Attorneys for the parents of 14-year-old Tyre Sampson are gearing up for a legal showdown in Austin, moving to stop a new drop tower planned for COTALAND before it ever carries a rider. Their argument is blunt and personal: the same manufacturer tied to their son’s fatal fall in Orlando should not be allowed to build a similar attraction in Texas.
Family lawyer Michael Haggard says he plans to record the Florida judgment in Texas, then ask a court for an injunction that would block the Funtime-built tower from being constructed or opened. The looming court fight comes as COTALAND pushes toward finishing its slate of rides beside Circuit of the Americas.
The legal push was first reported locally by KXAN, which outlined the family’s plan to file in Texas. Local reporting says the strategy centers on whether a foreign manufacturer that was found negligent in Florida can be stopped from putting up the same type of ride at a U.S. park.
What happened in Orlando
A civil jury in Orange County found the ride’s Austrian maker negligent and ordered roughly $310 million in damages to Sampson’s parents, a verdict that now fuels the family’s effort to keep the company out of Austin. According to The Associated Press, the manufacturer did not appear at trial, and the family will now have to try to collect through European courts…