December 5, 2024 - The lawsuit highlighted glaring safety oversights, including the absence of seat belts—a safety enhancement that would have cost just $22 per seat or $660 in total for all seats.

December 7, 2024 - As a result, the company has been ordered to pay the family $310 million. The family had previously reached settlements with two other defendants, had the ride at ICON Park dismantled, and helped pass the Tyre Sampson Safety Act.

Orlando, FL – Following the one-day trial of the Estate of Tyre Sampson vs “FunTimes”, the Austrian-based manufacturer of the FreeFall ride that once towered over Icon Park in Orlando, a jury has passed a $310 Million judgement against the defendants.

December 5, 2024 - – On Thursday, an Orange County jury ruled the family of Tyre Sampson will be given $310 million, $155 million each to the father and mother, according to our sister station WKMG in Orlando.

December 6, 2024 - 5), Tyre Sampson’s parents are millionaires from their settlement with Funtime. A Florida jury reportedly awarded the family $310 million after a speedy trial. Last year, Tyre’s parents also settled with the two other defendants for undisclosed ...

December 6, 2024 - 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.

December 7, 2024 - The family of Tyre Sampson, a 14-year-old boy who plunged to his death from a free-fall tower in Orlando, has been awarded $310 million by a jury.

March 17, 2025 - A Florida jury ordered Funtime to pay $310 million to the parents of Tyre Sampson, who fell to his death at an Orlando amusement park in 2022. On December 6, 2024, the Orange County verdict grants $155 million each to Nekia Dodd and Yarnell Sampson.

December 6, 2024 - Late Thursday, the Orange County jury ordered that the manufacturer Funtime pay $155 million each to Tyre Sampson’s parents, Nekia Dodd and Yarnell Sampson. He died on March 24, 2022, after falling 70 feet (21 meters) from the Orlando Free ...

February 18, 2023 - Read: State fines Orlando Free Fall operator $250K related to investigation into Tyre Sampson’s death · Initially, the company fought the fine, but the settlement laid out the conditions.

March 16, 2023 - 14-year-old Tyre Sampson died after slipping off a free-fall tower ride at Icon Park in Florida during a spring break trip with his football team in March of 2022. ... The mother of a Missouri teen who died last year after slipping off a free-fall ride at a Florida amusement park has reached a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit, NBC News reports.

Yesterday (March 15), Sampson’s mother, Nekia Dodd, visited ICON Park for the first time since the fatal incident and announced that she reached a settlement with the ride owners and the park.

June 28, 2025 - According to the lawsuit, Sampson weighed 383 pounds and exceeded the ride’s weight limit by nearly 100 pounds. He fell 100 feet from the ride, which did not have seat belts and was later found to have undergone changes to the ride that contributed to his death. The verdict was delivered in an Orange County courtroom against the Austria-based manufacturer, Funtime-Handels. Last year, the Sampson family reached a settlement with Icon Park and Eagle Drop Slingshot, the ride’s owner, also named as defendants.

December 5, 2024 - ICON Park did not own or operate ... which awarded Sampson's mother, Nekia Dodd, and father, Yarnell Sampson, a total of $155 million each....