An Austin law firm says a European roller coaster builder took it for a ride.
Hawxhurst LLP filed suit in federal court against International Amusement Rides, an engineer of water park and roller coaster rides with headquarters in Lichtenstein, and an associated domestic company called Intamin Ltd. for breach of contract, alleging an unpaid legal bill of $1.5 million.
“We got the clients fabulous results and they simply don’t want to pay,” Gerald Hawxhurst, a partner in the firm, said in an email.
As of last week, Intamin had not been served with the lawsuit so his allegations went unrebuffed.
“We cannot comment,” said Sandor Kernacs, president of Glen Burnie, Md.,-based Intamin.
The fabulous result Hawxhurst says it got for its former client stems from a series of legal actions over a “major amusement park project” Intamin built in 2022 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Two Florida-based roller coaster design companies, US Thrillrides LLC and Polercoaster LLC, had attempted to force arbitration over the park, saying Intamin and International Amusements stole their designs and the Dubai job. In its filing, Hawxhurst LLP said the two companies wanted $40 million.
Theme parks are a $150 billion global industry annually; $28 billion of that business is in the U.S. and it is growing internationally. Six Flags Entertainment Corp., which has parks in San Antonio and Arlington, just licensed its name and management to a park in Qiddiya City, Saudi Arabia, owned by the sovereign wealth fund there. Intamin has had a long relationship with Six Flags and built one of the rides at the Saudi park that opened last month — a 4,300-meter behemoth boasting the “tallest,” “fastest,” and “longest” adjectives — called Falcons Flight.
The Dubai job Intamin built is called The Storm Coaster at the Dubai Hills Mall. The ride shoots patrons vertically in what is called a polercoaster design, providing a rollercoaster experience in a fraction of the footprint.
US Thrillrides said in its lawsuit that it, through Polercoaster LLC, owned the design and intellectual property, that they shared it with International Amusements to manufacture for a U.S. project and that International Amusements and Intamin turned around and sold it as its own.
Court documents said US Thrillrides had been given the design job in Dubai but it was abruptly terminated and later learned Intamin had been given the job.
Intamin’s Falcons Flight travels at 155 mph. Litigation does not.
US Thrillrides attempted to take Intamin to arbitration in 2020 and ultimately sued for breach of contract over nondisclosure agreement violations and copyright infringement. The case went to a jury trial at a federal court in Florida five years later. Hawxhurst LLP represented Intamin throughout.
US Thrillrides won a jury verdict of about $3.5 million. The companies settled shortly after for an undisclosed amount rather than continue in the appeals process.
Hawxhurst said it is owed more than $1.5 million plus interest for its work in the multiple legal actions, some dating back to the 2020 request for arbitration it successfully quashed.