Montana boy, 13, died after being EJECTED from faulty fairground ride as it spun through the air, stricken mother’s lawsuit claims
A Montana teenager died after being thrown from a faulty fairground ride, his grief-stricken mother claimed in a lawsuit.
Clayton Phillips, 13, died from his injuries after being thrown from his seat on the Yo-Yo swing ride at high speed while attending a carnival in Butte in June of this year.
The youngster was rushed to a Butte hospital and then airlifted to a hospital in Kalispell with serious injuries. He died there two weeks after the incident.
A lawsuit, filed by his mother Ashley Hossack, is now seeking damages from Butte-Silver Bow, Midway West Amusements, Shady Acres Safety Services and its owner Dennis Sutherland.
It is also seeking punitive damages from 20 people or entities responsible for the ‘inspection, maintenance, assembly, supervision, management, loading, or operation,’ of the ride, according to the suit seen by NBC Montana.
According to the lawsuit, at least 10 of the chairs of the Yo-Yo ride were defective and had missing restraints which were ‘visible and readily discoverable.’
The chairs remained on the ride on the day of the accident, with Midway West owner Michelle Jensen admitting that the only precaution given was operators verbally instructing riders to not use them.
She admitted that to law enforcement after the crash, saying that replacement parts for the faulty chairs had been ordered, the suit claimed.
Clayton Phillips, 13, died from his injuries after being thrown from his seat on the Yo-Yo swing ride at high speed while attending a carnival in Butte
The youngster was rushed to Butte hospital and then airlifted to a hospital in Kalispell with serious injuries where he died two weeks after the incident, the ride is seen here
The ride was inspected twice in the month before the fatal incident, with Sutherland allegedly signing off on the inspection.
Butte-Silver Bow, which received a portion of the gross revenue from the carnival, is accused in the suit of failing to implement ‘reasonable procedures to verify the safety of the Yo-Yo’ ride.
The suit added that Butte-Silver Bow did not require Midway West to provide an inventory of each ride.
It said that Butte-Silver Bow had a duty of care in the ‘ownership, management, supervision, and control of its premises’.
The suit also claimed that Butte-Silver Bow had the authority to ‘reasonably inspect the carnival premises and the passenger-loading areas of the rides.’
The lawsuit also included a copy of the permit for the carnival that said Midway West was required to have public liability insurance of $1 million for each occurrence, and another $1.5 million for bodily injury and property damage.
It is unclear at this time the exact amount being sought but it will extend to ‘all compensatory, general, special, economic, and noneconomic damages,’ recoverable by the youngster’s estate.
This will include the cost of the victim’s suffering, lost earnings, funeral expenses, costs of the emergency and medical response, loss of earnings and more, the suit added.
Clayton is pictured here alongside his mother Ashley Hossack who filed the lawsuit
According to the lawsuit, at least 10 of the chairs of the Yo-Yo ride were defective and had missing restraints
Butte-Silver Bow has three weeks to provide a formal response in court to the lawsuit, which was filed on August 7.
County Attorney Matt Enrooth previously told MTN News that an investigation found no criminal culpability.
An obituary for Clayton said: ‘Clayton attended Butte Central Elementary and Junior High School, where he recently graduated from 8th grade on May 27, 2026.
‘He was part of the Orphan Girl Theater for the past 6 years, where he shared his heart, his humor, his curiosity, and wonderful sense of character with everyone.
‘Clayton had many hobbies, including Legos, Music (Eminem), YouTube, Harry Potter, reading, traveling with family, hanging out with friends, and playing Minecraft.’
