The Parent’s Complete Guide to Trampoline Park Injuries in City of Killeen

One Bounce. One Landing. One Life Changed.

“His feet hit the mat, and almost instantly his knees buckled down, and he just let out the worst scream that you could ever have heard from a child.” Those are the words of Kaitlin “Kati” Hill, a mother whose three-year-old son Colton suffered a broken femur and required a body cast after a trampoline incident. Her story, shared over 240,000 times, is the nightmare every parent in City of Killeen fears when they walk into a facility like Urban Air or Xtreme Jump.

At Attorney911, we know that what happened to Colton Hill isn’t an isolated accident. It is a predictable outcome of a multibillion-dollar industry that often prioritizes throughput and profit margins over the musculoskeletal safety of developing children. We are led by managing partner Ralph Manginello, who brings over 25 years of experience to every catastrophic injury case. Since 1998, our firm has held Fortune 500 companies accountable—from the BP Texas City refinery litigation to our current $10 million lawsuit against the University of Houston regarding rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney failure.

If your child was injured at a trampoline park in City of Killeen, you are likely facing an uphill battle against a complex corporate shield. You may have been told that the waiver you signed at a kiosk ends your case. It doesn’t. You need an attorney who can quote ASTM F2970 from memory and who understands the physics of a double-bounce multiplier. That is who we are. We provide nationwide authority with a deep Texas soul, serving families across Bell County from our offices in Houston, Austin, and Beaumont.

Call 1-888-ATTY-911 today. Our team is available 24/7. Hablamos Español. Lupe Peña habla con usted directamente — sin intérpretes.

Part I — Why City of Killeen Trampoline Parks Are a High-Risk Zone

City of Killeen is a vibrant, family-centric community. With the presence of Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood), we have a high density of young families, active-duty military personnel, and children. This demographic makes our region a prime market for major attractions like Urban Air Adventure Park on Jennifer Drive or the massive 60,000-square-foot Xtreme Jump in nearby Temple—the largest specialty jump facility in Central Texas.

On a Saturday afternoon in City of Killeen, these facilities reach maximum capacity. When the courts are packed with jumpers of all sizes, the inherent safety of the equipment matters less than the operational discipline of the staff. According to the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR 2024), up to 1.6% of all pediatric emergency department trauma visits are now trampoline-related. Nationally, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) tracks approximately 300,000 trampoline-related ER visits every year.

The Problem with “Toddler Time”

Many parks in the City of Killeen area offer “little jumper” or “toddler” sessions. While these are marketed as safe environments for small children, they often violate the core medical consensus of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Since 1999, and reaffirmed in 2012 and 2019, the AAP has advised that children under the age of six should never use trampolines. Their bones are not fully ossified, and their proprioception—their sense of body position—is not sufficiently developed to handle the chaotic rebound energy of a commercial jump bed.

When a City of Killeen park advertises to toddlers, they are inviting a demographic into a facility that was biomechanically engineered for teenagers and adults. We look at this not as an invitation for fun, but as a knowing violation of pediatric safety standards.

Part II — The Physics of Failure: How the Injury Happened

A trampoline is an energy storage device. When your child lands, the mat stretches and stores elastic potential energy, which is then returned to the jumper to propel them upward. This physics works beautifully for a solo jumper, but it becomes a weapon during a “multi-jumper” scenario.

The Double-Bounce: 4x Launch Force

The most common causing of injury at Urban Air Killeen or Xtreme Jump is the double-bounce. This occurs when two jumpers of different weights land near each other out of phase. When a 200-pound adult lands on the bed at the same instant a 60-pound child is pushing off, the energy transfer multiplies the child’s launch force by up to four times.

In this scenario, the child isn’t jumping anymore—they are being thrown by a catapult. The child’s body cannot control the descent, leading to the catastrophic landing mechanisms we see in City of Killeen trauma bays.

The Foam Pit Fallacy

Foam pits look soft, but they are frequently depth-defrauding traps. ASTM F2970, the standard written by the industry itself, requires specific depth and maintenance logs. However, foam cubes compact over time. A pit that hasn’t been “fluffed” or refilled properly may only have a few inches of effective deceleration before your child’s body strikes the hard concrete floor or a dense pad beneath.

We remember the case of Shawn Parker at the Altitude in Odessa, where the petition alleged the foso didn’t even have a trampoline bottom, but merely a dense foam pad. When your child lands head-first in a compacted pit in City of Killeen, they can suffer a cervical spine injury or SCIWORA (Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality).

Your child’s case depends on preserving evidence now. Surveillance DVRs in parks often overwrite in as little as 7 to 30 days. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 immediately so we can send a spoliation letter within 24 hours of retention.

Part III — The 5-Layer Corporate Stack: Who We Actually Sue

When a child is hurt at a park like Urban Air or Altitude, the parent is often told, “We are a franchise, you have to talk to the local owner.” This is a tactic designed to protect the deep pockets. We call this the corporate architecture of denial. We pierce this shield by naming every layer in the stack:

1. The Operator LLC: The specific company running the City of Killeen park.
2. The Franchisee: The multi-unit ownership group that controls several locations.
3. The Franchisor: Entities like Sky Zone Franchising LLC or Urban Air Franchise Holdings. They mandate the training and the safety floor.
4. The Brand Parent: After the 2023 consolidation, Sky Zone, Inc. (formerly CircusTrix) now parents Sky Zone, DEFY, and Rockin’ Jump. Urban Air is parented by Unleashed Brands, which was acquired by Seidler Equity Partners in 2023.
5. The Private Equity (PE) Sponsor: Firms like Palladium Equity Partners or Seidler Equity often approve the cost-cutting measures—like reducing attendant ratios—that directly lead to your child being double-bounced.

In the case of Damion Collins v. Urban Air Overland Park, an arbitrator awarded $15.6 million and held the franchisor, UATP Management LLC, responsible for 40% of the award. We use this exact “franchisor-on-the-hook” architecture to find the money for your child’s lifetime care.

Part IV — The Waiver Is Noise, Not a Wall

The most common question we hear in Killeen is: “I signed the waiver on the iPad, so I can’t sue, right?”

In Texas, this is a myth. While it is true that Texas courts sometimes enforce waivers for ordinary accidents, they are rarely ironclad in catastrophic cases. We attack the waiver on three primary fronts:

1. The Gross Negligence Carve-Out

Texas law, specifically the Moriel standard and the Cosmic Jump verdict, establishes that waivers cannot block claims for gross negligence. Gross negligence is “conscious indifference” to a known risk. If a City of Killeen park ignored a torn mat, understaffed their courts during a peak Saturday rush, or failed to rotate foam blocks for months, they were grossly negligent. A signed paper does not give them a license to be reckless.

2. The Munoz Minor-Waiver Rule

Our home state has a powerful protection for children. In Munoz v. II Jaz, Inc. (1993), the Houston 14th Court of Appeals held that a parent generally cannot sign away a minor child’s personal injury cause of action. While the parent’s derivative claims might be affected, the child’s own right to recovery remains active.

3. The Delfingen Bilingual Defeat

With City of Killeen’s diverse population, many families speak Spanish as their primary language. If you were handed an English-only kiosk waiver and pressured to sign it quickly while your kids were excited to jump, the agreement may violate the Delfingen US-Texas doctrine. If you didn’t have a meaningful opportunity to understand what you were signing, the contract is potentially void.

Lupe Peña can analyze your waiver formation in Spanish immediately. Llame al (888) 288-9911.

Part V — Catastrophic Injuries We See in City of Killeen

Trampoline injuries are not “freak accidents.” They are a documented category of pediatric trauma.

Salter-Harris Growth Plate Fractures

In an eight-year-old, a “broken ankle” is rarely just a broken ankle. It is often a Salter-Harris Type II fracture of the distal tibia. Because the growth plate (physis) is destroyed or damaged, the bone may not grow correctly or straight over the next decade. This requires years of orthopedic monitoring and possible corrective surgery. We build a Life-Care Plan (LCP) that accounts for every specialist visit your child will need until they are eighteen and beyond.

Vertebral Artery Dissection (Spinal-Cord Stroke)

The Elle Yona case (June 2024), which went viral with over 27 million views, brought attention to a terrifying mechanism. A backflip into a foam pit can cause a dissection of the vertebral artery, leading to a spinal-cord infarction or stroke. If your child or teen felt sudden back pain after a jump and was initially told they were having a “panic attack,” get a second neurological opinion immediately.

Extended-Jumping Rhabdomyolysis

If your child jumps for 90 to 120 minutes in a hot indoor environment like Urban Air Killeen without sufficient hydration, they are at risk for exertional rhabdomyolysis. This is the breakdown of muscle tissue that floods the bloodstream with myoglobin. Symptoms include dark, “cola-colored” urine and extreme muscle swelling. We are currently litigating a $10 million UH hazing case involving this exact pathology. We know the experts, and we know how to document the kidney failure that follows a park’s failure to provide rest protocols.

Part VI — How We Build Your Case Against the Chains

Most personal injury firms treat a trampoline case like a car wreck. We treat it like a corporate accountability mission. Our 10-step case-build includes:

• 24-Hour Spoliation: certified-mail demand for surveillance, incident reports, and metadata.
• ASTM Compliance Audit: cross-referencing staff time-clocks against jumper counts to prove the monitor-to-jumper ratio was violated.
• Digital Forensics: Interrogating the DVR access logs when a park claims the video “glitched” or was “lost.”
• Expert Panel: retaining biomechanical engineers to model the double-bounce and life-care planners to calculate future medical costs.
• Corporate Archeology: pulling the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) Item 3 to find similar injuries at other locations in the chain.

We advance every cost. The expert biomechanist who reconstructs the accident at the City of Killeen Urban Air costs thousands. We pay for it. You pay nothing unless we win.

Frequently Asked Questions for Killeen Families

Can I sue if I signed the waiver at Urban Air Killeen?

Yes. Texas courts routinely hold that waivers do not apply to gross negligence. Additionally, per the Munoz rule, your child’s claim for their own injuries generally cannot be signed away by a parent in a pre-injury waiver. If the park violated ASTM F2970 or failed to follow its own operations manual, the waiver is often legally irrelevant.

How long do I have to sue a trampoline park in Texas?

The standard statute of limitations for personal injury is two years from the date of the injury. For minors, this is often tolled until they turn 18, giving them until age 20 to file. However, waiting is a tactical mistake. The surveillance footage of your child’s injury at a Killeen park is likely overwritten in 30 days or less. The case is won or lost by what we preserve this week.

What should I do if my child has dark urine after a trampoline park visit?

Go to the emergency room immediately. Dark brown or “cola-colored” urine, combined with intense muscle pain, is a hallmark sign of exertional rhabdomyolysis. Tell the ER doctor your child was jumping for an extended period at a trampoline park. Ask specifically for a creatine kinase (CK) blood test. If the levels are elevated, call us. We know exactly how to handle institutional liability for rhabdo.

Is the “friendly check-in call” from the park’s insurance company a good sign?

No. This is a trained insurance tactic. The adjuster wants a recorded statement before you have a lawyer. They will ask you to “walk through what happened” as a way to trick you into admitting your child wasn’t following the rules. Our associate Lupe Peña used to sit on the other side of that table. He knows their script. Don’t speak to them. Have them call us.

What if my child was hurt on a neighbor’s backyard trampoline in Killeen?

These cases fall under the “attractive nuisance” doctrine. If a homeowner has a trampoline that is easily accessible to neighborhood kids and doesn’t have a locked gate or enclosure, they are liable for injuries even to uninvited children. Be aware that many City of Killeen homeowners’ insurance policies have “trampoline exclusions,” but we look for every layer, including manufacturer defect claims.

Beyond the Park: Backyard Trampoline and Manufacturer Liability

While commercial parks have a high visible risk, backyard trampolines—manufactured by Jumpking, Skywalker, or Bouncepro (Walmart’s private label)—cause the majority of injuries. In City of Killeen neighborhoods, equipment is exposed to extreme Texas UV radiation and heat, which degrades the polypropylene netting and mat fabric.

If your child was hurt because a net failed or a spring weld broke, we analyze the manufacturer’s Instructions for Use (IFUs). Many manufacturers sell products they know the AAP warned against since 1999. In Anderson v. Hedstrom Corp., a federal court ruled that the availability of a safer alternative design (like an enclosure) matters. If your child was on a product that failed its own safety specifications, the manufacturer—and the retailer like Walmart or Amazon—is on the hook under strict products liability.

Why Choose Us? The Moat of Authority.

We aren’t a generalist law firm. We are the firm that memorized the industry standard while other firms were looking at the waiver.

• Lupe Peña’s Advantage: One of our attorneys used to defend these parks. He knows where they hide the incident reports and where their waivers are full of holes.
• The UH Rhabdo Bridge: We currently litigate a massive rhabdomyolysis case. We have the medical experts ready for your child’s muscle-breakdown claim.
• BP Toughness: Ralph Manginello has taken on multinational oil giants. The private equity groups behind Sky Zone and Urban Air don’t intimidate us.
• Contingency Discipline: We treat your child as family. As client Chad Harris said, “You are NOT a pest to them and you are NOT just some client… You are FAMILY to them.”

Your child’s recovery starts with a preservation letter. We send it by certified mail to the Killeen park operator and their corporate franchisor within 24 hours of your call.

Call 1-888-ATTY-911 now. We are standing by to hear your family’s story. If you were injured at a trampoline park in City of Killeen or anywhere in Texas, the fight for accountability begins today.

1-888-ATTY-911. Hablamos Español. No fee unless we win.