Personal Injury Law

Victim?s Family Mulls Lawsuit After SeaWorld Whale Attack

By guest-writer

A gruesome whale attack last year at a popular Orlando, Florida theme park left one woman dead and a crowd of onlookers horrified. Today, the legal consequences of the incident have begun to take shape.

Last February, Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old animal trainer at SeaWorld, was pulled into an exhibition pool by one of the park?s killer whales. According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, she died from drowning and traumatic injuries inflicted by the six-ton killer whale.

Immediately after the attack, Brancheau?s family worked in concert with SeaWorld to prevent tapes of the incident from being released to the public. In addition, the two sides seemed to be willing to cooperate while they waited for an investigation of the incident.

However, recent findings by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) suggest that SeaWorld may have been partially responsible for the incident, and reports indicate that Brancheau?s family may soon file an animal attack lawsuit.

After an extensive six-month investigation, OSHA cited SeaWorld for three safety violations. In the most severe blow for the theme park, the agency found that SeaWorld frequently exposed its employees to potential attacks by killer whales without having proper safeguards in place.

The failure to have proper safeguards to prevent personal injury was deemed ?willful? by OSHA, which is the most severe category of violation, reserved for the worst workplace safety violations.

In addition, OSHA criticized the water park for exposing Brancheau to Tilikum, the whale who attacked her, because the offending whale was more than twice the size of similar animals at the park and was known to have ?aggressive tendencies.?

Even worse, sources indicate that Tilikum was involved in another drowning incident 20 years ago at a Canadian park. Perhaps proving that its aid was too little too late, the agency proposed a relatively meager $75,000 fine for the violations.

While Dawn Brancheau?s family weighs the merits of filing a personal injury lawsuit, one New Hampshire family has filed a lawsuit of their own.

In the wake of OSHA?s findings, Suzanne and Todd Connell filed a lawsuit against SeaWorld, claiming that their ten-year-old son suffered severe emotional distress from witnessing the killer whale attack last year.

According to reports, the Connells? lawsuit paints a negative picture of SeaWorld?s response to the whale attack, claiming that there ?seemed to be no plan as to what to do to save Dawn? and that the park?s ?employees were acting in an unorganized and chaotic manner.?

Wrongful death lawsuits come in all shapes and sizes. If you have a loved one who suffered an untimely death as a result of someone else?s negligent behavior, contact a local attorney to learn more about your legal rights.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on September 20, 2010 (boomark / email).