Dollywood sues over Timber Tower
The Timber Tower ride at Dollywood, seen in this March 2006 file photo, is at the center of lawsuit between the amusement park and the companies that built and maintained the ride.
PIGEON FORGE — The malfunctions at Dollywood’s Timber Tower attraction started within months of its opening. They included a 2007 incident that left passengers stranded on the ride for hours and have required replacement of substantial parts of the ride. Now, the Sevier County amusement park is suing the German companies that built the ride and with whom they entered into a new contract to fix it.
Dollywood is seeking $500,000 from HUSS Park Attractions and HUSS Parts and Services, the German companies responsible for building and maintaining the ride, which was originally called the Topple Tower. The attraction stands more than 65 feet and is supposed to lift riders to the top before swaying back and forth, taking them over a water fountain and a mock bear encounter. The complaint alleges breach of contract, breach of warranty and negligence.
The ride has been closed this year, and Dollywood spokesman Pete Owens said it will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future. “The ride will remain closed pending the outcome of the lawsuit,” Owens said.
It wasn’t clear Monday whether officials with HUSS have been served with the complaint.
The Dollywood Company paid the original HUSS company $2.2 million for the ride, and paid another $2.4 million to prepare the site, according to the lawsuit filed late last week in Sevier County Circuit Court. HUSS finished construction in March 2006; by May park officials were experiencing multiple problems with the ride that sometimes required complete replacement of systems.
In October of that year, the original company, HUSS Maschinefabrik, filed for insolvency. HUSS Park Attractions and HUSS Parts and Services took over its business, according to the compliant.
HUSS employees performed maintenance work on the ride in January 2007, after entering a new contract with Dollywood, but by April 2007 it was suffering new problem and on June 17, 2007, 38 people were stranded for hours when the ride malfunctioned.
In September 2007, Dollywood replaced the main hydraulic pump for the ride and in November 2007, Dollywood replaced the circulation pump. In June 2008, Dollywood replaced the gondola motor drive because the gondola wasn’t turning. In September 2008, HUSS signed a new contract to rebuild the ride.
“It should be noted that HUSS claimed after the forming of HUSS Park Attractions GmbH and HUSS Parts and Service GmbH that HUSS was owed money by Dollywood regarding the installation,” Dollywood attorney Daniel Gass wrote in the complaint. “As a condition for that payment HUSS agreed to correct the ride performance problem. Based on those assertions Dollywood paid the sum HUSS claims it was owed.”
Even after that, the ride still has not operated properly and was not used during the current season.
Owens said park officials had continued to negotiate with HUSS officials this year, but ultimately weren’t happy with the result and decided to move forward with the complaint.
