Trampoline parks have grown in popularity in recent years, as fun places for kids and families to spend an afternoon or, perhaps, host a birthday party. However, these attractions can be dangerous if they are not properly designed, supervised, or maintained. As experienced personal injury attorneys, we have seen children and adults alike suffer catastrophic, life-changing injuries due to trampoline park negligence.  Many parents are often unaware of the dangers present when the trampoline park or equipment manufacturer(s) providing the jump equipment are negligent. This blog series will discuss the following different types of trampoline park negligence:

1. Trampoline Park Injury Caused by Improperly Trained Staff
2. Trampoline Park Injury Caused by Defective or Improperly Installed/Maintained Equipment
3. Trampoline Park Injury Caused by Insufficient Staff Supervision
4. Trampoline Park Injury Caused by Failure to Warn or Enforce Safety Rules

Ways in Which a Trampoline Park Can Be Negligent:

Although jumping at a trampoline park comes with its own known risks, trampoline parks can be held liable for an injury you or your family suffers at the park if the park, or its staff, were negligent.  As we have explained previously, when a person or corporation is negligent, it means they had a duty to you—to provide a safe jump environment, for example—that they breached, and their failure to fulfill that duty caused your injury.  It is also important to understand how Florida’s new comparative negligence law works.  In the context of a trampoline park injury, if the park or its staff fails to meet certain standards of care and safety, and that negligence causes injuries or accidents, they can be found liable.  Here are some ways in which we have found a trampoline park might be considered negligent:

1.    Inadequate Staff Training:  If the trampoline park fails to provide its staff with proper training, instructions, drills, or rules to enable them to adequately supervise and instruct jumpers how to use the equipment safely and/or respond to a dangerous or emergency situation, the trampoline park could be considered negligent.

2.   Defective or Improperly Installed/Maintained Equipment: If the equipment provided to the trampoline park is defective—meaning, it is not properly designed, or does not perform properly, to prevent injuries—the equipment manufacturer/distributor may be held liable.  However, even if equipment is defective, the trampoline park can still be found jointly liable if equipment such as trampoline beds, springs, or safety netting is not properly installed, inspected, or maintained as trampoline parks have an independent responsibility to regularly inspect and maintain their equipment.

3.    Insufficient Staff Supervision: Trampoline parks are responsible for ensuring that an adequate number of trained staff members are present at all times to supervise jumpers and enforce safety rules. Inadequate supervision can lead to unsafe behavior or delayed response to accidents.

4.    Failure to Warn or Enforce Safety Rules: Trampoline parks typically have rules and guidelines in place to ensure the safety of participants (e.g., limits on the number of jumpers per trampoline, restrictions on certain maneuvers). Negligence can occur if these warnings/rules are not enforced or communicated clearly to patrons.

What Type of Training Is Required and Who Makes That Determination?

Inadequate training is more common than you think.  Employees who help operate trampoline parks and supervise jumpers are often watching dozens of jumpers at a time.  They must know the max capacity (i.e., safe number of jumpers) for each apparatus, the types of maneuvers that can, or cannot, be safely implemented, and the methods for safely using, mounting, and exiting different structures and equipment.  They also have to sufficiently instruct and warn jumpers of dangers and instruct those who are violating the rules and safety precautions.  When the possible end result is a catastrophic, life-changing injury, what is “reasonable” in the way of training will be determined by a jury of your peers, fellow parents, and Pensacola citizens just like you. 

If the trampoline park simply handed out a single sheet of paper at the time of hiring with all the rules for the entire park, obtained a signature on the sheet, then stuck it in the employee's file, would you consider that reasonable?  Would it be better if the park held brief safety meetings each day upon opening, or weekly, or following any accident?  Would it be better if they paired younger employees with more experienced employees during an introductory training period?  What if they quizzed employees regularly on rules and safety precautions or ran safety drills?  Whether a party is negligent in certain circumstances is always a tedious fact-intensive inquiry, but the beauty of our civil justice system is that the answer to that question is determined by people and parents just like you.  And people expect a trampoline park, that is accepting payment to invite members of the public in to safely use their trampolines and other apparatuses, to act reasonably when training its staff to monitor and supervise multiple jumpers at once. 

How a Trampoline Park's Failure to Adequately Train Can Cause Injury

Here is one example.  Let's assume Braden, an eight-year-old boy, is jumping in a quad of multiple square trampolines, each of which must be occupied by only one jumper at a time.  One staff member is supervising the quad.  Although the staff member should have been trained to keep a constant watch on all jumpers, ensure each jumper stays on his or her trampoline, and instruct or remove jumpers who fail to follow these rules, what if that training did not occur or, if it did, was arguably not adequate?  Assume as a result of this failure to train, the supervising employee not only failed to prohibit multiple jumpers on each trampoline square he repeatedly encouraged it.  This resulted in a jumper joining Bobby on his trampoline, double-bouncing him out of control, and causing him to land on an unprotected support structure resulting in a complex fracture of his femur.  In this scenario, we would ask a jury to find the trampoline park acted negligently in failing to properly train that staff member and that the park's negligence caused Braden's injury. 

If You've Been Injured at a Trampoline Park – Know Your Rights

Trampoline parks can appear to be fun, adventurous places to spend a few hours, particularly on rainy or bad weather days.  However, the dangers are quite real, and the injuries can be expensive and potentially life-changing.  If you or your child has sustained a trampoline park injury, you may be able to seek compensation.  You should contact an experienced personal injury attorney like our attorneys at Taylor, Warren, Weidner, Hancock & Barnes, to discuss your case, your rights, and understand what steps you should take to preserve your claim.  We never require any fee, cost, or obligation to talk about your case and answer your questions.  Contact us.