Adventureland lawsuit trial postponed to June 2025, nearly 4 years after child's drowning
A civil trial over a fatal accident on an Adventureland water ride has been pushed back to June 2025, almost four years after the tragedy occurred.
Michael Jaramillo, 11, of Marion was fatally injured when a raft in the Altoona park's Raging River ride overturned on July 3, 2021. His family, several of whom also were injured, have sued the park's then-owners, the state of Iowa, and several companies involved in the design and maintenance of the ride. It since has been permanently shuttered by Palace Entertainment, which bought Adventureland from its founding owners, the Krantz family, the December after the accident.
The Jaramillos' lawsuit, which seeks damages of more than $107 million, has been pending since June 2022, and the trial date already had been postponed once to October 2024.
In May, attorneys for Adventureland, its employees and the Krantzes asked for the court to push it back again. In court filings, they describe the case as a "behemoth" involving 15 parties, scores of depositions and tens of thousands of pages of evidence, much of which remains to be completed before trial. The defendants asked the court to "recognize the reality of this situation" and postpone the trial by at least six months.
From 2021: Michael Jaramillo funeral: Boy killed on Adventureland ride remembered for joy he brought others
Attorneys for the Jaramillos opposed the request, arguing in court filings that the defendants "have failed to pursue this case diligently" and that the trial should remain as scheduled "so that (the Jaramillos) can finally receive needed closure related to this horrific incident." They accused the defendants of lying to the court to excuse their own delays in conducting depositions.
In a June 17 order, Judge Paul Scott sided with Adventureland, finding that the delay "does not grow out of the fault of the defendants" and that a continuance was necessary. He ordered a new trial date be set for June 2, 2025.
Scott, who has presided over the case since the beginning, had previously ordered the trial to take place in Scott County, but notes in the latest order that it may be appropriate to return the case to Polk County. The case will soon be assigned to another judge as part of a routine judicial rotation, and Scott said it will be up to the eventual trial judge to decide which venue is proper.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa amusement park death lawsuit trial pushed back to June 2025
