A. No person shall operate a carnival ride without a policy of insurance in an amount not less than three million dollars ($3,000,000) against liability for injury to persons arising out of the operation of the carnival ride.
B. Either a copy of the policy furnished to the insured or a certificate stating that the insurance required by this section is in effect shall be filed with the department and a local government entity.
C. The policy shall contain a schedule listing by name and serial number each carnival ride insured by the policy. In the event of additions or deletions of carnival rides during the policy terms, such changes shall be shown on a change endorsement, a copy of which shall be submitted to the department and the local government entity.
D. In the event of policy cancellation by either the insured owner or operator or the insurance company, the insured shall furnish notice of the cancellation to the department and the local government entity not later than ten days prior to cancellation.
E. No person, owner or operator of a carnival ride shall operate any carnival ride without obtaining a certificate of inspection for each ride by an inspector of the department or its designee and filing the certificate of inspection with the local government. The owner or operator shall annually have each carnival ride inspected and annually file the certificate of inspection. The certificate of inspection shall state that the carnival ride operator or owner has had the rides independently inspected by a national amusement ride safety official class 1, 2 or 3 inspector within twelve months of the operation of the ride within the state and whether any deficiencies noted by the engineer have been corrected. In addition, the owner or operator of the ride shall inspect the ride each day the ride is operated before any member of the public is permitted to board the ride. The owner or operator shall keep a current log of such inspections which shall be available for review by local enforcement officials during operating hours.
F. The insured shall pay a fifty dollar ($50.00) per carnival ride per inspection filing fee with the department.
G. The "carnival ride insurance fund" is created in the state treasury. The fund shall consist of all filing fees received by the department pursuant to the Carnival Ride Insurance Act. Money in the carnival ride insurance fund is appropriated to the department for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the Carnival Ride Insurance Act. The fund shall not be expended for any purpose other than carrying out the provisions of the Carnival Ride Insurance Act.
History: Laws 1993, ch. 284, § 3; 1995, ch. 79, § 2; 1996, ch. 60, § 1.
ANNOTATIONSThe 1996 amendment, substituted "three million dollars ($3,000,000)" for "five million dollars ($5,000,000)" in Subsection A, rewrote the second sentence of Subsection E, substituted "national amusement ride safety official class 1, 2 or 3 inspector" in the third sentence of Subsection E, and added the fourth and fifth sentences in Subsection E. Laws 1996, ch. 60 contains no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, is effective May 15, 1996, 90 days after adjournment of the legislature.
The 1995 amendment, effective June 16, 1995, in the section heading, deleted "for liability" following "liability insurance"; in Subsection A, substituted "five million dollars ($5,000,000)" for "one million dollars ($1,000,000)"; in subsection D, substituted "the" for "such" preceding "cancellation"; rewrote Subsection E; and, in Subsection F, inserted "per carnival ride per inspection" preceding "filing fee".
Punitive damages. — Where defendants failed to comply with the terms of their contract with the New Mexico state fair and with the Carnival Ride Insurance Act, which required defendants to conduct daily inspections of the rides, because the purpose of such inspections is to prevent the type of harm that occurred, and because the responsibility to conduct such inspections was set forth in the contract and statute, defendants' conduct was sufficiently reprehensible to justify the award of punitive damages and was not excessive. Atler v. Murphy Enters., Inc., 2005-NMCA-006, 136 N.M. 701, 104 P.3d 1092, cert. quashed, 2005-NMCERT-008, 138 N.M. 330, 119 P.3d 1267.