ST. CHARLES, Mo. (CN) - Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey and its subcontractors owe $517,000 for a power outage that cut short a Disney on Ice show, St. Charles County claims in court.
The county sued Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, Landstar Gemini, Expeditors International of Washington, and a John Doe truck driver for $516,935 in damages, in St. Charles County Court.
On Sept. 7, 2008 the Doe truck driver crashed into a utility pole, causing a transformer to arc and catch fire. It happened during the matinee of "Disney on Ice Presents a Disneyland Adventure."
The fire knocked out power to the Family Arena, where the show was held, and patrons missed about 45 minutes of the performance.
Doe was working for Expeditors on behalf of Landstar, which provided transportation services to Ringling Brothers, the county says in the complaint.
It claims the accident cost it $18,372 in operations and ticketing, $6,263 for food and beverages spoiled, $80,319 in replacement costs for audio-visual and TV production equipment destroyed and $24,280 repairs to the electrical transformer and related systems.
Actual damages total $129,234; St. Charles seeks that much plus treble damages, the maximum allowed by state law for statutory damages to a county property.
St. Charles says Ringling Brothers breached its lease by not indemnifying the county. The 2006 lease required the entertainment giant to hold the county harmless for any negligent acts of Ringling Brothers, the county says.
It claims that Ringling Bros. told it in June 2009 that it denied responsibility for the incident.
Representatives for Ringling Bros. could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
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