ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 SeaWorld Orlando has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed in October by a guest who claimed she was maimed by a duck while riding a roller coaster earlier this year.<\/p>\n
The rider, Hillary Martin, claims she was injured by a duck while riding Mako in March, with her lawsuit stating she suffered permanent injuries and seeks more than $50,000 in damages<\/p>\n
Martin\u2019s lawsuit accuses SeaWorld Orlando of \u201ccreating a zone of danger\u201d due to Mako\u2019s speed and close proximity to a body of water, what she claims increased the risk of bird strikes. <\/p>\n
[WATCH BELOW: Rider maimed by duck on roller coaster at SeaWorld Orlando, lawsuit says]<\/p>\n
SeaWorld Orlando responded within several weeks, filing a motion to dismiss Martin\u2019s lawsuit on Nov. 19, stating that Martin actually encountered a wild migratory snowy egret, not a duck.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis matter does not and has never involved a duck,\u201d the motion states. \u201cAccordingly, Martin\u2019s allegations that she encountered a \u2018duck\u2019 while experiencing Sea World\u2019s Mako coaster are no longer true or factual, nor are such allegations actionable against Sea World.\u201d<\/p>\n
SeaWorld Orlando further argued that Martin allegedly refused day-of medical transport \u2014 \u201csaying that she wanted to keep going in the park and did not want to be held up any longer,\u201d the motion states \u2014 and waited until the next day before seeking medical treatment.<\/p>\n
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it\u2019s FREE)<\/a> | PINIT! Share your photos<\/a>] <\/p>\n SeaWorld Orlando goes on to say it could still \u201cassume (Martin\u2019s) allegations that she encountered a \u2018duck\u2019 are true,\u201d largely because \u201cFlorida law simply does not create legal responsibility for a wild animal\u2019s actions, unless the premises owner has brought the wild animal into its possession, harbored the animal, or actually introduced the animal to the locality.\u201d<\/p>\n Responding to Martin\u2019s claim that SeaWorld Orlando created a \u201czone of danger\u201d with Mako, the theme park argues it did not fail to keep the premises under control nor fail to warn of a condition because \u201cno duty is owed to Martin for the actions of a wild and migratory animal,\u201d adding she makes no mention that the duck was \u201cvisible, observable, or known to Sea World\u201d before the coaster set off.<\/p>\n 16. (…) The Plaintiff\u2019s Complaint attempts to turn general risk into specific foreseeability without the legal ability to do so.<\/p>\n 17. Martin\u2019s Complaint simply cannot support a reasonable inference on its face that the presence of a body of water and a coaster created a foreseeable \u201czone of risk\u201d encompassing the random flight of a wild, migratory \u201cduck\u201d far removed from that location. The duck\u2019s presence in the air, away from the alleged water source, negates any plausible relationship between Sea World\u2019s premises and Plaintiff\u2019s alleged injury. Martin\u2019s event, by its own description, could have occurred regardless of the presence or absence of any body of water within the park and it still would not have been Sea World\u2019s legal responsibility.<\/p>\n (…)<\/p>\n 28. (…) The presence of water \u201cnear\u201d the coaster does not render a random aerial bird strike reasonably foreseeable as a matter of law.<\/p>\n “Sea World’s motion to dismiss for Martin’s failure to state a legally supported cause of action” pgs. 7, 10, 11 (excerpts)<\/p>\n SeaWorld Orlando\u2019s motion asks that the lawsuit be dismissed with prejudice, as well as that Martin gets the bill.<\/p>\n The request will be heard in court on Monday, Dec. 8.<\/p>\n [VIDEO: Justice Department probes SeaWorld, Busch Gardens]<\/p>\n In the Loop: Theme Park Scoops<\/p>\n More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 SeaWorld Orlando has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed in October by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1335,139,141,140,2043,9026,2546,2411],"class_list":{"0":"post-71497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-orange-county","9":"tag-orlando","10":"tag-orlando-headlines","11":"tag-orlando-news","12":"tag-seaworld","13":"tag-seaworld-orlando","14":"tag-strange-florida","15":"tag-theme-parks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}