A lawsuit was filed in the 2017 'Fire Ball' tragedy at the Ohio State Fair. The suit alleges Fire Ball manufacturer, KMG, designed a defective product and knew about it at least five years before the deadly malfunction. Attorney Mike Rourke, who represents Fire Ball victim, Tamica Dunlap, says the most significant part of the lawsuit is a letter outlining the defect in 2012
Rourke says the Fire Ball was defective when it left KMG’s hands more than 20 years ago, and KMG designed a product that had a reservoir in which water couldn’t escape causing corrosion. “But more importantly, they realized it in 2012 and if you connect the dots a little bit more, KMG totally changed the design of the gondola arms in 2013 to eliminate this defect," said Rourke. "Yet for whatever reason, we’re going to find out they didn’t notify any other owners.”
Rourke points to a letter dated January 23, 2012 from a KMG engineer to a ride company in Canada. He says the letter outlines the very defect that caused the disaster on day one of the Ohio State Fair two years ago. “What it does make clear they inspected the Fire Ball ride in Canada (and) identified the corrosion problem that was affecting the wall thickness,” said Rourke. Rourke says to his knowledge, Amusements of America wasn’t notified and neither were 50 plus owners of Fire Ball or similar designed machines. “Had they sent this same letter out to all of the owners and alerted them this could happen in all of our portable especially Fire Ball models, I don’t see how this (the 2017 Fire Ball tragedy) ever would have happened,” said Rourke. Rourke says to this day, KMG has never reached out to do right by the victims.
Rourke says fraudulent concealment of a defect is one basis of their lawsuit. The lawsuit is being filed in New Jersey. Rourke says it’s one way he can try to hold the company accountable because it ships products there and did business with Amusements of America which owned the Fire Ball. Source
Rourke says the Fire Ball was defective when it left KMG’s hands more than 20 years ago, and KMG designed a product that had a reservoir in which water couldn’t escape causing corrosion. “But more importantly, they realized it in 2012 and if you connect the dots a little bit more, KMG totally changed the design of the gondola arms in 2013 to eliminate this defect," said Rourke. "Yet for whatever reason, we’re going to find out they didn’t notify any other owners.”
Rourke points to a letter dated January 23, 2012 from a KMG engineer to a ride company in Canada. He says the letter outlines the very defect that caused the disaster on day one of the Ohio State Fair two years ago. “What it does make clear they inspected the Fire Ball ride in Canada (and) identified the corrosion problem that was affecting the wall thickness,” said Rourke. Rourke says to his knowledge, Amusements of America wasn’t notified and neither were 50 plus owners of Fire Ball or similar designed machines. “Had they sent this same letter out to all of the owners and alerted them this could happen in all of our portable especially Fire Ball models, I don’t see how this (the 2017 Fire Ball tragedy) ever would have happened,” said Rourke. Rourke says to this day, KMG has never reached out to do right by the victims.
Rourke says fraudulent concealment of a defect is one basis of their lawsuit. The lawsuit is being filed in New Jersey. Rourke says it’s one way he can try to hold the company accountable because it ships products there and did business with Amusements of America which owned the Fire Ball. Source
