Flowrider Lawsuit

[bouhunter]

Who would have thought, you might get hurt on something like that........:rolleyes:

 

http://flarecord.com/stories/511074307-man-blames-royal-caribbean-cruises-for-injuries

[rbschultz]

Who would have thought, you might get hurt on something like that........:rolleyes:

 

http://flarecord.com/stories/511074307-man-blames-royal-caribbean-cruises-for-injuries

 

lol that guys gonna have a whole lot of fun against Royal's attorneys

[Biker19]

Hmm....I wonder what was modified on the Flowrider and which ship.

[odicious]

He probably claimed it was modified as a way to try to get past that "waiver" you have to sign. The question really is does that waiver really prevent RCCL from liability or not. If it holds up in a court challenge then the lawsuit will be tossed.

[mollyeilis]

Waivers like that pretty much never keep companies safe. They just keep them safe from those who think the waivers mean anything.

 

 

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[FireStation46]

Anyone can sue for anything or anyone in the USA. If we had a legal system like the UK where the looser of a suit not only pays their cost to bring the suit but has to pay the winner for their costs in defense of the suit, silly stuff like this goes away, business costs go down and you cost for the product goes down.

Edited January 20, 2017 by FireStation46

[troykahack]

Anyone can sue for anything or anyone in the USA. If we had a legal system like the UK where the looser of a suit not only pays their cost to bring the suit but has to pay the winner for their costs in defense of the suit, silly stuff like this goes away, business costs go down and you cost for the product goes down.

 

Most of our Government is run by lawyers who are politicians. They would never adopt such a code as much as most of us would love change.

[paggs]

I believe many years past that SCOTUS ruled that had you known you would have truly been injured you would have never signed the waiver thus making the waiver of liability a voidable document. Waivers appear to settle the problems with the people who think they mean something, but don't totally removed the issuer from liability. But as said earlier, anyone can sue for anything and it's frequently cheaper to settle than litigate.

[A&L_Ont]

I wonder how it was modified? Every wave is slightly different even if they are the same model, and any partially skilled rider knows this. Perhaps this individual should have quit while they were ahead. ;)

[Janet524]

Filing a lawsuit...Isn't that a national pasttime?:rolleyes:

[ColoradoGurl]

How does one modify a flowrider?

 

 

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[Freehike]

How does one modify a flowrider?

 

 

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Apparently you fit them with a swimsuit remover option.

 

It's amazing how many people lose them on those things.

 

 

 

 

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[ColoradoGurl]

Anyone can sue for anything or anyone in the USA. If we had a legal system like the UK where the looser of a suit not only pays their cost to bring the suit but has to pay the winner for their costs in defense of the suit, silly stuff like this goes away, business costs go down and you cost for the product goes down.

 

 

Losing parties in a lawsuit are often ordered to pay the winning party's lawyer bills.

 

Also, waivers do not protect a company from lawsuits regarding negligence. If someone can prove RC did something negligent with modifying the flowrider then the waiver won't keep RC from being sued. That leads me to my original question, how does one modify a flowrider?

 

 

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[Fouremco]

Losing parties in a lawsuit are often ordered to pay the winning party's lawyer bills.

 

Also, waivers do not protect a company from lawsuits regarding negligence. If someone can prove RC did something negligent with modifying the flowrider then the waiver won't keep RC from being sued. That leads me to my original question, how does one modify a flowrider?

 

 

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Increase the water flow rate.

[bouhunter]

You should see the waiver that's signed for skydiving. Talk about a lot of small print! I figured what the hell, if this goes wrong I won't be around to worry about no waiver:D

[ColoradoGurl]

Increase the water flow rate.

 

 

Hmmm, I guess. I think it would be hard to argue negligence for turning up the water flow, unless RC personally took apart the components and rigged it up to have more water flow than it was designed to have, kind of like when you take out the low flow thing in shower heads to make the water more powerful (which I doubt).

 

It's possible the person operating it turned it up to a higher level than the rider was capable of handling, but even then, I think it would be hard to prove that the water flow rate was dangerous, because if it was, it probably wouldn't be made with the ability to turn it up that high/fast. Of course it's also possible this person could win the lawsuit, forcing the company who makes the flowriders to max out the water flow rate to a beginner level, taking away the draw for a lot of people. Lawsuits is why we can't have nice things, haha.

 

 

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[A&L_Ont]

Losing parties in a lawsuit are often ordered to pay the winning party's lawyer bills.

 

Also, waivers do not protect a company from lawsuits regarding negligence. If someone can prove RC did something negligent with modifying the flowrider then the waiver won't keep RC from being sued. That leads me to my original question, how does one modify a flowrider?

 

 

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Perhaps/possibly by putting in an over or undersized pump increasing or decreasing the water flow.

 

But really the chances of anyone doing that are slim. In reality unless something platently obvious was changed this is hard to prove. There will be enough variances within manufactures specs to run within safe realms, it will be hard to prove it was modified.

[Ken Greco]

If you watch it enough you know when people fall off the board sometimes they go flying off to the top of the flow rider and slam into the wall. Does this mean that everyone that has fallen and sent to the top have the right to sue RCCL? Bull. If you know the rider is dangerous do not try it.

[Fouremco]

A quick search shows that there have been quite a few suits against RCI over injuries received on the Flowrider. On the question of modification, the Federal court has already denied RCI's motion to dismiss. The case is ongoing:

 

This Order from the Federal Court in the Southern District of Florida denies Defendant Royal Caribbean’s motion to dismiss the Plaintiff’s claim under a theory of strict products liability. The Plaintiff was injured while riding Royal Caribbean’s Flow Rider, a surfing simulator onboard the Oasis of the Seas.The Plaintiff claimed that since Royal Caribbean had modified its Flow Rider to fit on the Oasis of the Seas, Royal could be held liable as if it were a manufacturer of the product.Royal Caribbean Argued that it could not be held liable under a theory of products liability. In this Order, the court has sided with the Plaintiff’s argument and denied Royal Caribbean’s motion to dismiss.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

If you watch it enough you know when people fall off the board sometimes they go flying off to the top of the flow rider and slam into the wall. Does this mean that everyone that has fallen and sent to the top have the right to sue RCCL? Bull. If you know the rider is dangerous do not try it.

Yes. Everyone that has fallen has the right to sue. Same with everyone who never fell. Same with anyone who never even rode. Anyone can sue for anything. Whether they win is a different story.

[Newbcruiser1]

I'm curious about said "modification"! I gotta admit I used the Flowrider a few times on the Independence back in the spring and the water flow seemed higher than usual! I had trouble walking close enough to the edge of the "wave" at the top and kept getting slammed to the back without even getting down onto the board - and cracked a rib in the process from the water hitting the board into my side.

 

Nonetheless, I didn't sue RCI. Maybe it's the fact I knew I wasn't very athletic going into it... or my Canadian niceness! [emoji6]

 

 

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[uksimonusa]

I seem to remember when Freedom first came out, it was stated somewhere, that the Flowrider has been modified in size, made slightly smaller, to fit onto the ship. The modification was done by the manufacturer and not RCI as I recall.

[PCHENG]

Can't comment without looking at the complaint or the alleged "modifications", but even with a waiver, the company must still show its conduct was reasonable and proper

Edited January 20, 2017 by PCHENG

[CleverFirst]

EVERYONE SPREADING IGNORANCE by saying "suing companies is a national pasttime" and "people are money hungry and just want a buck" Please educate yourselves. Companies are sometimes wrong, sometimes a lot of times, before someone calls them on it and forces them to appropriately handle their mistake and take responsibility.

 

[FireStation46]

It is gravity as the troublemaker! Who do we sue? Newton? God? People not raised in a bubble?