Christmas Circus not liable for Val Acrobat from ‘Rad of Death’

The Christmas circus of Haarlem is not liable for an accident in which an acrobat fell from the ‘Rad of Death’ in 2023. The judge in Alkmaar decided that in a judgment published this week. According to him, the circus director cannot be regarded as an acrobat employer.

In the winter of 2022-2023, circus director René Duursma in Haarlem organized his annual Christmas Circus, with the main act the magician Hans Klok. The Spanish-Moroccan company Mustafa Danguir Troupe provided acrobatic arts in the Rad of Death. In the verdict, the judge describes this attraction as: « At the wheel of death, artists walk in and on a two on and around wheels of up to 10 meters above the ground, without safety cable and safety net. »

For the eyes of hundreds of spectators, including many children, one of the acrobats – referred to as ‘Appie’ – fell out of the wheel on January 4, 2023 and broke his pelvis and ribs.

Circus experts

At the time, various circus experts labeled the wheel in the press as very dangerous and impossible. Accidents happen more often. They also said that these kinds of risks are part of it. However, the lawsuit did not focus on the low safety of the wheel of death, nor on the question of whether Appie will knowingly and knowingly. It was about whether Duursma was a ‘material employer’ of Appie according to the liability law.

Organizer Duursma leaves the booking of the artists, all self -employed people, to a circus company, and is limited to the promotion and ticket sales of the Christmas circus. According to the court, the ‘executing the dangerous circus act’ is ‘not the business operation’ of Duursma. He had « no influence on the working conditions » of the acrobat « and on the related safety risks. » Duursma was therefore not a ‘equipment employer’ of Appie.

To make it clear, the judge compared the Christmas circus with a pop festival: « In this line of thought, Mojo Concerts BV – as organizer of Lowlands – is a material employer of Charlie XCX, Dua Lipa and Chapell Roan. » In other words: when you hire an artist, you are not immediately his or her boss.

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