A Montana mother is suing after her 13-year-old son died from injuries she says he suffered when he was thrown from a defective fairground ride.
Clayton Phillips was attending a carnival in Butte in June when he was ejected at high speed from his seat on the Yo-Yo swing ride, according to the lawsuit.
The teenager was first taken to a hospital in Butte before being airlifted to a medical facility in Kalispell with severe injuries. He died there two weeks after the incident.
The civil complaint, filed by Clayton’s mother, Ashley Hossack, seeks damages from Butte-Silver Bow, Midway West Amusements, Shady Acres Safety Services and the company’s owner, Dennis Sutherland.
The lawsuit also asks for punitive damages from 20 people or entities allegedly connected to the “inspection, maintenance, assembly, supervision, management, loading, or operation” of the ride, according to the suit reviewed by NBC Montana.
The filing alleges that at least 10 chairs on the Yo-Yo carnival ride were unsafe, with missing restraints that were “visible and readily discoverable.”
Despite those alleged defects, the chairs were still attached to the ride on the day Clayton was injured. Midway West owner Michelle Jensen later acknowledged that the only safety measure in place was for operators to verbally tell riders not to sit in them.
Jensen made that admission to law enforcement after the accident and said replacement parts for the defective chairs had already been ordered, the lawsuit claims.
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.’
