UPDATE 5:08 p.m
ORLANDO, Fla. — The jury came back just after 5:00 p.m. and awarded Tyre Sampson’s family more than $300 million in the civil lawsuit over the teen’s death in 2022.
The family and attorneys are expected to hold a press conference outside the Orange County courthouse to speak about the verdict.
WFTV reporter Nick Papantonis is at the courthouse. We will update this story as soon as the press conference is over.
Original Story
A wrongful death civil trial began Thursday over the death of 14-year-old Tyre Sampson.
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The 14-year-old died two years ago after he fell from a drop tower ride at ICON Park in Orlando.
Sampson’s family has already settled with other parties, but now a civil suit is focused on the ride maker, claiming negligence.
Sampson fell to his death from the ride in March 2022. The ride was taken down last year.
Read: Family remembers Tyre Sampson 1 year after his death on the Orlando FreeFall ride
A state investigation found that his seat was manually adjusted to fit his size, and there were also no seatbelts on the ride.
The family settled their lawsuits against ICON Park and the ride’s operators in March 2023 but not against the ride’s foreign manufacturers.
The manufacturer is the “FUNTIME’' company, based in Austria.
The company that built the ride and their attorneys didn’t show up for court on Thursday.
This is what’s called a default case.
They just stopped participating earlier in the process.
Read: Report: Orlando FreeFall’s operator made manual adjustments to ride that made it unsafe
The judge has already decided the Austrian company is liable for negligence.
This is the one company that didn’t settle with the family of Tyre Sampson before we got to the trial phase.
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So, the jury’s job is to decide how much the family is owed so they can go after the company’s insurance.
Channel 9 expects both parents and one of Sampson’s brothers to testify on Thursday.
See more in the video above.
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