Shelby Morse, marketing director for Festival Country Indiana, demonstrates the Over and Under station at the Gatling Gauntlet at the Johnson County Park in June 2022. Daily Journal File Photo
If a proposed bill becomes law, Johnson County’s obstacle course could re-open in the future.
State Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, authored a bill — alongside co-authors Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, and Rep. Robb Greene, R-Shelbyville — that would give government entities limited liability for operating obstacle courses. House Bill 1100 adds obstacle courses to the definition of “extreme sport area” and makes governmental entities operating an activity on land leased by the governmental entity from the federal government entitled to certain immunity from a tort claim.
Through this bill, Mayfield said government entities would be protected from liability unless they are being negligent. For example, if a rotting rope on an obstacle course breaks and someone falls, the government entity would still be liable because they were negligent. However, if someone loses their grip and falls and breaks their arm, the government entity is not liable.
The bill’s idea came from a request from Johnson County officials, who saw their new Gatling Gauntlet obstacle course shut down in the county in late fall 2022 because of insurance issues. The obstacle course is located at the Johnson County Park, which is operated by the county government on land that is owned by the federal government and was formerly part of Camp Atterbury.
Festival Country Indiana, the county’s tourism bureau, opened The Gatling Gauntlet in 2022. The purpose was to have an outdoor recreation activity “unlike anything around,” said Ken Kosky, the bureau’s executive director.
“It’s designed to be a fun obstacle course for residents as well as a tourist attraction and we envisioned it being an extreme fitness competition but open every day of the year and free to use,” he said. “So we ended up with 20 fun, challenging obstacles like tire flipping, wall climbing and a running hill.”
The course operated in the summer and fall of 2022 “without incident,” and it became “a Top 10 attraction,” drawing people from across the Midwest, Kosky said.
However, when the county’s insurance company reviewed the policy at the end of 2022, the company decided it would no longer insure the course. County officials were unable to find another insurance company to insure it because there were so few courses like it in the country, Kosky said.
Although things like equestrian activities are provided immunity under Indiana law, obstacle courses are not, he said. That makes equestrian activities — such as those that take place elsewhere on the park grounds at Hoosier Horse Park — easy to get insurance for since the state provides immunity.
From their research of a similar obstacle course in Ohio, Kosky said county officials turned their focus to getting obstacle courses the same immunity in Indiana that they have in Ohio.
“If obstacle courses were treated the same under Indiana law, the insurance company would look at it exactly the same and go, ‘Okay, we’re protected,” Kosky said. “People know that they’re engaging in this at their own risk and that the operator of such a course has immunity from litigation.’”
Mayfield is still investigating whether this problem is affecting other communities, but she said another senator told her that the issue was happening in their area, although Mayfield has not been able to verify whether that was a government or private facility. But she does believe this problem is likely happening elsewhere in the state and is not coming to legislators’ attention.
“Because when they’re told by their insurance agent or their insurance company, ‘We will not cover this,’ they just throw their hands up and quit …” she said. “You look at … those active children or teenagers or even adults who want to challenge themselves, it’s an enjoyable activity that they would like to participate in. And I think that if they see it out here, they will engage in it.”
John Young, an attorney spearheading the bill with county officials, wrote a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Chris Jeter, R-Fishers, explaining why immunity for obstacle courses is needed.
Among other information, Young, a former state representative from Johnson County, explained that without special immunity, a person could recover “significant damages against the state” if they broke their leg tripping over a tree root at a government-owned or operated public park or state forest, for example. Other examples include if a person was injured at a school that allows the public to use its gymnasium or weight room, kicked by a horse at an equestrian event, or fell and broke an arm at a privately-owned roller or ice skating rink.
Young wrote that insurance companies would drop coverage or only offer policies at much higher premiums or very expensive conditions because of the inherent risks if immunity wasn’t given.
“You can see where this would go — the skate park would be closed in a heartbeat (just like the Gatling Gauntlet), and your free public park (if also not closed) would start charging $5 admissions to cover the cost of an expensive insurance premium to cover losses for people falling down a gully,” Young wrote. “A school wouldn’t risk opening its recreational facilities, like playgrounds, to the public and I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a skating rink that could survive.”
As an extreme sports fan when she was younger, Mayfield said she would love to try the obstacle course activities if she was physically able.
“I think that’s the appeal. If they see something out there that is challenging, I think that there would be interest in it and that just adds to the Hoosier health of getting out there, enjoying the outdoors, improve your physical condition and that will improve our health outcomes in general,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield said she believes the bill is “sound policy.” There have been discussions with Jeter, answering questions about why the bill is necessary and increasing his confidence that the bill is important enough to take time to be heard out of the hundreds of bills before the House. In the committee, there are about 20 slots of hearings, Mayfield said.
Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, also filed an identical bill that uses the same language to increase the chances of having the bill heard, Mayfield added. This bill is Senate Bill 298.
Johnson County Commissioner Kevin Walls said he brought Walker through the obstacle course and asked if the county could get some kind of bill pushed through so “they wouldn’t be hammered on insurance.” Walls said he thinks the county would have to pay around $700,000 per claim and the county is not willing to do that.
The bill will help residents use the obstacle course, which could benefit jobs that bring their employees for the challenges or military that previously used the amenity, Walls said.
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