An Illinois woman has sued a Fremont Street bar in Las Vegas, saying she was injured last November when she was thrown from the venue's mechanical ride — and that the bar never asked her to sign a waiver before she got on. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Clark County District Court, naming the bar's co-owner as a defendant as well.
Plaintiff Amber Zabran visited The Nerd, a bar in the Neonopolis shopping center, with friends on Nov. 22, 2025, near closing time, according to the complaint. She asked to ride the bull ride-like mechanical attraction, paid, then mounted it — but said she was not asked to sign a waiver of any kind.
The ride was operated by an employee via joystick and control panel, the complaint says. At the beginning it "was moving slowly in a circle, but then it began to speed up, becoming more difficult to remain upon, which apparently was the intent of the operator." While holding on, Zabran's ankle caught under the main area of the ride, and then she was thrown from the seat "causing her injury," the filing alleges. The complaint says she sustained injuries "of the body and mind."
Zabran is suing The Nerd, its co-owner Jonathan Borchetta and any others involved for negligence, vicarious liability, negligent hiring, retention and supervision, and res ipsa loquitor — a doctrine that lets plaintiffs use circumstantial evidence to meet their burden of proof. The lawsuit alleges the operator and management should have disclosed that the ride was "faulty and/or posed a risk of injury," and warned customers of "the danger and risk of injury."
She is seeking damages for past and future medical expenses, wage loss and other general damages. The complaint asks for a jury trial but does not specify a dollar amount. The Nerd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case was filed just under a year after the alleged incident, well within Nevada's two-year window for personal injury claims. Legal observers note that the "no waiver signed" allegation is the complaint's sharpest edge: operators of thrill-style attractions in Las Vegas routinely rely on signed liability waivers as their first line of defense, and the absence of one leaves the bar arguing the harder question of whether it ran the ride safely. The complaint's invocation of res ipsa loquitor — roughly, "the thing speaks for itself" — signals the plaintiff intends to argue that being thrown from a joystick-operated ride does not normally happen without negligence.
What comes next is up to the court: her legal team must prove the bar was negligent, while the bar will likely argue the attraction was inherently risky and she rode it voluntarily. Vegas nightlife keeps inventing new thrills — and with each one, the safety burden on operators grows heavier.