The Hsinchu District Court on Thursday last week ruled against a woman who sought compensation from an amusement park after her daughter died of a stroke shortly after taking a ride in its free-fall drop tower.
In its verdict, the court said the Leofoo Village Theme Park does not owe the woman’s family compensation.
The ruling can still be appealed.
Photo: Screen grab from Leofoo Village Theme Park’s Web site
A woman surnamed Ouyang (歐陽) in 2022 reported feeling a headache, nausea and numbness in the extremities following a free-fall ride and was helped to the amusement park’s infirmary, the court said.
Ouyang lost consciousness within 1.5 hours of being admitted to the infirmary and was sent to Taoyuan Armed Forces General Hospital, where a scan revealed bleeding in her skull, it said.
She died two days after that, the court said.
Ouyang’s mother, surnamed Chan (詹), filed a NT$10 million (US$308,452) civil lawsuit against Leofoo Development Co, the company that owns the amusement park.
Chan said the park’s health warning — mentioning health risks to pregnant women and people with blood pressure issues — was insufficient, as her daughter did not have any of the conditions it mentioned, the court said.
The plaintiff also argued that the park did not have qualified medical care personnel on site and failed to send Ouyang to a hospital promptly, leading to her death, it said.
After consulting evidence supplied by the litigants, no scientific link could be found between Ouyang’s death and the free-fall experience, the court said.
Citing a medical report submitted by Taipei Veterans General Hospital, the last hospital to treat Ouyang, the court said doctors were not sure if the ride directly caused her death.
A medical study submitted by the plaintiff speculated that the sheer g-forces created by a roller coaster could pose cardiovascular risks, but it did not apply to free-fall rides, which generate g-force for a short duration only, it said.
The park records showed that only 15 people felt ill after taking the free-fall ride in 12 years, or an incident rate of three cases in every 1 million users, it said, adding that no death or serious injury has happened before.
The court did not find liable faults with the amusement park personnel’s handling of Ouyang’s medical emergency, which followed all established standards and procedures, it said.
The park provided multiple forms of text-based and audible instructions for guests to assume a safe posture to avoid whiplash and other injuries, meeting the standards stipulated by the Consumer Protection Act (消費者保護法), the verdict said.
The court rejected Chan’s allegations and found the amusement park to not be at fault.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS