Judge rules state, inspector can be sued over death of boy on Adventureland ride

A Polk County judge has denied a motion to dismiss the state of Iowa and a state ride inspector from a lawsuit filed by the family of an 11-year-old Marion boy who died when an Adventureland ride malfunctioned.

Michael Jaramillo died at a hospital after the raft he and his family boarded on the Raging River ride overturned as they visited the park on July 3, 2021. They were celebrating the 16th birthday of his older brother, David, who was critically injured in the accident.

In June 2022 the Jaramillo family sued Adventureland's then-owner, Adventure Lands of America Inc., which in turn was owned by the Krantz family of Des Moines. Michael Krantz and other senior managers were named as individual defendants. The Krantzes sold the Altoona park to another company in late 2021.

The state and ride inspector Bruno Burriola were added as defendants in April. The amended suit alleged that the state and Burriola were negligent in failing to reasonably inspect Raging River, including its weirs, rafts and a new control system. The lawsuit alleged that Burriola and the state improperly issued Adventureland an operating sticker for the ride even though it posed a danger to the public.

Burriola physically inspected the Raging River rafts in June 2021 and "visually inspected them" on July 2, 2021, giving the ride clearance to open following the installation of a new control panel. In his inspection report, Burriola approved not only to the ride's physical condition but its emergency and operator training procedures, "written or otherwise."

But a June 2022 state report found that Adventureland was in violation of 17 safety standards for the ride the day of the accident, including using parts not approved by the ride's manufacturer to replace the weirs that guide the rafts and failing to test repaired rafts.

The state also found the park used Flex Seal, a product marketed primarily through TV infomercials, rather than approved patches, to fix leaks in rafts' flotation bladders. A state report said the Jaramillo raft after the accident had a deflated bladder despite a repair earlier in the day.

Attorneys for Burriola and the state in the request for dismissal from the lawsuit argued that inspections involve some discretion and that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear claims involving the state's discretionary power to inspect amusement park rides. They also sought dismissal under the public duty doctrine, which they said holds that rides are inspected for the public at large and that no duty is owed to individual riders.

"Where a statute’s purpose is to alleviate risk to the public at large, the public duty doctrine eliminates the liability of the municipality (or here, the State) for its negligent officers and employees," wrote attorneys Ryan Sheahan and Samantha Wagner.

But Polk County Judge Paul Scott ruled Tuesday that attorneys representing the Jaramillo family provided enough evidence to support a valid negligence claim, which would not be barred by the public duty doctrine.

"The applicability of this doctrine to the instant case presents a debatable issue that requires further factual development; it is not one where there is no viable claim in which relief could be granted," Scott wrote.

The state retains immunity for claims brought by private individuals in certain situations, Scott wrote, but it had failed to notice more than a dozen safety violations on the ride the day before the accident.

"Based on the arguments of the parties, this court believes that the plaintiffs have also provided sufficient evidence to support a negligence claim that is not protected by sovereign immunity," Scott wrote.

Bill Lentz, general manager of Adventureland for new owner Palace Entertainment, announced in February that Raging River, closed since the accident, would not reopen because of safety concerns.

Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: State of Iowa can be sued by family of child who died at Adventureland