The Ring of Fire! What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Are you kidding me??!! Watch the video in the news report below and then ask your students who has liability?

The Lions Club sponsors a Country Fair in Berlin, Connecticut.  One of the hired "acts" is something (a company? a voluntary association?) called Xtreme Team Bullriders (it may or may not be these folks). One of the "shows" is called the Ring of Fire. Contestants pay $20 each to get into a ring marked out in chalk while a live bull is released into the arena.  The last one standing in the ring wins $100.  What could possibly go wrong? Let's just say it involves use of a Life Star helicopter and an ambulance.

Read the news report and see the video, here.

Note the comments of the Lion's Club public safety representative at the end of the report. Does the Lion's Club have any responsibility?  The report notes that the contestants signed waivers. Fortunately for the injured parties, the State of Connecticut courts have ruled that liability waivers that purport to insulate a party for its own negligence violate public policy and are unenforceable.

Here is a video of the same "game" played elsewhere:



Johnny Cash with a saner "Ring of Fire."