South Carolina Child Injury Lawyer Blog

About a month ago, your Charleston personal injury lawyers discussed an awful accident involving a children's ride in Spartanburg's Cleveland Park. In March of this year a miniature train derailed and flipped into a ditch, and according to authorities, excessive speed was to blame for the accident that killed a 6-year-old boy and injured 28 others. This serious accident has prompted the South Carolina Labor Department to take a hard look at how our State's amusement rides are inspected, especially considering the State's safety inspector responsible for checking the ride admitted after the crash that he had falsified the report to approve the ride for operation because a dead battery prevented him from testing the ride. The weekend after the safety inspector cleared the ride that he never tested; it opened, derailed, and crashed on its first day of operation, the rest is horrific history. It should be noted that this particular inspector, in his more than three years of work, issued only a single violation.

Beginning September 1, 2011, the Department of Labor's Licensing and Regulation division will use outside contractors to review a multitude of amusement rides and thousands of elevators around the State. Of course, these outsourced inspectors are specially licensed to do such safety reviews and inspections. As it is now, inspections have been done by state employees, which translates to only one set of eyes looking over South Carolina's amusement rides and elevators. Authorities feel that having the outside contractors going behind the State's work will be beneficial in preventing, and hopefully one day eliminating, fatal accidents like the one in Spartanburg.

Continue reading "Miniature Train Accident Prompts South Carolina to Change Amusement Ride Inspections" »

Your Charleston child injury lawyers recently read an article that describes an incident involving large inflatable attractions, commonly referred to as "Jump Castles" or "Bounce Houses." These toys are popular and fun for kids, but can create headaches for states in terms of how to classify these products and how to regulate their use. It has come to the attention of your experienced lawyers at Howell and Christmas, LLC that these inflatable attractions can be dangerous to children if they are not properly installed and anchored to the ground, or if they are not diligently supervised by an operator.

A 2005 Consumer Product Safety Commission report linked the popularity of inflatable amusement products with an increasing number of injuries being received at emergency rooms between 1997 and 2004. The Commission, in its report, was able to identify 1,300 injuries in 1997 and 4,900 injuries in 2004, this being the most recent data available.

Furthermore, the Commission warns that operators of these products should strictly follow the manufacturer's requirements to securing and anchoring inflatables to the ground, as to prevent the inflatable from being blown away and causing serious injuries to children and/or parents. In addition, larger inflatables, such as slides, should have at least two operators keeping an eye on the attraction and its young users. The Commission strongly urges operators to pay special attention to weight limits, making sure they are not exceeded to prevent collapse of the attraction on users.

According to RideAccidents.com, a website that tracks amusement ride accidents, at least ten inflatable toy attractions have been toppled over by strong winds or have collapsed under exceeded weight limits in the last two months. These instances have caused over 40 people to be injured.

Continue reading "Incident Involving Run-Away Inflatable Attractions Initiates Discussion on Safety Concerns" »

Back in March of this year, your Charleston child injury and death attorneys remember hearing about, but not posting an entry on, a horrific accident involving a miniature train ride. The accident occurred in Spartanburg's Cleveland Park when the miniature train derailed and flipped into a ditch. Now, according to authorities, excessive speed was to blame for the accident that killed a 6-year-old boy and injured dozens of others.

Thanks to a video shot by one of the young passengers investigators were able to determine the mini train was traveling more than 20 mph, which is nearly three times the recommended speed for such a ride. One investigator and accident reconstruction specialist said, "Too Fast. That was the complete cause of the accident, just too fast."

But, the attorney for the train's operator says his client is not totally to blame for the fatal accident. According to the operator's attorney, the speedometer on the train wasn't working properly and his client was never informed that there was a maximum speed he was not to exceed, and for the cause of this accident to be solely operator error, his client would have had to do something he was told not to do. Furthermore, he claims the device intended to restrict the train to a safe speed was never set correctly.

Continue reading "New Developments in Spartanburg Miniature Train Accident that Killed One and Injured Dozens" »