Roland v. Langlois

945 F.2d 956 (7th Cir. 1991)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P attended a carnival. The Zipper is a ride where passengers sit in tubs that spin and travel around a boom while the boom itself makes 360-degree rotations. When horizontal, the boom is over twenty feet off the ground. When fully vertical, it extends fifty-five feet into the sky. The Spider, another ride, is only sixteen feet high--much closer to the ground; its passengers ride in spinning buckets that attach to arms emanating from a common hub. The operational areas of the Zipper and the Spider were enclosed by metal fencing. The setup formed a barrier to patrons who otherwise might have walked between the rides. The Zipper was anchored by a flatbed trailer that extended back onto the grass lawn in front of the library. It connected at that point to a green plastic fence that cordoned off and protected the library lawn from damage by the patrons. The east side of the library fence abutted a portion of the Spider's perimeter fencing. The two fences were not connected, creating a narrow 'passageway.' Still farther east, another fence extended south toward the Spider's perimeter fencing. It stopped three to four feet short of contact. No signs or barriers warned patrons that this was a restricted area. P took a path where he could enter the Zipper's operational area from the rear and cut through to the midway, where a queue of potential riders waited to board the Zipper. D, the Zipper's foreman and the person responsible for setting up the fencing, assumed that no one would approach the ride from the rear and had, therefore, failed to secure one of the rear sections. P entered the Zipper's operational area and, after taking a few steps, stood directly underneath the 'large dangerous machine.' The Zipper, which was in full rotation, could not be brought to a quick halt; while moving toward a vertical position, it struck P in the head. P now suffers from organic brain syndrome, continues on medication to control his seizures, and, to this day, does not remember what happened that fated evening. Ps sued D, D's employer, the sponsor and organizer of the festival, and the property owner who provided the security and crowd control. (We put the description of the area into the case so you can see why it was necessary to present a model of how the area was set up.) Ds introduced a life-size model of the area to demonstrate what had happened. The court allowed it over Ps’ objection. The verdict went in favor of Ds and Ps appealed.