A wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the parents of a 22-year-old man who died after riding the X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain has been settled shortly before the case was scheduled to go to trial.
Anne and William Hawley sued Magic Mountain LLC and roller coaster manufacturer S&S Worldwide following the June 2022 death of their son, Christopher Hawley. The lawsuit had been headed toward a jury trial scheduled for September 8, 2026.
That trial is no longer expected to happen. Court filings reviewed by KTLA show the Hawleys reached settlements with both defendants in August. The financial terms have not been publicly disclosed.
The settlement closes a case that spent nearly three years in Los Angeles County Superior Court and raised questions about what happened to Hawley during or immediately after his ride on one of Magic Mountain’s most unusual roller coasters.
After The Ride
Christopher Hawley visited Six Flags Magic Mountain on June 23, 2022, and rode X2, according to allegations recounted in a March 2024 Los Angeles County Superior Court ruling.
His parents alleged that Hawley was unsteady after getting off the coaster, held onto a railing, and complained that his head hurt. He later collapsed.
Hawley was taken to a hospital and never regained consciousness. He died the following day.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner determined that Hawley died from blunt head trauma and classified his death as an accident involving an amusement park ride, according to FOX 11.
His parents filed their lawsuit on August 30, 2023, naming Magic Mountain and S&S Worldwide as defendants.
The Lawsuit
The Hawleys brought claims involving alleged design defects, failure to warn, negligence, and premises liability.
Their complaint also alleged that the defendants knew about previous injuries associated with X and X2. Among those allegations were reports of back, spine, neck, and head injuries, including traumatic brain injuries.
Those claims remained allegations rather than findings that the coaster was defective or that either defendant was responsible for Hawley’s death.
That distinction became important early in the litigation.
Magic Mountain sought to strike the complaint’s punitive-damages allegations. In March 2024, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Andrew E. Cooper denied the motion, finding the allegations sufficient to proceed at that stage of the case.
The ruling did not determine that the allegations were true. Cooper noted that their merits could be examined through discovery as the litigation continued.
And continue it did.
Headed To Trial
By this summer, the case had moved deep into discovery and was approaching a jury.
A July 8 court ruling confirms that trial was scheduled to begin September 8.
The parties were still fighting over discovery only two months before that date. One dispute involved records subpoenaed from Uremet Corporation. By the July hearing, documents had been produced, and Cooper denied the Hawleys’ motion to compel as moot.
Then the case changed direction.
S&S Worldwide filed papers on August 20 asking the court to approve a settlement with the Hawleys.
According to FOX 11’s review of the filing, S&S maintained that the X2 trains operated as designed and argued that Magic Mountain was responsible for maintaining the ride. Its attorneys said a jury could potentially find S&S had no liability or was responsible for only a portion of the alleged incident.
The settlement itself was not an admission of liability.
Six days later, attorneys for the Hawleys notified the court that a settlement had also been reached with Magic Mountain, according to KTLA’s review of the court filing.
The parties were working to finalize written settlement agreements for both deals.
Neither settlement amount has been disclosed.