Fire Ball ride manufacturer may be protected by obscure Ohio law

The attorneys representing the victims of the Ohio State Fair ride malfunction are finding out that justice may be much harder to achieve than they thought. One major hurdle standing in their way is an Ohio law stating that the manufacturer or supplier of a product is not to be held accountable for product-liability claims if made more than 10 years after the product has been delivered, reports The Dispatch.

In other words, if a product turns defective after 10 years of delivery, the manufacturer cannot be sued.

It’s called “tort-reform” and attorneys Michael Rourke and Mark Kitrick (the former representing a woman whose legs were shattered in the ride malfunction, the latter representing the young man that died) have found that since the Fire Ball ride was built in 1998, the manufacturer, KMG, appears to be protected.

Since the timeline has passed where the manufacturer would be held accountable for failures, sources in The Dispatch suggest a more appropriate party to look to for blame is the ride owner/operator: Amusements of America.

Click here for more coverage of the ride malfunction and the victims.

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