THE BALLOON MAN

Shrine Circus stuntman injured in 2012 fall files lawsuit against Saginaw County, circus organizers

 

 

Josh Headford competes during the Sick Air competition at the Berlin Fair in July 2011. Headford was injured during a motorcycle stunt in February in Saginaw.

from: MLIVE.COM

By Andy Hoag

on March 26, 2013

SAGINAW, MI — A stuntman injured after a 25-foot fall during a February 2012 motocross bike act at the Shrine Circus at The Dow Event Center has filed a lawsuit against circus organizers and Saginaw County.

Josh Headford in July filed the complaint in Saginaw County Circuit Court, claiming that Elf Khurafeh Shrine Temple, event venue management group SMG, and the county, among other entities, were careless and failed to protect him during his Feb. 5 jump at the circus.

Headford, who according to the lawsuit “shattered” his right elbow and right femur, suffered multiple rib fractures, and fractured his scapula and right wrist in the fall, is seeking in excess of $25,000 from the entities — a figure required to have the case placed in Circuit Court.

The case, assigned to Saginaw County Circuit Judge Darnell Jackson, has had dozens of filings since Headford first filed the lawsuit. A case evaluation is to be scheduled after June 21.

Headford's lawsuit states that he was injured when his motorcycle “came into contact with a performer's cable midway through his jump:"

"The performer's cable had been placed directly in Mr. Headford's airspace, creating the existence of a dangerous and hazardous condition,” the lawsuit states.

Responses from the county, SMG, and Elf Khurafeh state that those entities had no role in the incident and that the crash was the fault of either other, possibly unnamed, parties or Headford himself, or both.

Headford claims that “it was the duty of the defendants, by the agents and employees acting on (their) behalf, to exercise reasonable care and caution in and about the maintenance and management of (the circus) premises and to keep the same in a reasonable safe condition for those performers like (Headford).”

The defendants, Headford continues, “owed business invitees ... an affirmative duty to protect (them) from an unreasonable risk of harm.”

Headford states that he “jumped without incident in (the) same exact area on eight prior occasions during that weekend.

read more:

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2013/03/shrine_circus_stuntman_injured.html