‘These lawsuits almost never work’: Oregon rodeo patrons sue after getting trampled by bull named ‘Party Bus’

At a rodeo in Oregon recently, a bull named “Party Bus” jumped out of the ring, into the crowd, and injured several patrons throughout the fairgrounds, prompting a new $9.25 million lawsuit against the event organizers.

KIRO host Spike O’Neill and fill-in host Mike Lewis broke down the incident itself and how legal action is likely to play out, weighing who could win or if they’ll settle.

“It’s horrifying, but the bull made its way through the general fairgrounds into the concession area, eventually injuring several people,” Spike said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

Why the so-called ‘baseball rule’ may not protect rodeo organizers this time

The complaint stated event organizers didn’t provide the safety protocols and safety requirements they had promised. Patrons are suing for damages, personal suffering, and pain.

Lewis mentioned there are certain disclaimers included with the purchase of any ticket for freak accidents exactly like this, but there may be a loophole that could help the patrons’ case in this instance.

“If you buy a ticket, take a look at it. It has a disclaimer in it,” Lewis said. “When you walk into a baseball stadium, any stadium, there is a disclaimer that they are not assuming any liability. Now, will this stand up in court? Generally, federal courts have something they literally refer to as the baseball rule. It’s that you’ve assumed a level of liability to flying balls and bats, as long as the stadium is taking the basic level of precaution.

“Those lawsuits almost never work,” he continued. “In this one, this was interesting because what doesn’t happen to a bat or ball that maybe goes into the crowd, is that the baseball doesn’t travel out of the stadium and hit someone working in Pioneer Square. This bull got out of the ring. That bull got far enough away to the concessions area outside of the arena that those people probably do have a claim. They did not buy a ticket that said they’re going to be watching bulls, they bought a ticket that said, ‘Hey, go buy a burger.'”

Lewis further noted that if the complainants do have a legitimate case, the lawsuit will likely end in a settlement to prevent any systemic changes throughout rodeos across the U.S.

“The argument is going to be essentially, were these fences, which are largely successful in rodeos, were these fences actually adequate?” Lewis asked. “It’s going to be interesting because I think that is where they’re going to push to see if those are actually adequate. My guess also is that there’s going to be some pressure on the organization to find a way to settle it.

“They don’t want to have to change the standards, because that’s going to mean every rodeo arena in the United States, if this is a successful lawsuit about adequate protections, it’s going to mean every arena is going to have to follow those same things,” he continued. “My guess is there’s going to be some pressure to get this thing settled, and not have to change the standards.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3