The California Supreme Court denied a petition to hear an appeal from a company being blamed for injuries that a San Berardino woman claimed she suffered on X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
The lawsuit claiming Sheila Katerelos suffered serious and permanent injuries following her ride on X2 in February 2020 is one of two lawsuits the park is facing over the ride.
The Katerelos family was awarded legal fees earlier this month, just over $1,200, related to its filing costs for the case’s most recent appeal from Utah-based S&S Worldwide, the company named as the designer and manufacturer of X2, in the filings.
The case, which was originally filed in November 2021, involved an allegation against the ride manufacturer and its successor entity, Florida-based Arrow Dynamics.
The lawsuit claimed Katerelos sustained a subdural hematoma, a type of traumatic brain injury, due to the ride.
The Second District Appellate Court found that L.A. County Judge Gary Micon ruled in error when he granted the ride-maker a summary judgment in August 2024 on all four causes involving the liability claims. A summary judgment should only be seen as a solution when there’s no triable issue as to the material facts of the case, according to the appeals court, which was not the situation in Katerelos’ case.
Katerelos, who was at the park with her husband, a doctor, said her right side felt weak and she had trouble walking after the ride. She ended up with a five-day hospital stay from the subdural hematoma she was diagnosed with, which she said was caused by the ride, according to the appellate ruling.
Micon ruled that Katereloses’ attorneys failed to prove causation, as S&S claimed to be the maker of X, not X2. He also found S&S proved the roller coaster was working as it was supposed to, and that the Katereloses did not provide direct evidence the headrest system caused injury. Those grounds represent the basis for why and how he granted a summary judgment, per court records.
The Katerelos appeal, which a three-judge panel granted in February 2025, found that a triable issue existed regarding whether X2 caused the injuries, which means the original decision should not have been left to a summary judgment. It’s also an “essential element” of the product liability claim.
The appellate court, stating its review would “liberally construe the evidence in favor of the party opposing (the summary judgment),” also stated that Katereloses’ claims of injury upon riding X2 and continuing immediately after, represent a triable fact.
“The S&S defendants, thus, were not entitled to summary judgment on the product’s liability claims based on the absence of a design defect,” according to the ruling.
The California Supreme Court formally denied a petition for review in May.
The L.A. County Superior Court records available online did not have a future hearing date assigned for the case as of this story’s publication.
The other lawsuit involving X2 is set for a final status conference hearing in August.
Judge Andrew Cooper continued a hearing requested by attorneys for the family of William Hawley — which sought to “compel further discovery responses and a complete production of documents” — until Aug. 18.
Hawley’s family claimed he died from injuries he sustained on X2, during a park visit with his brother on June 23, 2022.
Most recently, Hawley’s family sought penalties against Six Flags Magic Mountain for its failure to produce documents; Six Flags filed a similar counter-request to cover the cost of its responses. Neither side was awarded fees in a ruling filed Tuesday.
A final status conference is expected 10 days following the hearing on evidence, and a jury trial has been set for Sept. 8, according to the minute order from Wednesday’s hearing.
