Water Park Visitors Sue: No Day At The Beach
Patrice Walsh (Ontario County, NY) 10/18/05 - A day at the park turned out to be anything but for hundreds of Rochester-area families who were among the thousands sickened after visiting the spray park at Seneca Lake this summer.
Toni Lynn Van Bramer remembers telling her four-year-old son Joshua not to drink the water at the spray park when they visited in August. A week later, both of them were sick with gastrointestinal symptoms.
Van Bramer said, "It ruined the rest of the summer...it took us two and a half to three weeks before we felt normal...I was afraid to take him anywhere to make anybody else sick."
Tim Springer was the only one in his family who did not go to the spray park at the end of July, but he wound up the sickest.
He said, "One by one [my family] started getting sick."
Springer ended up spending five days in the hospital, missing two weeks of work and losing 12 pounds after his wife and three children passed the illness to him.
He said the pain was so intense that, "I was in the fetal position in the hospital--on morphine."
Class Action Lawsuit
Tim and Toni Lynn are among the hundreds from Rochester who reported illnesses linked to the spray park. They are part of a planned class-action lawsuit against the state.
Attorney Paul Nunes said, "We think the facts will show this is a simple case of negligence."
Officials at the state attorney general's office had no comment on the legal action.
The park was closed down after the illnesses were reported.
State health department workers found that the water was contaminated with a parasite, but have not determined how the contamination occurred.
New Regulations In The Works
Spencer said this case isn't about money, it's about accountability.
"There's no amount of money you could give me," he said, "I wouldn't want to go through that again."
The concern now is future safety of similar spray parks. The state health department is working on new regulations for spray parks including one that requires parks to use ultraviolet light technology to kill parasites in the water.
Those specific regulations will be released at the end of November.
Those named in the suit are asking for money for pain and suffering, lost time from work, and doctors' and hospital visits.
Only those who contact attorneys can be part of any class action case.
