Portland Jury Awards Two Teens $550,000 After AtmosFEAR Ride Left Them Trapped Upside Down for 25 Minutes

A Multnomah County jury has awarded two Oregon teenagers a combined $550,000 over a 2024 amusement park malfunction that left them — and 26 other riders — hanging upside down, roughly 100 feet in the air, for 25 terrifying minutes.

What the Jury Decided

On August 19, 2026, jurors in Multnomah County Circuit Court awarded Xitlali Gomez-Salais and Evie Yannotta $275,000 each, following a three-day trial against Oaks Amusement Park in Southeast Portland. The jury voted 10-2 in the girls’ favor, finding Oaks Park liable for negligence.

The two, now 16, were 13 and 14 at the time of the incident, and had sued for $2 million combined. Attorney Michael Fuller, who represented both teens, said the insurance companies for Oaks Park and ride manufacturer Zamperla will now sort out between themselves who is responsible for paying the $550,000.

What Happened on the Ride

On June 14, 2024 — Oaks Park’s opening day for the season — 28 people boarded the AtmosFEAR, a 360-degree pendulum swing ride, in Southeast Portland along the Willamette River. The ride malfunctioned mid-cycle, stopping at its apex position and leaving riders suspended upside down roughly 100 feet above the ground.

It took Portland Fire & Rescue crews about 20 minutes to arrive and manually override the ride’s system, ultimately lowering everyone to the ground safely nearly 25 minutes after it first got stuck. No one required hospitalization at the scene, but the psychological and physical toll became the center of the trial that followed.

Gomez-Salais and Yannotta testified about the ordeal in graphic detail. “Just the highest terror I ever felt,” Yannotta told jurors. “There’s nothing like it ever in my life,” Gomez-Salais said, adding that she feared dying in front of her friends watching from below. Their complaint described blood pooling in their heads, difficulty breathing, and the constant fear that their shoulder harnesses — bearing their full body weight — might release.

Yannotta’s complaint alleged lasting effects including bruises, soreness, increased blood flow to the brain causing intracranial pressure, dizziness, high blood pressure, and ongoing post-traumatic stress and anxiety.

Ride manufacturer Zamperla told Oaks Park it found no mechanical, technical, or maintenance issues during its post-incident inspection — a finding that didn’t stop Oaks Park from separately suing Zamperla, alleging the manufacturer was negligent and responsible for the malfunction. The exact cause of the failure has still not been publicly explained.

Cases like this one turn heavily on how a defendant’s liability gets allocated between multiple responsible parties — a dynamic our coverage of the John Litterer vs. Vail Summit Resorts Inc. Snowmobile Injury & Epic Pass Waiver Lawsuit explored in a different recreational-injury context, where a liability waiver became central to the case. Oaks Park carried no such waiver defense here — its dispute is with its own ride manufacturer, not with the riders.

Nine Lawsuits, Two Trials

Gomez-Salais and Yannotta were far from the only riders to pursue legal action. Nine people sued Oaks Park over the June 2024 incident. Seven reached settlements for undisclosed amounts before trial. Gomez-Salais and Yannotta were the only two to take their case in front of a jury.

The two-year statute of limitations has now passed for adult riders who were on the AtmosFEAR that day. But because Gomez-Salais and Yannotta were minors at the time, Oregon law extends the window for other minors who were on the ride to still bring claims — meaning additional lawsuits remain possible.

What Oaks Park and the Families Are Saying

Oaks Park issued a brief statement following the verdict: “We are grateful that all of the riders are safe, and this incident is now resolved. Safety is our top priority and we will continue to work with ride manufacturers and state inspectors to ensure rider safety.”

The families framed the trial differently — as a fight for accountability rather than money. Jaime Gomez, father of Xitlali Gomez-Salais, said after the verdict: “When you do something wrong, accountability is what we’re looking for. At this point, we still haven’t got any answers.” He added that the process could have moved faster and with less difficulty for his daughter.

Fuller, the girls’ attorney, said the park had acknowledged fault during the proceedings, and that his clients were satisfied with both the dollar amount and what the trial surfaced about what went wrong. Both girls required counseling and treatment following the incident, according to Fuller.

Product-defect allegations like the ones aimed at Zamperla here echo the kind of manufacturer liability claims we’ve covered in the Franklin Sports Badminton Racket Lawsuit, where a manufacturer’s role in a consumer injury became a central legal question distinct from the venue or operator’s own conduct.

Sources Used in This Article

• Willamette Week — “Jury Awards Two Oaks Park AtmosFEAR Riders $275,000 Each,” August 20, 2026: https://www.wweek.com/culture/2026/08/20/jury-awards-two-oaks-park-atmosfear-riders-275000-each/
• KATU — “Jury awards $275,000 each to two teens in Oaks Park lawsuit”: https://katu.com/news/local/verdict-pending-in-lawsuit-over-oaks-park-ride-that-trapped-riders-upside-down-oregon-portland-amusement-park-atmosfear-accident-lawsuit-negligence
• KPTV/FOX 12 — “Two teens trapped upside down on Oaks Park ride awarded $275K each”: https://www.kptv.com/2026/08/20/two-teens-trapped-upside-down-oaks-park-ride-awarded-275k-each/
• KXL — “Multnomah County Jury Awards Teens Combined $550,000 After Ride Broke Down at Oaks Park”: https://www.kxl.com/multnomah-county-jury-awards-teens-combined-550000-after-ride-broke-down-at-oaks-park/
• The Daily Chronicle (via The Oregonian reporting) — “Jury awards $550,000 to teens stuck upside down on Oregon ride for 25 minutes”: https://www.chronline.com/stories/jury-awards-550000-to-teens-stuck-upside-down-on-oregon-ride-for-25-minutes,406970

Researched and written by Israr Ahmad, legal content researcher and founder of AllAboutLawyer.com. All facts verified against local Portland news reporting (KATU, KPTV, Willamette Week, KXL) as of August 21, 2026. Last Updated: August 21, 2026.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.