CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Andre Lagomarsino delivering his opening statement
Los Angeles, CA - A California state court jury heard opening statements Friday in a lawsuit claiming a roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain caused a girl’s traumatic brain injury, and the trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
An attorney for plaintiff Talia Wise told the Los Angeles County jury he would seek unspecified “millions” of dollars in damages for a head injury that supposedly occurred in 2015, when Talia was 13-years-old, on the Green Lantern roller coaster.
Wise maintains the ride caused a concussion with long-term consequences she continues to struggle with, but Six Flags denies all liability, arguing Wise did not actually suffer a brain injury on the ride.
The Green Lantern, which attracted thrill-seekers with the draw of spinning seats for riders, closed in 2019.
Andre Lagomarsino of Lagomarsino Law, representing Wise, told jurors during his opening statement that the Green Lantern caused passengers’ heads to snap violently back and forth, which he argued posed a risk of brain injury.
He claimed Talia immediately experienced symptoms of head trauma like nausea and weakness after riding the Green Lantern, and that the psychological and emotional impact of the concussion she allegedly sustained will affect her for the rest of her life.
He accused Six Flags of failing to adequately test the Green Lantern’s design and of cutting corners to get the approval of safety regulators prior to the ride’s opening, and he noted 44 prior first aid treatment records of Green Lantern riders complaining of head symptoms prior to Wise’s incident.
“Magic Mountain took no action to assess or correct what was happening to cause these riders to hurt their heads,” Lagomarsino told the jury, according to CVN’s webcast of the trial.
Representing Six Flags, Sanaz Cherazaie of Amaro Baldwin LLP told jurors the Green Lantern did not subject riders to g-forces sufficient to cause the type of head injury Wise describes, and that Wise did not suffer a brain injury on the roller coaster at all.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Sanaz Cherazaie delivering her opening statement
She noted that specialists at the University of Miami retained by Wise’s lawyers failed to find any evidence of a brain injury, and described how Wise has lived a “productive” life since the incident, including gaining admission to several colleges.
Cherazaie attributed any physical symptoms the day Wise rode the Green Lantern to dehydration and suggested her ongoing emotional difficulties are the result of psychological problems and not an underlying brain injury.
“Plaintiffs own doctors testified that plaintiff is not brain-injured, and that her symptoms are not related to a concussion on the Green Lantern rollercoaster.”
The trial is taking place before Judge J. Stephen Czuleger.
The case is captioned Talia Wise v. Six Flags, et al., case number BC679307 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com