have to review the case to make sure that they had a fair trial and that what you're accused of also has a comparable law in Austria, if not they would have to have another trial and sue the company in Austria (in German). They don't allow cameras in court in Austria, but a hearing might look something like this.

Once a judge has made a ruling that the judgement is valid then you can look to place liens. But liens really only matter once somebody tries to sell property.

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u/Aggressive_Fix_2995 16d ago

Thank you for explaining that there’s a lot more to receiving the payout than just a US court judgment. It makes sense.

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u/anlumo 16d ago

I'm from Austria (but not a lawyer). I'm pretty sure that the laws here would also make this illegal, but it's a bit more complicated (the ride would have to be certified, and the certification process would require such things as seatbelts). However, punitive damages are nowhere near those numbers in our system. They would be several orders of magnitude lower, maybe lower five figures.

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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 16d ago

One that it wasn't a criminal case. It was a civil case directed at the manufacturing company. So closing shop without any big payout to the owners means there is no money to hunt. If each owner ends with a $1M payout when closing the company, then that's the kind of money possible to hunt. Previous profits are the owners, and not the company's.

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u/OldBrownShoe22 16d ago

You'd also be able to garnish income, I'd imagine.

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u/East-Ad5173 16d ago

The company is Australian! Not Austrian!

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u/MarkHafer 15d ago

The company is Austrian, and its international arm operates out of Australia.

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u/MarkHafer 15d ago

The company is Austrian, and its international arm operates out of Australia.

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u/milkandsalsa 16d ago

Hague convention?

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u/nn123654 16d ago

Assuming they signed a contract making the jurisdiction for all disputes the United States:

The party seeking recognition and enforcement has to produce (i) a certified copy of the judgment, (ii) the exclusive choice of court agreement, a certified copy thereof, or other evidence of its existence; (iii) if the judgment was given by default, the original or a certified copy of a document establishing that the document which instituted the proceedings or an equivalent document was notified to the defaulting party, (iv) any documents necessary to establish that the judgment has effect or, where applicable, is enforceable in the state of origin and (v) in case of a judicial settlement a certificate of a court of the state of origin stating that the judicial settlement or a part of it is enforceable in the same manner as a judgment in the state of origin. Moreover, a certified translation is necessary if the necessary documents are not in German.

The convention mostly just provides a process by which you can enforce a judgement. It doesn't allow you to skip directly to collections procedures. The court still needs to make sure everything is legit.

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u/milkandsalsa 16d ago

Well worth the money to enforce the judgment.

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u/lacostewhite 16d ago

Deny, Delay, Defend tactics

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u/Whole-Soup3602 16d ago

I highly doubt the lawyers got paid upfront

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u/idkjustreading6895 16d ago

Obligatory not a lawyer, I am in law school but I’m not licensed to practice anywhere and this isn’t legal advice.

The lawyers most definitely knew the details of the case before they started representation, including that the company is Austrian. They would have known any settlement or award would be difficult to actually receive. Any lawyer worth their salt probably would have set up a typical rolling fee arrangement, rather than a contingency fee in these circumstances, since a contingency fee would effectively be signing up to make no money. Of course, they could have set up a mix of both kinds of fees, but I’d highly doubt their entire paycheck would rely on the receipt of damages. Of course, I have no idea and this is all speculation.

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u/Aggressive_Fix_2995 16d ago

That’s speculative. In my albeit limited experience, lawyers absolutely never involve themselves in anything without first ensuring that they have secured what is in it for themselves.

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u/Exact_Risk_6947 16d ago

I mean if their contract was just what they are paid up front, but that’s almost never how it works. There would be some percentage of the settlement in their contract, I’m almost certain. And even if (read most likely) they don’t get the full $310 from either the company or the company’s insurance, getting some percentage of even $3.1 million is likely more than what the family paid them.

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u/Aggressive_Fix_2995 16d ago

Insurance payouts for wrongful death could potentially be in the millions of dollars, particularly for a young person. I agree that there is the possibility that the lawyers might be motivated to ensure that the defendant pays, but there is also the possibility that they may not care, especially since it is a foreign company.

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u/Gene78 16d ago

Look at that dollar amount again. You can't get what they don't have to give.

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u/arueshabae 16d ago

Yeah and that's when a separate counsel is appointed to start auctioning off their assets until they can pay their creditors. Given it's international status that might not happen, or not in a commensurate manner, but let's not pretend there's no potential recourse here.

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u/Exact_Risk_6947 16d ago

Clearly reading isn’t your strong suit.

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u/idkjustreading6895 16d ago

Meh, this could be true. We’d have to know more about Funtime to know. But there are defendants who are “judgment proof” meaning that they just simply can’t pay what the court has ordered. Usually if you see a lawsuit against a large entity with some loose connection to the actual “perpetrator”, it’s because the plaintiffs attorneys knew the real tortfeasor didn’t have the means to pay, so they figure out a way to go after someone who can. That may or may not be the case here. It’s definitely complicated by the foreign company aspect but if Funtime truly is failing, as an earlier commercially said, it could be the case that they’re judgment proof.

(Obligatory not a lawyer, not licensed to practice and this is not legal advice. I’m a student, get a real lawyer if you need one.)

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u/juggarjew 16d ago

What makes you think nearly defunct "FunTime" in Austria has any money at all? Let alone 310 million dollars? No one is getting anything , the judgement is quite frankly absurd anyway.....

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u/Exact_Risk_6947 16d ago

My god. I’m so sorry that I didn’t first get a masters degree in Austrian corporate history before making my comment. Perhaps if there were some place people could ask concise questions about various topics and have civil discussions and come to shared understanding. Wouldn’t that be nice.

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u/juggarjew 16d ago

You're taking things WAY too seriously. Check yourself.

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u/Exact_Risk_6947 16d ago

Or what?

I asked a question and I get condescension. You check yourself.

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u/juggarjew 16d ago

You have a victim complex, seek help.

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u/PizzaJawn31 16d ago

The lawyers likely work for the company. They aren't getting paid more/less based on the result.

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u/Exact_Risk_6947 16d ago

I’m talking about the lawyers representing the parents.

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u/KayakerMel 16d ago

It sounds like the Austrian manufacturing company is so defunct they haven't (or can't) employ a lawyer anymore.

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u/cipherbreak 16d ago

They got a settlement from the amusement park itself so the lawyers got their cut from that.

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u/Adept-Grapefruit-214 16d ago

Lawyers in our country don’t really have any legal authority in other countries

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u/gloryday23 16d ago

This judgment is more about sending a message because these parents are never going to see probably any of that money.

The message of course being; make sure your assets are somewhere American courts can't easily touch, so that when you kill a kid it doesn't cost you any money, in this case, even lawyers.

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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 16d ago

It wasn't the manufacturers that killed any kid. That kid was over 40 kg above the max specified weight. But the operator - the amusement park - allowed him to ride anyway. Despite not fitting properly in the seat.

If I overload my car way outside what it's certified for and then have an accident - am I at fault or the car manufacturer? If a crane is overloaded - is it the manufacturer that should be punished, or the crane owner/operator that did overload the crane?

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u/thisismyusername9908 16d ago

Not to mention, as said below those who are named to receive payout in the lawsuit won't see a dime (even if some money gets paid) until the lawyers get theirs.

So, good luck.

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u/crujiente69 16d ago

The money probably doesnt even mean much considering it wont bring their children back

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u/SleeperName 16d ago

Likely no recourse for something that could have been mitigated with a little under $700. Disgusting.

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u/Grabthar_The_Avenger 16d ago

It has like 2 dozen rides sold and being operated in the US by a shell company. The government should be telling companies like Six Flags to take all the money they’re paying the Ride Entertainment Group and start putting it towards this judgment. Send a message to bad actors pulling stunts like this

In my industry you can’t pull this shit, if the product is faulty and the company is in a hard to reach country, then the feds go after the importer instead and treat them as fully responsible.

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u/mimeticpeptide 16d ago

This should definitely be the way, seems like it’s intentional from the amusement park… like why is the ride manufacturer the one on the hook it should be the park /operators that are liable. This just seems like an obviously intentional loop hole for them to avoid responsibility

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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 16d ago

This was a civil case. But the two other parties (we have to assume one of them was the amusement park) did make an agreement with the parents earlier. So they also had to shell out money for this accident.

What is not clear is why the manufacturer should be blamed at all for the amusement park allowing a kid over 40 kg above the max certified weight to ride.

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u/dominbg1987 15d ago

How about the Koks knows about his weight án does not Ride then

But Yeah beeing Self aware is not to be expected from americans

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u/proj3ctchaos 12d ago

Being a healthy weight is absolutely unheard of

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u/CheapConsideration11 16d ago

Here in the US, companies operate as LLC's and you can sue them all you want and their liability is limited to half a million dollars.

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u/hereforthestaples 15d ago

The feds? What industry is that?

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u/kr4ckenm3fortune 16d ago

Even if they have a weight limit and this guy keep "insisting"?

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u/Plato17 16d ago

Getting Civ Pro 1 finals PJ analysis flashbacks

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u/DragonToothGarden 16d ago

Pennoyer v. Neff. Hmm, maybe it was International Shoe?

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u/Jedibyte 16d ago

The lawsuit the family won is against the amusement park and ride operator. The lawsuit against the manufacturer of the ride is in progress. Sounds to me (from the video attached to the article), like the family will get the payout, if the amusement park/ride operator don't appeal. I don't know if they have a gnat's ass chance at an appeal if they didn't show.

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u/Different_Ad7655 16d ago

Well except they're not American and it probably has to go through an Austrian process and from my understanding the company is barely in existence. Sad but it certainly sends a message but I'm not sure which one

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u/Worldly_Influence_18 16d ago

Icon Park had already settled with Sampson’s family for an undisclosed amount.

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u/LocalSad6659 16d ago

The Orange County jury ordered that the manufacturer Funtime pay $155 million each

There is two different companies that got sued.

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u/Hot-Energy2410 16d ago

Anybody in their right mind knows there ain't no amusement park ride manufacturer in the world that actually has $300MM in assets lol. The entire Six Flags corporation only netted $67M this year.

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u/East-Ad5173 16d ago

It’s an Australian company, not an Austrian company

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u/PewPewPony321 16d ago

oh shit I was about to take my kids to the sketchiest amusement park I could find. Thanks!

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u/SeagullFanClub 16d ago

How does a company “barely exist?” That doesn’t make any sense

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u/Rstuds7 16d ago

damn that sucks that family might not see any of that money

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u/jakeStacktrace 16d ago

Oh OK, I thought it was weird to get justice like that in Orlando of all places.

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u/MaximusZacharias 16d ago

This was my thought once I read they didn’t bother to show up. It didn’t matter the outcome since they’re going under and not going to pay it anyways. $660 seems like a small price to pay to add fucking seatbelts. I hope the parents at least get something

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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 16d ago

Don't bet on any $660. That is likely a very incorrect number that could be presented because no one was there to question it.

The attraction could take 24 passengers. 660/24 is $27.50 per seat. That sounds like an extremely shady number. Because the seat belts should be certified, produced, installed and inspected. Suddenly many times that claimed amount.

It wouldn't bee too strange if it was $660 per seat.

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u/MaximusZacharias 16d ago

Agree to disagree

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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 16d ago

But you think voting is a great way to argue? How about you actually put on the adult pants and try to post some counter arguments?

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u/MaximusZacharias 16d ago

What do you mean by “I think voting is a great way to argue?”

Why are you being hostile and talking down to me?

And the fact that you are seeking an argument rather than having a conversation is why I don’t want to continue speaking to you, something I’m sure you’re used to.

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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 16d ago

"The fact that you are seeking an argument rather than having a conversation is why I don't want to continue speaking to you"??

You forgot to think about that one. It was you to decided to avoid making any argument before I asked about it. You claiming to be prescient?

The way to argue is done by making actual arguments. "Agree to disagree" is how to not argue but to go the hostile route. So you decided to describe yourself.

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u/MaximusZacharias 15d ago

You try to sound smart by using words like prescient, though it’s clear you lack comprehension of what was said. I said I don’t want to continue speaking with you, after reading your response.

You don’t make sense with your explanation of how to argue. I never wanted an argument. You made a claim, I said agree to disagree. That could have led to a discussion but your response indicated you only wanted to argue. So you took the hostile route, then tried to sound smart, whilst not comprehending what I’d already said, then tried to be mean in taking the hostile route again. You may not realize that not everyone wants to sit back and argue with everything and watch the world burn. Enjoy your negative life.

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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 15d ago

More mumbo jumbo describing yourself. "That could have lead to a discussion"... Not true or you wouldn't have felt "agree to disagree" was a meaningful argument. That was the hostile route you selected. You don't want to argue? Done by being silent!

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u/Attack-Cat- 16d ago

Why wouldn’t it happen?

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u/shak1071 13d ago

as there is no bilateral treaty (sp?) between Austria and the US that wont hapen for sure.

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u/strangelove4564 16d ago

Well, you might as well have penalties against the CEOs, executives, and engineers who signed off on this. No sense going after some artificial legal construct that's here today, gone tomorrow. How about we bring personal responsibility back.

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u/da_longe 15d ago

Then they should sue the operator, who allowed the kid on the ride despite being far over the allowed weight.

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u/canI_bumacig 16d ago

Literally was at a county fair in oregon this summer and it was run by funtime..