| Office of Information and Public Affairs | Washington, DC 20207 |
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | |
| January 27, 1981 | |
| Release # 81-004 |
WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 27, 1981) -- The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Marriott Corporation today announced that a civil penalty action against Marriott has been settled in the amount of $70,000. The action involved the company's alleged failure to report to CPSC accidents and other information about Marriott amusement rides which indicated possible product hazards at Marriott's Great America amusement parks in Santa Clara, California and Gurnee, Illinois.
The settlement, which relates solely to CPSC charges that Marriott failed to meet these reporting requirements, concludes one of the first civil penalty actions brought against an owner of amusement park rides for failure to report possible product hazards.
Last August, after modifications made by Marriott to the "Willard's Whizzer" ride at the Great America park in Santa Clara (near San Jose) where an accident occurred on March 29, 1980, the CPSC staff inspected the ride and identified no safety defects. The same modifications were made on the "Willard's Whizzer" ride at the Great America Park in Gurnee (near Chicago).
As part of the settlement, Marriott agreed to begin making regular reports to CPSC during the next two years regarding the safety of amusement rides the company owns or operates. Marriott also agreed to withdraw a lawsuit it has brought in U.S. District Court in San Francisco which alleges that the Commission does not have any jurisdiction over amusement park rides.
The company took these actions without conceding to the jurisdiction of CPSC or to any violation involving the reporting requirements under the Consumer Product Safety Act.
The law permits the Commission to seek civil penalties of as much as $500,000 from a company which fails to report promptly to CPSC a defect which could create a substantial product hazard.