A judge recently ruled that Garfield County will remain the venue for a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a 6-year-old girl who was a passenger in the Haunted Mine Drop at then-Glenwood Cavern Adventure Park and died after riding her bike unrestrained. and falling more than 100 feet.

Lawyers for the girl’s parents, Estifanos Dagne and Rahel Estifanos, who are suing the amusement park and attraction organizers, argued for the venue to be changed to Pitkin County in a motion filed June 5. This motion was rejected; However, the written pleadings that follow are open records in the case. A hearing date has not been set.

In his seven-page decision dated Oct. 15, District Court Judge John F. Neiley wrote that the change-of-venue claim lacks sufficient evidence and substance to show that the plaintiffs would have suffered an unfair trial due to biased jurors in Garfield County. The judge was unconvinced by the motion’s arguments that the outcome of the case would be in the hands of biased jurors influenced by the park’s community connections and goodwill and previous publicity surrounding the event, the ruling said.

Neiley’s order said biased jurors would be weeded out during the jury selection process, known as voir dire.

“This court has conducted many jury trials in this County where crimes involving sexual assaults and murders were extensively publicized,” Neiley’s order said. “The level of public awareness in these cases was clearly more important than the publicity in this case. Likewise, the level of potential bias and prejudice was much higher than in this case due to the nature of the crimes. “An impartial jury was empaneled in each case.”

The tragedy was more than three years ago

Wongel Estifanos of Colorado Springs died while visiting Glenwood Cavern Adventure Park with friends and relatives over Labor Day weekend on Sept. 5, 2021, after riding unrestrained on the Haunted Mine Drop, which caused approximately 110 seated passengers to freefall. Within the feet of Iron Mountain.

It is indisputable that the buckles were undone. According to an accident investigation report released by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment on September 24, 2021, when the girl “was seated in the vehicle, operators did not realize that she was sitting on both seat belts. The ride’s control system prevented the operators from dispatching the ride, forcing them into the safety seat of Ms. Estifanos’ seat.” The operators took several wrong actions and reset the driving seat belt monitors, allowing them to dispatch the ride. Ms. Estifanos left her seat as she was not secured in the seat and fell to the bottom of the (Haunted Mine Fall) shaft, resulting in her death. “It was the result of numerous operator errors made worse by other factors.”

State investigators concluded that two amusement park employees who operated the Haunted Mine Drop facility at the time were not properly trained to prevent a preventable tragedy on the six-passenger ride. One employee was hired less than two months ago, on July 9, and trained on August 5; The second was hired on 21 August and underwent training on 22 August.

In February 2022, 9th Judicial District Attorney Jeff Cheney announced that prosecutors would not file criminal charges in the death because of the low likelihood of obtaining a manslaughter conviction finding that a person or entity was criminally negligent or criminally reckless in causing the girl’s death.

The amusement park, which opened in 1999, had operated the Haunted Mine Drop since 2017. The ride closed immediately after the incident and reopened in June 2023, renamed Crystal Tower, the Glenwood Post Independent reported.

The family first filed the unintentional death lawsuit against the amusement park and the company that owns the park in October 2021 in Denver County District Court. The case was assigned to Garfield County Court in February 2022 in response to a motion by the amusement park’s parent company, Glenwood Caverns Holdings, which argued: “The Complaint was filed in Denver County Court despite the fact that the accident occurred in Garfield County, the Defendant resides in Garfield County “Not a single incident as alleged occurred in Denver County, and Plaintiffs are not residents of Denver County.”

After the vehicle was moved to Garfield District Court, the case was filed against the two employees who operated the vehicle on the day of the accident and the vehicle’s manufacturer, Soaring Eagle Inc., who sold the vehicle to the park. was also added as a defendant. Soaring Eagle’s successor company, Altitude Rides and Attractions, was also named as a defendant. Soaring Eagle and Altitude currently face common law negligence claims in the case; Soaring Eagle also faces a product liability claim.

“Soaring Eagle designed and manufactured the Ride in approximately 2015.

Soaring Eagle sold the Ride to GCH/GCAP (amusement park and owner) in 2017. Following the sale, GCH/GCAP operated the Ride at the adventure park. In an unrelated decision dated January 24, Neiley stated that the Altitude was not available at the time of the design, manufacture and sale of the Ride. “Altitude was created in January 2020.”

Meanwhile, subsequent pleadings on the sealed motion to move the venue from Garfield County to Pitkin County laid out two arguments in the secret filing: first, that the girl’s family could not get a fair trial in a town that prides itself on entertainment and benefits financially. Park and two, the earlier announcement about the district attorney’s decision not to pursue criminal charges will affect civil grand juries back home.

Responding to allegations about the motion, attorneys for Glenwood Caverns Holdings and two employees said in a June 26 filing that the level of coverage surrounding Cheney’s decision not to file a lawsuit did not rise to the level of a change of venue: “The motion apparently expects that the jury pool goes back years.” Paradoxically, Colorado law does not warrant a change of venue for much more and current pre-trial publicity than this, even though the motion calls for the case to be moved to Pitkin County, and Garfield in the press about the Pitkin County charging decision. It received more coverage than the district. The file stated that the Front Range media actually gave more coverage to the incident than the local press.

He added: “Potential jurors are unlikely to remember the details and language of a single article in the Post Independent dated February 2, 2022 – assuming they read it for the first time – 875 days before this response was submitted – and never forget it.”

The parents’ attorneys opposed this in a July 5 filing: “In a small city, the relationship formed by a prominent local business that provides significant financial resources to the community creates stronger loyalty and prejudice than relationships with the local city government. This is because the business is in financial difficulty.” Their direct and tangible contributions, such as donating money to individuals, funding local organizations, sponsoring events, and providing jobs (directly and indirectly), have an immediate and personal impact on the lives of community members. As a result, the interests of the community are intertwined with the well-being of the business and the region. It makes it difficult for residents to remain impartial.”

The filing also included the results of a survey commissioned by the plaintiffs.

“The Caverns’ corporate presence and deep-rooted relationships built through its consistent contributions to individuals and organizations underscore its impact. With 83% of local residents recognizing the importance of the Caverns to the Glenwood Springs economy and 67% to the Garfield County economy, the potential for undue influence on jurors is quite likely. “The fear is compounded by the elected District Attorney’s letter to the public alleging that Glenwood Caverns did not commit a gross departure from the standard of care or recklessness, which are key issues for the jury in the civil case.”

Neiley was motionless.

“Leaving aside issues with plaintiffs’ survey, the court finds that it did not reveal anything about the potential bias or bias of prospective jurors in this case,” the ruling said. “What if we assume that 67 percent of respondents think the Glenwood caves are very or somewhat important to the Garfield County economy? The fact that people believe this does not result in any potential or actual prejudice against Plaintiffs.”

Dan Caplis Law Firm LLC in Greenwood Village and Dullin McQuinn Young LLP in Denver are representing the parents in the case. Denver-based Childs McCune LLC is defending the amusement park defendants and their employees.