Austin Trampoline Park Injury Attorney

A 2019 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons found that more than half of all trampoline park injuries result in a fracture or dislocation, a rate higher than home trampolines produce, and adults hurt at jump parks were more than twice as likely to need surgery. Jump park injuries are more common than you would think.

If you or your child was hurt at an Austin trampoline park, Adam Loewy and the Loewy Law Firm can help you pursue the compensation you need to cover those losses. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation. Call (512) 280-0800 for a free, no obligation consultation.

Texas Premises Liability Law and Trampoline Park Injuries

When you pay admission to enter a trampoline park, Texas law classifies you as an invitee, which is the visitor status that carries the highest duty of care under Texas premises liability law. Trampoline park operators owe invitees a duty to use ordinary care to reduce or eliminate unreasonable risks of harm they knew about or reasonably should have discovered through adequate inspection.

A trampoline park’s duty of care extends to the physical condition of the equipment, the layout of the facility, the presence of trained staff, and the enforcement of safety rules. Parks are responsible for hazards a reasonable inspection would have uncovered, and the duty is not limited to conditions management is already aware of. When a park fails on any of those fronts and an injury results, it can be held liable under Texas premises liability law.

Negligence at a Trampoline Park

Injuries at trampoline parks stem from a range of facility-side failures. The ones that appear most frequently in personal injury cases are:

• Worn or torn trampoline surfaces and loose springs
• Inadequate or missing padding around frames and walls
• Staff failing to limit the number of simultaneous jumpers
• No separation between areas used by children and adults
• Poor lighting in trampoline zones
• Failure to enforce no-flip rules in open jump areas
• Foam pit maintenance that allows debris or hidden hazards to accumulate
• Defective trampoline equipment from the manufacturer

Any one of those failures, if it contributed to your injury, can serve as the basis of a premises liability case.

About the Waiver You Signed

Virtually every trampoline park in Austin requires guests to sign a liability waiver before entering, which typically attempts to release the facility from all liability, including for negligence. A signed waiver doesn’t necessarily mean you have no options after a trampoline park injury.

Waivers and Child Injuries

If your child was injured, the waiver you signed is on much weaker ground. Texas appellate courts have held that parents do not have the power to sign away a child’s right to bring a personal injury case, and a federal court in Houston reached the same conclusion for injuries at commercial facilities. The cases supporting this are Munoz v. II Jaz, Inc., 863 S.W.2d 207 (Tex. App. — Houston [14th Dist.] 1993) and Paz v. Life Time Fitness, Inc., 757 F. Supp. 2d 658 (S.D. Tex. 2010).

One complication: trampoline parks frequently require a separate indemnity agreement alongside the waiver, which can allow the park to seek reimbursement from the parent if the child wins a judgment. Our attorney will need to review both documents to give you an accurate picture of where things stand.

Waivers and Adult Injuries

For adults, the outcome depends on the specific language of the waiver, how clearly it disclosed what it was releasing, and whether the park’s conduct rises to the level of gross negligence. Texas appellate courts are split on whether a waiver can release gross negligence at all. In Van Voris v. Team Chop Shop, LLC, 402 S.W.3d 915 (Tex. App. — Dallas 2013), the Dallas Court of Appeals held that a waiver releasing negligence did not release gross negligence, which the court treated as a separate claim. The San Antonio Court of Appeals reached the opposite result in Newman v. Tropical Visions, Inc., 891 S.W.2d 713 (Tex. App. — San Antonio 1994), upholding a waiver against a gross negligence case on the specific facts before it.

A signed waiver does not automatically close the door on your case, particularly if the park’s conduct was reckless or if the waiver is overly broad, ambiguous, or poorly worded.

The Severity of Trampoline Park Injuries

The 2019 AAOS study found that at jump parks, 55% of patients were diagnosed with a fracture or dislocation, compared to 44% on home trampolines. Children at jump parks had a 59% fracture rate versus 47% at home. Adults had a 45% fracture rate at jump parks versus 17% at home, and adults were more than twice as likely to need surgery — 23% versus 10%. The study authors attributed the higher severity at parks to less coordinated falls and high-flying acrobatics. (Source: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, aaos.org)

Types of Injuries Commonly Seen in Trampoline Park Cases

The fracture and dislocation rates in that research reflect what trampoline park injury cases typically produce:

• Leg, ankle, and forearm fractures
• Elbow fractures and dislocations
• Lower extremity fractures requiring surgery
• Hip and knee injuries from hard landings
• Injuries from falls into foam pits or onto unpadded surfaces

Serious outcomes including spinal and head injuries do occur at trampoline parks, and cases with those injuries require thorough investigation of what the park knew, what safety measures were in place, and whether staff supervision was adequate.

Who Can Be Held Responsible

Liability in a trampoline park injury case does not always rest with a single party. Depending on the cause of the injury, one or more of the following may bear responsibility:

The Trampoline Park Operator

As the occupier of the premises, the park operator carries the primary duty to maintain safe conditions, train staff adequately, enforce capacity and safety rules, and address known equipment issues. Failures in any of those areas point toward the operator.

The Equipment Manufacturer

If a defect in the trampoline itself, its springs, or its frame contributed to the injury, the manufacturer may face product liability exposure regardless of whether the park was also negligent. Texas recognizes strict liability for defective products that cause injury.

Another Jumper

If another person’s reckless or intentional conduct caused your injury, including being deliberately knocked over or collided with by someone ignoring park rules, that individual may be personally liable, and open-jump zones where park staff fail to enforce occupancy limits are where this situation arises most frequently.

Texas Gives You Two Years to Act

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 sets a two-year statute of limitations for personal injury cases, with the clock starting on the date of the injury. Two years goes by quickly when medical treatment, recovery, and daily life are consuming your attention.

Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.001, the statute of limitations is tolled for minors, with the two-year window opening on the child’s 18th birthday rather than the date of the injury. However, the specific facts of each case affect how the tolling rules apply, and there are exceptions our attorney needs to evaluate.

Two additional factors affect trampoline park cases in particular:

1. Trampoline parks may overwrite surveillance footage, amend incident reports, and alter or destroy maintenance logs long before the statute of limitations deadline, which means waiting to contact an attorney puts the most important evidence at risk.
2. If any government entity is connected to the facility, the Texas Tort Claims Act may impose notice deadlines as short as six months.

Loewy Law Firm can act quickly to preserve key evidence before it becomes unavailable.

Compensation Available in a Trampoline Park Injury Case

Texas personal injury law allows injured parties to seek compensation for both economic and non-economic losses. Economic damages can cover losses like medical bills, missed income, and future care costs if the injury requires ongoing treatment.

Non-economic damages can cover losses that are harder to put a number on but no less significant: physical pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of activities, and loss of consortium for affected family members.

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 41.003(a) also allows for punitive (exemplary) damages in cases where the park’s conduct amounts to fraud, malice, or gross negligence, though those awards require a higher standard of proof.

Your “To Do” List After a Trampoline Park Injury

The decisions you make after an injury at a trampoline park directly affect what evidence is available to build a case. Here is what to do:

1. Get medical treatment immediately, even if the injury seems manageable at first. Fractures and spinal injuries are not always obvious right away.
2. Report the injury to park staff or management before you leave and ask for a copy of the incident report.
3. Document the scene with photos if possible, including the equipment involved, any visible defects, and the surrounding area.
4. Get the names and contact information of any witnesses.
5. Hold on to all medical records, bills, and receipts related to the injury.
6. Do not sign any documents from the park or its representatives before speaking with an attorney.
7. Contact Loewy Law Firm at (512) 280-0800 for a free consultation.

Austin Injury Victims Choose Loewy Law Firm

Being hurt at a trampoline park, or watching your child get hurt, is a disorienting experience, especially when you are handed a waiver at the door and told the park is not responsible. Adam Loewy has spent more than 20 years helping Austin families cut through that obstruction and recover compensation for injuries caused by negligence.

Loewy Law Firm keeps a smaller caseload than most personal injury firms so each client works directly with Adam, not a rotation of junior associates. Loewy Law Firm works on a contingency fee basis, with no charge for representation unless Loewy Law Firm wins compensation on your behalf.

Contact Loewy Law Firm at (512) 280-0800 for a free consultation about your trampoline park injury case.

Sources and Additional Reading

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/?tab=1&code=CP&chapter=CP.16&artSec=

https://www.aaos.org/aaos-home/newsroom/press-releases/trampoline-safety3

https://www.recenter.tamu.edu/articles/tierra-grande/Liability-Waivers-Enforceable

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/tx-court-of-appeals/1633975.html