SeaWorld Is Being Sued After A Bird Hit A Woman On A Roller Coaster. Why The Park Is Trying To Get Out Of It

Theme parks and lawsuits are two things that, unfortunately, go hand in hand. Anyplace where you have thousands of people rubbing up against each other, you’re going to have injuries, and lawsuits often follow those injuries. However, a suit against SeaWorld currently in front of a court in Florida is certainly one of the more unique we’ve seen, as is the park’s argument for why the case should be dismissed.

A Woman And A Bird Collided On A SeaWorld Roller Coaster

Roller coasters are designed to give riders the illusion of danger, but they’re not supposed to actually hurt anybody. However, Fox 35 in Orlando reports that a woman named Hillary Martin has sued SeaWorld Orlando, claiming that she was injured on the Mako, a roller coaster billed as the tallest, longest, and fastest in Orlando, after a duck hit her in the face during a ride in March.

The lawsuit, filed in October, claims Martin was initially knocked unconscious by the collision. It accuses SeaWorld of being negligent in not correcting what it should have known was a “dangerous situation.” The suit claims that having a high-speed ride near a body of water created a “zone of risk” that the park didn’t adequately deal with.

SeaWorld Takes Issue With The Type Of Bird

SeaWorld recently filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, however, with a somewhat interesting argument, which comes down to the fact that the bird in question was not a duck. According to SeaWorld’s motion to dismiss, the bird that Martin collided with wasn’t a duck, but actually a snowy egret. However, it ultimately doesn't matter what kind of bird it was, because either way, she collided with a wild bird, and SeaWorld says it should not be held liable for "a wild animal's actions," which the park could not possibly prevent.

Considering that so much of Central Florida was once swampland, wild animals of all sorts still call the area home. You have to be aware of the occasional snake in your theme park, and there are all sorts of birds in the area as well, though not as many mosquitoes as you might think.

Collisions with birds on roller coasters, while rare, are certainly not unheard of. Back in 1999, male model Fabio famously collided with a goose while riding Apollo's Chariot coaster at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia. The result bloodied his face, leading to a picture that is famous in roller coaster circles. Earlier this year, SeaWorld itself had another collision with a duck and a guest on a different roller coaster, the Pipeline. Injuries seemed to be limited to bruises for the person. The duck was not so lucky.

Earlier this year, we saw the most tragic result of a roller coaster injury when a guest died after riding Epic Universe's Stardust Racers. In that case, the attraction was found to be in working order. At this point, no lawsuit has been filed, but the family of the deceased has obtained legal counsel.

Going back to the case at hand, the judge is expected to rule on the motion to dismiss next week.