Sesame Place Sold the Shoes, Ignored the Ban: $995,200 Verdict for Waterslide Ankle Fracture

On May 30, 2011, Onix Agosto Jr., 21, visited Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pennsylvania with his family. He wore rubber aquatic shoes, the kind sold in the park's own gift shop and promoted on the Sesame Place website. Nothing at the ride entrance told him to take them off.

Agosto slid down the Bert and Ernie serpentine waterslide. About 24 feet in, he hit a right-hand turn. The rubber tread of his left shoe caught on the outer wall of the channel. His lower leg stopped; the rest of his body kept going. The result was an immediate, severe twisting injury: a comminuted bimalleolar fracture-dislocation of the left ankle.

The injury required open reduction and internal fixation, with a plate and multiple screws placed to stabilize the joint. Agosto then completed more than 130 physical therapy sessions. In February 2012 surgeons removed three of the screws. A year after that, a third operation addressed osteochondral damage that had developed in the ankle joint.

Robert T. Szostak of Reiff and Bily (now The Reiff Law Firm) argued that Sesame Place created the hazard through its own conduct. The park sold rubber aquatic shoes on the premises and recommended them on its website, yet those shoes are precisely the footwear that ASTM standards on amusement rides and waterslide systems require parks to ban from slides. An amusement-park safety expert testified that rubber soles act as a brake on a waterslide, altering the friction dynamics in ways that dramatically increase the chance of a catch-and-twist injury. The park's own employee training materials, drawn from the American Red Cross Lifeguarding Manual, stated that aqua socks and aqua shoes are prohibited on waterslides. The rule existed; Sesame Place simply did not enforce or post it.

The defense argued that Agosto bore responsibility for wearing the shoes. The jury agreed in part, apportioning 32 percent of fault to him. The remaining 68 percent went to Sesame Place and its parent, SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment LLC. On a gross verdict of $995,200, that division reduces the recoverable damages to approximately $676,700, consistent with news coverage at the time that placed the net award at nearly $700,000.