A double bounce at Urban Air, a torn slide at Sky Zone, a bounce house lifted by wind. The waiver you signed does not end the case, and Florida law explains why.
Call 904-383-7448Reviewed by Graham W. Syfert, Esq., Florida Bar No. 39104, Of Counsel to the Soud Law Firm. Last updated .
In Florida, the liability waiver you signed at a trampoline park like Urban Air, Sky Zone, or Altitude does not end your case. A waiver cannot release a defendant from gross negligence, and under Kirton v. Fields, 997 So. 2d 349 (Fla. 2008), a parent could not sign away a minor child's claim at all. Section 744.301(3), Florida Statutes, later allowed a parent to release the inherent risks of a commercial activity, but it never reaches the park operator's own negligence, such as understaffing, failing to enforce one-jumper rules, or letting a foam pit bottom out. A general negligence claim must be filed within two years under section 95.11(5)(a), Florida Statutes. A claim against the maker of a defective trampoline, harness, or inflatable carries a four-year deadline under section 95.11(3)(d), Florida Statutes. Graham W. Syfert, Esq., who is Of Counsel to the Soud Law Firm, handles these claims in Jacksonville and across Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
You signed a waiver at the front desk. You think that ended your case. In Florida, it usually did not.
A pre-injury release cannot protect a business from its own gross negligence in Florida. Courts read these waivers strictly against the company that wrote them. When the conduct crosses from ordinary carelessness into reckless disregard for safety, the paper does not save the defendant.
The injured person is the one who matters here. A child lands wrong after a stranger double bounces him. A teenager falls through a torn slide onto concrete. A toddler is carried off in a bounce house by a gust of wind. Each of these is a real failure by an operator or a manufacturer, and each can support a claim.
If the case involves a defective trampoline bed, a failed climbing harness, or an inflatable that violated its own safety standard, the deadline is four years under section 95.11(3)(d), Florida Statutes. If the case is about how the park was run, the deadline is two years under section 95.11(5)(a), Florida Statutes. Move before the clock runs.
Commercial trampoline park injuries tend to be worse than backyard injuries. The equipment is rigid, the jumpers are packed together, and the energy is enormous.
When two people bounce out of phase, kinetic energy transfers from the heavier jumper to the lighter one. A study of the trampoline double bounce found that when an 80 kg adult shares a bed with a 25 kg child, the child can absorb energy equal to a fall of about 2.8 meters, more than nine feet, onto a solid surface.
The child's bones and ligaments load faster than the adult's. The result is the classic trampoline fracture, often a proximal tibia fracture with varus angulation, seen most in young children. This is why the one-jumper-per-trampoline rule exists, and why an operator who lets strangers share a court invites the exact injury the rule was meant to prevent.
Foam cubes degrade and compact over time. A pit that felt soft on opening day can let a jumper hit the hard floor underneath months later. This bottoming out causes spinal and head injuries.
The voluntary trampoline court standard ASTM F2970 addresses foam pits, impact surfaces, patron containment, and dismount hazards. Many operators have moved from foam pits to inflatable airbags because airbags do not compact the way foam does. A pit that no longer absorbs impact is a maintenance failure, not an inherent risk.
An inflatable that is not staked and tethered can become airborne in a gust with children inside. Researchers documented dozens of wind-related bounce house incidents over a span of years that caused hundreds of injuries and multiple deaths.
Manufacturer and rental instructions set a maximum safe wind speed, often well under 25 mph, and require ground anchoring. An operator who set up an inflatable in the wind, or skipped the stakes, ignored the very instructions that came with the product.
Use the operator's own name when you describe what happened. The specifics are what make a claim credible.
Sky Zone in Pensacola, Florida, was sued in 2017 after eleven-year-old Callaghan Williams suffered a compound leg fracture. Reporting at the time described eight 911 calls from that location between its July 2016 opening and January 2017, recounting injuries to an ankle, two knees, and the compound leg fracture. The suit alleged employees failed to warn about double bouncing and allowed multiple people on a single trampoline against Sky Zone's own rules.
These chains, including Urban Air, Sky Zone, and Altitude, operate under franchise and corporate structures. Identifying the correct entity, the franchisee, the franchisor, and any management company, is part of building the case. The brand on the sign is not always the company that signs the insurance check.
In November 2022 the Consumer Product Safety Commission warned consumers to stop using My Bouncer Little Castle bounce houses after a four-year-old boy was strangled when the unit's hoop entangled and twisted around his neck. CPSC said the hoops failed the ASTM voluntary standard meant to prevent head and neck entrapment.
In February 2007 Sportcraft recalled about 2,600 inflatable bounce houses, recall number 07-115, including the Castle Kingdom, Jump N Kingdom, and Bounce N Playhouse models, because the fan and its housing could break apart during use. When the product itself is defective or recalled, the case shifts from premises negligence toward product liability, with its own four-year clock and its own defendants.
Florida enforces liability waivers, but it reads them narrowly and against the business. Two limits matter most in trampoline park cases.
A waiver can release ordinary negligence. It cannot release gross negligence, which is conduct showing reckless disregard for the safety of others. A park that knew about a torn slide and kept the area open, or that ignored a pattern of injuries, may have crossed that line.
In the Cosmic Jump case in Harris County, Texas, a jury in 2016 awarded about 11.485 million dollars after sixteen-year-old Max Menchaca fell through a torn trampoline slide onto concrete and suffered a skull fracture and traumatic brain injury. The award included roughly 5.485 million in compensatory damages and 6 million in punitive damages, on evidence the park knew about the hole and neither closed the area nor warned. That is a Texas verdict on its own facts, not a Florida promise, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. It illustrates how gross conduct defeats the defense.
In Kirton v. Fields, 997 So. 2d 349 (Fla. 2008), the Florida Supreme Court held that a parent does not have authority to sign a pre-injury release on behalf of a minor child for a commercial activity. That decision protected children from waivers their parents were pressured to sign.
The Legislature responded with section 744.301(3), Florida Statutes, which lets a parent waive only the inherent risks of a commercial activity, and only with specific warning language in oversized type. The statute does not reach the negligence of the activity provider, its owners, employees, or agents. So when the injury came from understaffing, a failure to enforce the one-jumper rule, a compacted foam pit, or a torn court, the parent's signature does not bar the child's claim.
These cases are usually a blend. One theory targets how the place was operated. The other targets the equipment itself.
Premises and ordinary negligence covers staffing, supervision, enforcement of posted rules, maintenance of foam pits and netting, and the failure to warn. This is the heart of most trampoline park cases, and it carries a two-year deadline under section 95.11(5)(a), Florida Statutes.
Product liability targets the manufacturer of a defective trampoline bed, spring, frame pad, climbing harness, zip-line clip, or inflatable. Florida adopted strict products liability under Restatement (Second) of Torts section 402A in West v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 336 So. 2d 80 (Fla. 1976). A plaintiff need not prove carelessness, only that the product was defective and unreasonably dangerous when it left the maker's hands. Product claims carry a four-year deadline under section 95.11(3)(d), Florida Statutes.
The wrong deadline can end a good case. These niches generate both negligence and product claims, and the clocks differ.
A general negligence claim against an operator must be filed within two years under section 95.11(5)(a), Florida Statutes. A wrongful-death claim, which these injuries can become, must also be filed within two years under section 95.11(5)(e), Florida Statutes. A product-liability claim against a manufacturer must be filed within four years under section 95.11(3)(d), Florida Statutes.
Florida also has a statute of repose for products. Under section 95.031(2)(b), Florida Statutes, a product claim generally cannot be brought more than twelve years after delivery to the first purchaser, regardless of when the injury happened. For an older trampoline frame or a long-used inflatable, this can bar a product claim outright, so the age of the equipment matters.
If the injured person is a minor, special tolling rules can affect these periods, but do not assume the clock is paused. Treat the earliest possible deadline as the real one and act on it.
Trampoline parks overwrite their video, and equipment gets repaired or replaced fast. The evidence that proves gross negligence disappears first.
Send a litigation hold letter for the surveillance footage immediately, because many systems loop and erase within days. Demand the incident report, the 911 call records, the staff schedule for that hour, the inflation and anchoring logs for an inflatable, and the inspection and maintenance records for the specific court or foam pit.
Photograph the trampoline, the foam pit depth, the netting, the harness, or the inflatable before it is altered. Identify and quote the posted rules, because a violated one-jumper rule is powerful proof. Keep the defective product itself when possible, since a discarded harness or recalled inflatable can be the whole case.
More than one company often shares the blame, and Florida's comparative-fault rules make naming all of them important.
The defendants can include the franchisee that runs the location, the franchisor or brand, a separate management company, the property owner, the manufacturer of a defective trampoline or harness or inflatable, and the company that sold or rented a bounce house. Each may carry separate insurance.
Under section 768.81, Florida Statutes, as amended by HB 837 in 2023, Florida now follows modified comparative fault. A plaintiff found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing, and a recovery is reduced by the plaintiff's share of fault. Identifying every responsible party helps keep the injured person's share low and the available coverage high.
Jacksonville has plenty of lawyers who will mention trampoline parks. Few of them dig into the waiver and the gross-negligence analysis, and that is where these cases are won or lost.
The first question I ask is not whether you signed a waiver. You did. The question is what the staff did or failed to do, and whether the equipment matched its own standard. The waiver is a starting point, not a stop sign.
I am Of Counsel to the Soud Law Firm, and I am a member of the Florida and Georgia Bars. These attractions draw families from across Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, so a single trip to an Urban Air or a Sky Zone can raise the law of two states. If a defective trampoline or inflatable is involved, Georgia provides its own strict-liability route under OCGA section 51-1-11, with a separate ten-year repose period. Bring the waiver, the photos, and the medical records, and let the deadline drive the schedule. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What to do in the first days after a trampoline park or bounce house injury, while the evidence still exists.
Often yes. A Florida waiver can release ordinary negligence, but it cannot release gross negligence, which is reckless disregard for safety. Courts read these waivers strictly against the park. If the operator ignored a known hazard, like a torn court or a compacted foam pit, the signature you gave at the desk does not bar the claim. A general negligence case must be filed within two years under section 95.11(5)(a), Florida Statutes.
No. In Kirton v. Fields, 997 So. 2d 349 (Fla. 2008), the Florida Supreme Court held a parent cannot sign away a minor's claim for a commercial activity. Section 744.301(3), Florida Statutes, later let parents waive only the inherent risks of an activity, and it never reaches the park's own negligence such as understaffing or failing to enforce the one-jumper rule. A child injured by the park's negligence can still have a claim.
A double bounce happens when two jumpers bounce out of phase and energy transfers from the heavier person to the lighter one. A child can absorb force equal to a fall of more than nine feet onto a hard surface, producing the classic trampoline fracture of the lower leg. Parks have one-jumper-per-trampoline rules for exactly this reason. Letting strangers share a court can be negligence.
A general negligence claim against the operator must be filed within two years under section 95.11(5)(a), Florida Statutes. A wrongful-death claim also carries a two-year deadline under section 95.11(5)(e), Florida Statutes. A claim against the maker of a defective trampoline, harness, or inflatable carries a four-year deadline under section 95.11(3)(d), Florida Statutes. Do not wait.
Yes, if the product was defective. Florida adopted strict products liability in West v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 336 So. 2d 80 (Fla. 1976). You need not prove carelessness, only that the product was defective and unreasonably dangerous when it left the maker. The deadline is four years under section 95.11(3)(d), Florida Statutes, subject to the twelve-year repose period in section 95.031(2)(b), Florida Statutes.
It can be. Foam cubes compact and degrade, and a pit that no longer absorbs impact lets a jumper bottom out onto the floor beneath. The voluntary standard ASTM F2970 addresses foam pit safety and maintenance. A pit that was not maintained is a maintenance failure, not an inherent risk a waiver can cover, so the claim survives the release.
The operator who set it up may be. Inflatables must be staked and tethered, and manufacturer instructions set a maximum safe wind speed, often well under 25 mph. Wind-related bounce house incidents have caused hundreds of injuries and multiple deaths over the years. An operator who skipped the anchors or ran the unit in the wind ignored the product's own safety instructions.
In November 2022 the Consumer Product Safety Commission warned consumers to stop using My Bouncer Little Castle bounce houses after a four-year-old boy was strangled by the unit's entangled hoop. CPSC said the hoops failed the ASTM voluntary standard meant to prevent head and neck entrapment. A defective inflatable like this can support a product-liability claim against the maker and sellers.
Yes. Under section 768.81, Florida Statutes, as amended by HB 837 in 2023, Florida follows modified comparative fault. If you are found more than 50 percent at fault, you recover nothing, and otherwise your recovery is reduced by your share. Naming every responsible party, from the franchisee to the equipment maker, helps keep your share low and the available insurance high.
It can. These attractions draw families from Southeast Georgia, and a defective trampoline or inflatable can raise Georgia law. Georgia provides strict product liability under OCGA section 51-1-11, with a ten-year statute of repose, and a two-year personal-injury deadline under OCGA section 9-3-33. Graham W. Syfert, Esq., is a member of the Florida and Georgia Bars and is Of Counsel to the Soud Law Firm.
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Call: 904-383-7448