Does Groth Get the Belle Isle’s Giant Slide Issue?
In this episode of Groth Gets it! from Groth Law Accident Injury Attorneys, Jon talks with attorney Mitch and paralegal Danyel about Belle Isle’s Giant Slide. We compare it to the Wisconsin State Fair’s giant slide and who is negligent in the operation of the giant slide if someone is injured.
Transcript:
Jon Groth:
This is an impromptu recording, here. This is going to be, I think, awesome. But maybe it’s just me, John Groth, with Groth Law Firm, and let’s see if Groth gets it in this regard. We’re talking about the Belle Isle Giant Slide it’s in Detroit, by the Detroit or in, I’ll say, the Detroit River. And you have not seen this, Mitch?
Mitch:
I have not.
Jon Groth:
Danielle?
Danielle:
Nope.
Jon Groth:
All right, so we have a giant slide, right?
Mitch:
Correct. State Fair.
Jon Groth:
Not Groth Law Firm, but state fair in Wisconsin has a giant slide. When is the last time you were down the giant slide, Mitch?
Mitch:
Probably about seven years ago, maybe.
Jon Groth:
Really?
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
Seven years ago? That’s a long time.
Mitch:
It’s been a while, maybe more. Maybe like 10.
Jon Groth:
Wow. Danielle, when was the last time you were down the giant slide?
Danielle:
Probably about 10, 12 years ago.
Jon Groth:
Okay. You went with your kids, I’m assuming?
Danielle:
Yes. Yes.
Jon Groth:
Okay. Mitch, did you go with any friends, was it just you, you and a girlfriend or?
Mitch:
Probably friends.
Jon Groth:
Friends?
Mitch:
Probably friends, yeah.
Jon Groth:
Was it out of control? What kind of experience did you have at the Wisconsin State Fair Giant Slide? It’s a yellow slide, right? My memory’s right, is it yellow and green?
Mitch:
It’s yellow, I think. Yellow, green.
Danielle:
Green, yeah.
Mitch:
Packers colors.
Danielle:
Right.
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
Mitch, what kind of experience?
Mitch:
I remember going as a kid, and then thinking it was really wild and crazy and scary, and then I went back a little bit older, and obviously, it wasn’t as crazy, but it still gave you a little bit of a gut rush. So, it’s fun.
Jon Groth:
Yeah. A little like your stomach-
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
Is going to raise up into your throat kind of thing, right?
Mitch:
Mm-hmm.
Danielle:
Right.
Mitch:
Gut rush. I guess I haven’t called it a gut rush, but that-
Jon Groth:
I made that up on the spot.
Mitch:
There you go. You’re a wordsmith. There you go.
Jon Groth:
Danielle, what was your experience at the Wisconsin State Fair Giant Slide?
Danielle:
It was fun. I didn’t find it, what did you say, if it’s gut?
Mitch:
Gut rush.
Danielle:
Gut rush. I didn’t get a gut rush, but I had kids on my lap, so maybe that makes a difference.
Jon Groth:
Wow, yeah, that’s true.
Mitch:
Slowing down by the kids.
Danielle:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
I think, yeah. I went with my kids not too long ago. It wasn’t this year, maybe the last year. It was not fast, which is good. It was, I think, fun. I think the kids, some went faster, some went slower, depending on weight. I think that’s how it works. But you have those bags that you go into, right? Where you-
Danielle:
No. I was on a carpet.
Mitch:
I’ve done, yeah.
Jon Groth:
A carpet? You’re on the carpet.
Danielle:
Right.
Jon Groth:
But I don’t think it’s carpet. I think it’s a gunny sack.
Mitch:
I don’t know what it is, but you’re on top of it. You’re not… It’s not something you go inside of.
Jon Groth:
Yeah, okay. I think I’m thinking of, I think at the Bell Isle Giant Slide, I think they put their legs inside of it. Ours, we set on top of that kind of device.
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
Interesting. All right, so you have to watch these videos and then let me know what your legal expertise is on this, and let’s see how it goes. So this is from the news media.
Mitch:
Oh.
Danielle:
Okay. That’s like a broken back waiting to happen.
Mitch:
That looks fun.
Danielle:
Yeah, but the way they’re landing.
Jon Groth:
I think that’s the issue. And I, immediately, thought whiplash. It’s like, holy cow.
Danielle:
Whiplash, but landing on that tailbone back.
Mitch:
And for the listeners, it says, “Giant Slide reopens.”
Jon Groth:
Correct.
Mitch:
So they closed it down, and then they brought it back.
Jon Groth:
Oh, my.
Mitch:
And it’s still ridiculous.
Jon Groth:
So it was on The Today Show. Here, this one here, look at this video. Yeah. That’s nuts. So I guess the point of this is, it’s run by the DNR. So this is what I think is interesting, this is the legal aspect of this whole thing. It’s run by the Department of Natural Resources in Michigan. They were talking about how it was going too fast, that there wasn’t enough friction, so when people were going down it and they leaned backwards for some reason, and I’m not a physics guy so I don’t understand why this is the case, maybe somebody can tell us someday, that if you lean backwards, you go faster, and they were zipping down and then getting air and going all caddy wompus, or however you want to say it. And we’re falling down and hats were getting thrown and things like that.
Jon Groth:
So the Michigan DNR came in, closed it down because they were worried about injury, and then they reopened it with, I guess, the protocol of they’re encouraging people to stand up straight or sorry, sit up straight. I apologize. Sit up straight, and they were watering it down so it creates more friction. So when you’re going down, it, you’re not just full speed ahead, that there is some friction created on what it looks like it’s a metal, it’s just pure metal, stainless steel. Whereas, I think the difference between our giant slide in that giant slide is ours has that yellow paint which, I’m assuming, creates more friction, and then you’re going slower.
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
I don’t know.
Danielle:
Well, I don’t think ours has those, the, what do you call it, the indent, indentation, there. I don’t think ours.
Jon Groth:
We do.
Danielle:
No, I know, but I don’t think ours is severe.
Mitch:
Steep. Yeah, steep.
Danielle:
As steep. When you… That one, that guy came down. I don’t think it’s as steep going like this.
Mitch:
Yeah. No. And theirs look like-
Jon Groth:
Yeah, I think you’re right. That looks-
Danielle:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
There’s a lot of different grooves.
Danielle:
They get it right off the right off the first one, they’re getting airborne.
Mitch:
And that guy did a flip at the end.
Jon Groth:
Yeah. So my point with watching this and the whole legal aspect, I immediately thought, what legal terminology would you have spotted with this? And this is kind of issue spotting back in law school, when you look at that video, what do you think about with causes of action or defenses or things like that if this was in Wisconsin?
Mitch:
Yeah. I don’t know. Just general negligence by creating that.
Jon Groth:
I think.
Danielle:
And I agree with Mitch. Just negligent to create something like that.
Jon Groth:
But what about right? Well then, okay, that’s on the plaintiff side. What about the defense side is recreational immunity, because that’s what I thought, and then contributory negligence, because you’re getting on it. Is there a release on the ticket? I didn’t know. I’m not sure if they even sell tickets, but if they sell tickets, is there a release that says, “you are going to risk a life and limb if you get on this giant slide, therefore ,you can’t go after us.” I don’t know.
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
But the recreational immunity thing got me because in Wisconsin, if you’re just enjoying the outdoors, for example, and you’re walking on a path and you fall and you injure yourself, there’s a thing that’s creates an immunity for the land owner, the manager, because of that statute and decades upon decades of case law. So there’s that, which I think is interesting, and then when they said the DNR, then my thought is, is that sovereign immunity?
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
Because sovereign immunity, then, precludes or prohibits or stops somebody from going after a municipality or a state based on the state has the ability to protect themselves and create certain loopholes, I’ll call that, that you have to jump through in order to have a cause of action, a proper cause of action against that governmental entity.
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
So sovereign immunity, recreational immunity, contributory negligence, what’s contributory negligence, Danielle or Mitch?
Danielle:
Well, you’re responsible for, you’re a certain percent responsible for yourself, for your actions.
Jon Groth:
And it’s not mitigation of damages, but yeah, just the whole contributory negligence that if you look up there and you go, holy cow, those people are flying. That looks dangerous. I think don’t you, then, doesn’t common sense, and isn’t that what the law is supposed to be based on, in part, is common sense? Say that you are, in part, contributorily negligent because you saw the danger and you proceeded with your eyes closed.
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
I don’t know.
Mitch:
Assumption of risk, you assume the risk when you go up there and you see that maybe it’s dangerous.
Jon Groth:
Yeah.
Mitch:
Reasonable person would think that I could get injured, watching people do this.
Jon Groth:
Yeah. So the giant slide at Belle Isle in the Detroit River by Detroit, and it’s a brand spanking new video that was on, I think we were talking before, I think it was on TikTok last week, and then has gotten millions upon millions of views because people are flailing and flying through the air as they go on the slide. So again, my lawyer mind, as soon as I saw the video, and that’s why we’re doing this, as soon as I saw the video, it’s like, okay, if somebody called me about this and this happened in Wisconsin, what would I do?
Jon Groth:
And it’s interesting because I immediately go back to law school, and I forget who my professor was, but one of the first, maybe the first week, talking about issue spotting and looking at what’s there, and are you able to identify what the different causes of action are and then what are the defenses, and then going through that process, figure out is this a case that we would be willing to help somebody out with, and would we be able to recover for the person’s medical bills if they were injured because of a terrible Belle Isle type slide injury in Wisconsin? I don’t know. Would you take the case? I’m not sure.
Mitch:
No.
Jon Groth:
No? You would not?
Mitch:
Especially when you see the DNR’s involved, so you know it’s, I’m sure they’ve looked into their liability, potential liability with something like this.
Jon Groth:
You’re giving a lot of credit to the, no offense to our DNR friends, but-
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
You’re giving a lot of credit to human beings and I’m very skeptical of any human being that they’re doing the right thing or that they haven’t got it through the system in a way that may have been negligent, slip, slip. What’s that way of saying it? When you say-
Danielle:
No idea.
Mitch:
I have no idea.
Jon Groth:
To do something half. When you do something halfway. Slipshod. Is that right? Yeah. Slip shot. S-L-I-P-S-H-O-D: typically of a person or method of work characterized by a lack of care, thought or organization. Look at that. I am a walking-
Danielle:
Dictionary?
Jon Groth:
No. Thesaurus. I think I’m a walk-
Danielle:
Oh. Thesaurus.
Jon Groth:
I think I’m a thesaurus, right? Because I was going to say, “negligence.” It is negligence, but it’s also a slipshod way of doing things. That should be our word for the week. We should put that in all of our demand packages and letters. Somehow put the word slipshod into all the demands to insurance companies.
Mitch:
I like that.
Jon Groth:
Slipshod.
Mitch:
Do it.
Jon Groth:
We have to use it once a day, all week.
Danielle:
Okay.
Jon Groth:
Remind me on Thursday during our firm meeting that we’ll talk about something being slipshod.
Mitch:
We will.
Jon Groth:
You will?
Danielle:
Okay.
Jon Groth:
We’ll do it.
Danielle:
Yes.
Jon Groth:
Good.
Mitch:
Yeah. So the other concern, then, with contributory negligence and all those immunizations and sovereign immunity and such are caps, that if it is a governmental entity, then the government says that yeah, we might be negligent, but even if we are negligent, if you can prove we’re negligent, you’re going to be limited in getting a recovery from us because we’re the government, and we can prohibit you from getting more than what we want you to get. So even if you were to recover money from us, it might only be $50,000 if it’s a property type case, or 250 if it’s a vehicle type case or things like that.
Mitch:
So that’s a whole nother layer of problem in this situation. Are you limited by those caps?
Jon Groth:
Yeah.
Mitch:
I don’t know.
Jon Groth:
And what’s the other thing, what do you have to do within 120 days for governmental entity cases?
Danielle:
Put them on notice.
Jon Groth:
What’s it called?
Danielle:
Notice-
Mitch:
Notice of circumstance.
Jon Groth:
Notice of circumstances of claim, and then thereafter, you have to file a what?
Danielle:
Notice of-
Mitch:
Claim.
Danielle:
Claim.
Mitch:
Or notice of injury. Yeah.
Jon Groth:
Yeah. And the notice of circumstances is just telling the governmental entity, hey-
Mitch:
This happened.
Jon Groth:
This happened. And then the Notice of Claim does what?
Mitch:
It tells them how they were injured and it makes a demand.
Jon Groth:
Yeah.
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
So then you have that other hurdle to get over that you have to do that within a certain period of time. I know there are law firms that won’t even take governmental entity cases because if you don’t file that within 120 days, you’re on the hook as an attorney for blowing the statute of limitations, right?
Mitch:
Mm-hmm.
Jon Groth:
Because in essence, you’ve prohibited your client from recovering.
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
It’s crazy. Interesting stuff. Belle Isle Giant Slide and the state fair giant slide. Are there other giant slides in Wisconsin? You know of any?
Mitch:
I got to assume there are, but I don’t know of any.
Jon Groth:
I can’t think of any. Danielle?
Danielle:
I can’t think of any.
Jon Groth:
You go up to Door County once in a while, are there any up there? Not that-
Danielle:
No. Because the only park up there is the one in Green Bay, and they don’t have that.
Jon Groth:
At Bay Park?
Danielle:
Yeah. Bay Park.
Jon Groth:
Sorry, at bay beach. At bay beach?
Danielle:
They don’t have a slide.
Jon Groth:
They have the Zippin Pippin. Zippin Pippin was whose favorite? I don’t know if this is his favorite, I think it was his favorite. Who’s favorite rollercoaster was the Zippin Pippin?
Mitch:
Scotty Pippen.
Jon Groth:
Oh good guess, but no. Elvis Presley.
Danielle:
Oh.
Jon Groth:
I think that’s right. Is that right? Elvis Presley liked the Zippin Pippin? I think he owned it and then they disassembled it and brought it over to Bay Beach, and now it’s in Green Bay.
Mitch:
Really?
Jon Groth:
Yeah.
Mitch:
But I agree with you. I don’t think there’s any slide. There aren’t any slides at Bay Beach or in the Green Bay area that I can think of.
Danielle:
Is there any at Six… None of the Six Flags have them, either, I don’t think.
Mitch:
No. I don’t think so.
Danielle:
No.
Jon Groth:
So in the Midwest, are the only two giant slides the Wisconsin State Fair Giant Slide and the Belle Isle Detroit area Giant Slide?
Mitch:
That’s a question for the listeners.
Jon Groth:
That’s a question for the listeners. Let’s put this on social media and get some responses.
Mitch:
Yeah.
Jon Groth:
Some interaction. Cool. All right, so now we’ve done issue spotting, we’ve identified what concerns you have to be aware of when you’re looking at these kind of cases as they come in. So this is more like a podcast for our other friendly attorneys, as they’re looking over these cases and what should they do, and do they want to refer it over to Groth Law Firm to see if Groth gets it. So they’re going to look at this and see what elements of a cause of action may be met, and whether it’s going to be a viable claim.
Mitch:
Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree. All right.
Jon Groth:
All right. Thank you very much for letting me pull you in here so we can record this. This is always very fascinating. Danielle, thank you, Mitch, thank you.
Mitch:
Thank you.
Danielle:
You’re welcome.