The Adventureland Lawsuit: Raging River Death and Settlement

The Adventureland wrongful death lawsuit ended in a confidential settlement on June 1, 2025, one day before jury selection was scheduled to begin in Polk County, Iowa. The Jaramillo family had sued Adventure Lands of America Inc. and its former CEO, Michael Krantz, over the July 3, 2021 drowning of 11-year-old Michael Jaramillo on the park’s Raging River ride. The dollar amount was not disclosed, and the court approved the agreement the following morning before jurors could be picked.¹

What Happened on the Raging River

Michael Jaramillo was riding the Raging River with five family members: his parents, Sabrina and David Jaramillo; two brothers; and an older cousin. The raft overturned during the ride, pinning passengers underneath. Michael and his older brother David, who turned 16 the next day, were held underwater by their seat belts.²

Michael drowned. His brother David spent about a month in the hospital, much of it in a medically induced coma. Their father suffered a partially broken shoulder and later required repeated surgeries on his shoulder and back.³ It was the second fatal incident on the ride in five years. A park worker had died in 2016 after falling onto the ride’s conveyor belt while helping riders in and out of rafts.⁴ Adventureland permanently closed the Raging River after Michael’s death.⁵

What the Lawsuit Alleged

The Jaramillo family sued Adventure Lands of America Inc., Krantz, and three park managers. The 55-page complaint described years of deferred maintenance, improvised repairs, and untrained staff on a ride that had operated since 1983.⁶

According to the complaint, the rafts were original 1983 equipment and had never been replaced, despite a manufacturer-recommended 10-year service life. The 1,700-pound raft that flipped had been pulled earlier that same day for bladder repairs and returned to service without proper testing. The park had replaced weirs (the guides that steer rafts through the water channel) with parts not approved by the manufacturer, Intamin Amusement Rides, and without required engineering review. Leaks in the rafts’ flotation bladders had been patched with Flex Seal, a consumer sealant.⁷⁶

The training allegations were sweeping. On the day of the accident, the ride was staffed by three employees who had never worked on or trained for the Raging River. Operators were unfamiliar with a newly installed and malfunctioning control panel. Workers doing bladder repairs had no maintenance training, and no one on duty had been trained in the ride’s emergency evacuation procedures.⁶

The emergency response, the complaint said, made things worse. Adventureland never called 911. Park employees were unaware of the accident when first responders arrived on their own. Gates were locked, evacuation routes were obstructed by a fireworks display, and no supervisors were on hand to direct rescue efforts. The lawsuit also alleged that the maintenance director disabled the park’s automated record-keeping system on the day of the incident, and that a safety inspection had been done from memory without a written checklist.⁶

An Iowa Division of Labor inspection after the accident identified 17 safety violations on the ride. The agency issued no fines, saying it lacked legal authority to do so.⁷

The family sought punitive damages, which under Iowa law require proof that defendants acted with willful and wanton disregard for safety.⁸

How Adventureland Defended the Case

Krantz and Adventure Lands denied the ride was improperly operated or insufficiently supervised. Court filings characterized the accident as the result of “a series of unexpected and intended factors” and emphasized that no raft had overturned in the ride’s 38 years of operation.⁹

Defense attorney Guy Cook called the death a “freak occurrence that could not have been anticipated” and said safety had always been the park’s top priority. He also pointed to state inspector Bruno Burriola, who had cleared the ride the day before the accident: if the violations were real, Cook argued, they existed when the state gave the ride its approval.¹⁰⁷

Cook tried to shift blame to a Texas-based company, Cryogenic Plastics Inc., filing a motion in Polk County District Court to name it as an additional defendant on claims that it failed to properly maintain the raft inflation bladders and failed to warn the park about potential risks. Cook also moved to have Krantz and other senior managers dismissed for insufficient evidence of personal liability. In October 2022, District Court Judge Heather Lauber rejected that argument and kept the managers in the case.¹⁰

The Separate Claim Against the State of Iowa

The Jaramillo family also filed a $98 million claim against the State of Iowa, arguing that inspector Burriola’s July 2, 2021 sign-off missed the ride’s safety problems and directly caused the family’s losses. The family alleged that Burriola’s report failed to mention significant modifications to the ride, including replacement of the original 1980s control panel.¹¹

The state’s attorneys argued the claims should be dismissed under the public duty doctrine, which holds that government inspection duties are owed to the public at large rather than to individual riders, and under discretionary function immunity in the Iowa Tort Claims Act. In September 2023, Polk County Judge Paul Scott denied the motion, finding the negligence claim viable and the public duty doctrine dependent on further factual development.¹²

That ruling was later reversed. On April 16, 2025, Judge Patrick Smith granted summary judgment for the state, dismissing Iowa and Burriola from the case on both public duty doctrine and discretionary function immunity grounds.¹³ The family has said it intends to appeal.¹⁴

The Settlement

By the time the case reached the settlement, the state was out and the trial against Adventure Lands and Krantz was set to begin on Monday, June 2, 2025. The agreement was reached the Sunday before, and the court approved it the next morning. Terms are confidential.¹

Fred Dorr, the family’s attorney, said the pending trial exerted “a massive amount of pressure” on the defendants. He had prepared expert testimony arguing that the 1,700-pound raft was faulty and that the park failed to ensure operators could maintain visibility of the raft throughout its run.¹⁵

In a statement, the family’s legal team said the litigation had raised “serious concerns regarding the safety and oversight of the amusement park industry as a whole” and expressed hope for substantive safety changes in the industry. Dorr added: “There’s no amount of money for the loss of a child… A lot of those things that people assume are safe when you really get down to it, maybe they aren’t.”¹⁵

Who Owns Adventureland Now

The defendants in the wrongful death case were the park’s former ownership. In December 2021, months after the accident, the Krantz family sold Adventureland to Palace Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Spanish company Parques Reunidos.¹⁶ On May 27, 2025, Herschend Family Entertainment completed its purchase of 24 U.S. properties from Palace Entertainment, including Adventureland, and said it was entering a 90-day transition period with no immediate plans to change operations.¹⁷ Herschend was not a party to the lawsuit.¹⁴ The park remains open. The Raging River has been closed since 2021.⁵

1
KCCI. Iowa Amusement Park Adventureland Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit With Jaramillo Family
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Des Moines Register. Adventureland Iowa Death Raging River Michael Jaramillo Parents
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Des Moines Register. Adventureland’s Raging River Permanently Closed After Fatal Accident
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WOWT. Father Recounts Iowa Amusement Ride Accident That Killed Son
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CBS News. Iowa Adventureland Permanently Shutting Down Ride That Killed Michael Jaramillo 11-Year-Old Boy
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Des Moines Register. Adventureland Iowa Raging River Lawsuit Claims Boy’s Death Result of Negligence
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Des Moines Register. Adventureland Raging River Ride Safety Violations Iowa Division of Labor
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Des Moines Register. Adventureland Death Lawsuit Trial Will Begin Monday
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New York Post. Iowa Adventureland Sued by Family of Michael Jaramillo
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Des Moines Register. Adventureland Former Owners Blame Bad Parts in Raging River Death
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KWWL. Family of Marion Boy Killed in Adventureland Accident Seeking Nearly $100 Million From State
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Des Moines Register. State of Iowa Can Be Sued by Family of Child Who Died at Adventureland
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CBS2 Iowa. Judge Dismisses State of Iowa From Adventureland Wrongful Death Lawsuit
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Des Moines Register. Adventureland Settlement Raging River Accident Michael Jaramillo
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98online. Settlement Reached in Case Involving 11-Year-Old Boy’s Death at Iowa Theme Park
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Des Moines Register. Palace Entertainment Buys Adventureland Altoona Iowa
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Des Moines Register. Herschend Family Entertainment Purchase Palace Entertainment Adventureland