Gibbstown parents sues Great Adventure over ride

CAMDEN – A Gloucester County couple contends their daughter had to hang on for her life when a seat belt broke on a roller coaster ride at Six Flags Great Adventure.

The child suffered “severe and permanent” injuries in the September 2015 accident on a ride known as El Diablo, Serafin and Margaret Alesiani of Gibbstown say in a lawsuit.

The couple sued Great Adventure last month in Superior Court in Woodbury. The suit was moved to federal court in Camden, where an attorney for the park requested its dismissal Friday.

According to the suit, Margaret Alesiani and her daughter, Rachel, were patrons at the Jackson Township park when the girl rode El Diablo around noon.

More: Great Adventure invites campers to sleep 'to the lullaby of lions'

More: South Jersey mom causes stir in Utah

More: Footlong appeal comes up short for Evesham law firm

More: Instagram photos lead to confession in South Jersey bank heist

The suit alleges the girl buckled her lap belt, and that no employee checked the restraint prior to the start of the ride.

The lap belt “spontaneously disengaged” shortly into the ride, causing the girl “to struggle to hold onto the shoulder bar in order to keep her body in the seat,” the suit alleges.

The park’s website describes El Diablo as a “seven story tall looping steel coaster.”

It says specially designed seats "bolt up and back the looped track like a pendulum, higher and higher until you’re suspended completely upside down in mid-air!”

When the ride ended, the girl told Margaret Alesiani about the defective belt, and the mother alerted ride attendants, the suit says.

“The ride attendants instructed the next group of riders, who had been seated and were waiting for the ride to begin, to exit off the ride,” says the suit filed by attorney Donna Casasanto of Springfield, Pa.

The attendants then examined the belt where the girl had been seated and “closed the ride for technical difficulties,” the suit asserts.

It contends Rachel Alesiani suffered multiple strains and sprains described as “serious” and “permanent,” as well as “a severe shock to her emotional, psychological and nervous systems.”

The suit does not give the child's age. The family's attorney could not be reached for comment.

The suit seeks unspecified damages for Great Adventure’s alleged “recklessness, carelessness and negligence.”

In a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, a lawyer for Great Adventure argued Friday the family had missed a legal deadline to give a required notice to the amusement park.

Attorney Heather Eichenbaum of Philadelphia also argued the park can't face claims for a defective product or “failure to warn” because it was the buyer of the belt, and not its manufacturer.

Among other points, she asserted the family’s claims of emotional distress were “factually unsupported.”

However, Eichenbaum noted the girl's parents "are free to, and certainly will, proceed with a negligence action."



Jim Walsh; (856) 486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com