In Harris County, Texas, a jury awarded $11.485 million — including $6 million in punitive damages — against the operator of Cosmic Jump in Houston after a 16-year-old fell through a torn trampoline slide onto concrete and suffered a traumatic brain injury. The waiver was signed. The jury found gross negligence anyway. That is the largest reported jury verdict against a U.S. commercial trampoline park, and it happened right here in our backyard, just a short drive from the Town of Westlake. It is exactly the kind of case we are built to handle.
When your child is injured at a trampoline park, you are often told that the piece of paper you signed at the front desk ended your right to seek justice. You are told it was a “freak accident.” You are told that “kids will be kids.” At Attorney911, we know the truth that the insurance adjusters and corporate risk managers for Sky Zone, Urban Air, and Altitude don’t want you to hear: a trampoline injury is never an accident. It is the predictable output of a business decision.
We are The Manginello Law Firm. Led by Ralph Manginello, who brings over 25 years of trial experience and federal court admission, we have spent decades making Fortune 500 corporations pay for the damage they cause. Our team includes Lupe Peña, a former insurance defense attorney who used to write and defend the very waivers these parks rely on today. He knows exactly where the holes are because he helped dig them. We represent families in the Town of Westlake and throughout Tarrant County who are facing the life-altering consequences of a single bad landing. If your child is in a hospital bed at Cook Children’s or Children’s Medical Center Dallas, we are the firm that knows how to find the money upstream.
The Tarrant County Trampoline Reality: Proximity to Power
The Town of Westlake sits at a unique intersection of the trampoline industry. We are minutes away from Grapevine, the corporate headquarters of Urban Air Adventure Park. We are neighbor to Fort Worth, the headquarters of Altitude Trampoline Park. These multi-million dollar conglomerates make decisions in their corporate boardrooms that affect the safety of every child in the Town of Westlake.
When a corporate parent decides to cut staffing ratios to hit a quarterly margin target, or when they delay the replacement of degraded foam-pit blocks to save on capital expenses, they are deciding that your child’s safety is a negotiable cost. With approximately 17 Urban Air locations and four Altitude parks across the DFW metro — including Hurst and North Fort Worth — Tarrant County is a saturated market. This saturation creates price pressure, which leads to staffing pressure, which leads to the collapse of the attendant-to-jumper ratios required by ASTM F2970.
We don’t get intimidated by the fleet of corporate lawyers these chains hire. We have already gone head-to-head with some of the largest defendants in the world, from BP after the Texas City refinery explosion to Walmart and Amazon. The parent conglomerates behind national trampoline park chains — Sky Zone, Inc. (backed by Palladium Equity Partners) and Unleashed Brands (the parent of Urban Air, recently acquired by Seidler Equity Partners) — operate from a finite playbook. We’ve read it cover to cover.
Part I: What Happened? The Physics and the Standards
The industry knows that trampolines are dangerous. They have known since the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) first advised against recreational trampoline use in 1999. They knew when the AAP reaffirmed that position in 2012 and again in 2019. They even knew when they wrote their own safety standard, ASTM F2970, to establish a minimum safety floor for commercial courts.
The Double-Bounce: A Physics Trap
The “double-bounce” is the signature injury mechanism at commercial parks. It occurs when a larger, heavier jumper lands on a trampoline bed just as a smaller child is pushing off. The energy transfer from the heavier mass to the lighter one multiplies the child’s launch force by up to 4x. The child isn’t jumping anymore; they are being launched like a projectile.
ASTM F2970’s age-separation and weight-separation provisions were written specifically to prevent this. When a park in the Town of Westlake allows a 200-pound adult and a 60-pound child on the same court, they are violating the standard their own industry created. As a result, children arrive at pediatric trauma centers with comminuted femoral shaft fractures or Salter-Harris growth plate injuries that will require a decade of monitoring.
Foam Pits: The Illusion of Softness
Foam pits look like a safe harbor. In reality, they are one of the most dangerous attractions in the building. A 2012 study by Eager and the 2024 Teague et al. study in Pediatrics confirm that foam pits and high-performance jumping areas have the highest injury rates — nearly 2.11 per 1,000 jumper-hours.
When foam blocks are not rotated or replaced, they compact. A pit that looks full may only have 4 inches of clearance over a concrete floor when ASTM F2970 requires 8 or more. This is the mechanism that causes cervical spinal cord injuries. The 2012 death of Ty Thomasson at SkyPark Phoenix was driven by a foam pit only 2 feet, 8 inches deep. The industry responded by migrating to airbags, yet many older parks in Texas still rely on these “degrade-on-impact” pits because they are cheaper to maintain than a pressurized stunt bag.
The International Standard the U.S. Won’t Adopt
While U.S. parks operate under a voluntary regime, the International Organization for Standardization published EN ISO 23659:2022 in November 2022. This standard is mandatory across Europe and covers everything from design to operations and airbags. In Town of Westlake, Sky Zone and Urban Air are operating to a “floor” that the rest of the developed world treats as an unacceptable danger.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911 if your child has been injured. The park’s surveillance video is being overwritten as we speak. Our spoliation letter goes out within 24 hours of your call — every time, no exceptions.
Part II: Who is Responsible? Piercing the Corporate Shield
When we sue a park, the defense attorney will almost always point to the local LLC and claim that “corporate” has no involvement. This is a shell game. We identify every layer of the five-layer defendant stack to ensure we reach the deepest pockets.
- Operator LLC: The single-location business on the lease in Town of Westlake.
- Franchisee: The multi-unit group that may own several parks across Tarrant County.
- Franchisor: Sky Zone Franchising LLC or Urban Air Franchise Holdings. They mandate the operations manual and the training (or lack thereof).
- Brand Parent: Sky Zone, Inc. (formerly CircusTrix LLC) or Unleashed Brands.
- Private Equity Sponsor: Firms like Palladium Equity or Seidler Equity.
In the 2023 Damion Collins v. Urban Air Overland Park arbitration, the award was $15.6 million. The arbitrator found a “systemic failure” to implement safety changes. Crucially, the franchisor (UATP Management LLC) was held responsible for 40% of that award. We use this precedent to dismantle the defense that the corporate office isn’t liable. If the franchisor retained control over the training or the equipment specifications, they are on the hook.
The Employee Training Gap
The person watching your child at a jump park is often a 17-year-old making minimum wage with less than four hours of training. They are not required by Texas law to be CPR certified. They are not required to have AED training. In early 2025, Sky Zone Tukwila was cited and fined $68,000 by Washington’s L&I for overworking teen employees and safety lapses. This is a chain-wide culture. A park that breaks child labor laws for their own staff is the same park that chooses not to enforce ASTM F2970’s one-jumper-per-bed rule for your family.
Part III: Dealing with the Texas Waiver
Think the waiver you signed at the kiosk means you can’t sue? Think again. The Texas waiver is not the absolute shield they want you to believe it is. Our associate attorney, Lupe Peña, spent years defending these cases. He knows exactly how to take them apart.
The Gross Negligence Carve-Out
Under Texas law, specifically the Moriel standard, a waiver cannot release a defendant from gross negligence. If we can prove the park had subjective awareness of the risk (like a torn trampoline mat or known understaffing) and proceeded with conscious indifference, the waiver is voided. This is exactly what happened in the $11.485 million Cosmic Jump verdict.
The Munoz Doctrine: Minor Rights
In Texas, the 1993 case Munoz v. II Jaz Inc. established that a parent cannot pre-waively sign away a minor child’s personal injury cause of action. While the 2025 Texas Supreme Court ruling in Cerna v. Pearland Urban Air enforced a delegation clause in an arbitration agreement, the fundamental right to seek damages for the minor often survives. We look for every attack vector: was the signature by a non-custodial parent or grandparent? Did the park provide an English-only waiver to a Spanish-speaking family? Under the Delfingen doctrine, an inability to read the contract can render it unenforceable.
Hablamos Español. Llame al 1-888-ATTY-911. Lupe Peña habla con usted directamente — sin intérpretes y sin demoras.
Part IV: Catastrophic Injuries — The Medical Reality
When we talk about trampoline injuries, we aren’t talking about “accidents.” We are talking about anatomy meeting extreme force.
Pediatric Bone Biomechanics
Children’s bones are still developing. Their growth plates (physes) are cartilage and represent the weakest point in the musculoskeletal system. A Salter-Harris Type II fracture at age eight is not “a broken ankle.” It is a disruption that could lead to a permanent limb-length discrepancy years later when the child reaches skeletal maturity.
The Cervical Spine and SCIWORA
Pediatric cervical spines are highly mobile. This mobility leads to SCIWORA (Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality). A child can land head-first in a Town of Westlake foam pit, have a normal CT scan at the hospital, and still suffer from a spinal cord injury that doesn’t show up until hours later. We work with pediatric neurologists who understand the AJR/R3J 2024 “Pediatric Trampoline Injuries Head to Toe” findings — where up to 1.6% of all pediatric ED trauma is trampoline-related.
Rhabdomyolysis: The Under-Reported Threat
Extended jumping for 60 to 90 minutes in a hot, crowded indoor park can lead to exertional rhabdomyolysis. This is the breakdown of muscle tissue that releases myoglobin into the blood, potentially causing acute kidney failure. We are currently litigating a $10 million lawsuit against the University of Houston regarding this exact pathology. We know the experts, we know the science, and we know how to document the CK levels that prove the park’s hydration and rest-break policies were non-existent.
Part V: The Evidence Clock is Running
In the Town of Westlake, what you do in the 72 hours after an injury determines whether your case lives or dies. The park’s risk management team is already moving to protect themselves before the ambulance even leaves the parking lot.
- Surveillance DVRs: Most systems overwrite every 7 to 30 days. We demand the hardware be preserved, not just a “clip” the manager chooses to show.
- Waiver Kiosks: Database version histories are frequently purged on a 72-hour rolling cycle. We use Wayback Machine captures to prove what the waiver actually said on the day you were there.
- Incident Reports: We subpoena every version of the report. The “final” version is often a sanitized revision of the draft filled out by the teen attendant on the night of the incident.
When we send our spoliation letter, we include a 10-section preservation demand. We don’t just “gather evidence” — we forensic-image the DVR, subpoena the franchisor’s Item 3 FDD litigation history, and pull the TDI inspection records for any Class B inflatables.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911 today. Our spoliation letter is already drafted and goes out within 24 hours of your retention. We advanced every expense—the biomechanist, the life-care planner, the orthopedic specialist. You pay nothing unless we win.
Frequently Asked Questions for Town of Westlake Families
What should I do if my child broke their leg at a Sky Zone or Urban Air in the DFW metro?
Get medical care immediately. Do not move your child if there is any chance of a neck or back injury. Demand the manager call 911 — don’t let them convince you to drive to an urgent care yourself. As a Tripadvisor reviewer for Urban Air Southlake warned, some staff are specifically instructed to downplay injuries and NOT call 911. Once your child is stable, take photos of the court where it happened and any torn padding. Then, call us before the surveillance video is overwritten.
Can I sue the trampoline park if I signed a waiver in Town of Westlake?
Yes. Texas law has multiple escape valves. Under the Munoz rule, a parent’s signature generally cannot waive a minor child’s right to sue for their own injuries. Furthermore, if the park was grossly negligent—violating ASTM F2970 standards on purpose to save money—the waiver does not apply to those claims. We conduct a five-vector analysis on every waiver to find the hole the insurance carrier doesn’t want us to see.
Is the trampoline park insurer on my side?
Never. They will call you within 48 hours and sound extremely friendly. They may offer to pay your ER co-pay or give you a $3,000 “medical payment.” This is a Med-Pay Trojan Horse. If you sign that paper or deposit that check, you might be releasing every other million-dollar claim your child has. Do not give a recorded statement. Tell them you are represented by the Manginello Law Firm and hang up.
How long do I have to sue for a trampoline injury in Texas?
The standard statute of limitations is two years from the date of the injury. For minors, this is often tolled until their 18th birthday, giving them until age 20. However, the evidence is not tolled. If you wait years to file, the witnesses are gone, the equipment has been replaced, and the video was deleted a decade ago. We file early because that is how you win.
Why is the “Glow Night” at trampoline parks more dangerous?
“Glow in the Dark” events use UV blacklights that compromise depth perception. Monitors have an even harder time seeing small children in the dark, yet parks rarely increase the attendant-to-jumper ratio during these events. Lighting-restricted events are a common contributing factor in multi-jumper collisions and bad landings.
Who is liable for an Urban Air Sky Rider or zipline injury?
Urban Air’s Sky Rider has a documented chain-wide pattern of strangulations and harness failures, including incidents in Georgia, Illinois, and Florida. In these cases, we sue the operator, the franchisor (UATP Management), and the pass-through manufacturer (UA Attractions, LLC). If your child fell from a harness, we pull the maintenance logs to see if the attendant failed the non-delegable duty to secure the fall-protection equipment.
Part VI: Why Attorney911? The Moat Statement
Most personal injury firms handle a trampoline case like any other slip-and-fall. We don’t. We built our practice around this specific industry pattern. Ralph Manginello brings 25 years of federal courtroom experience to the table. Our firm includes an attorney who used to defend these same companies, giving us an insider’s view of the adjuster’s script.
We represent families, and as our client Chad Harris said, “You are NOT just some client… You are FAMILY to them.” We take that seriously. We represent the parent at the hospital bedside watching a surgeon explain that their nine-year-old’s growth plate has been destroyed. We represent the teen whose vertebral artery dissection was misdiagnosed as a panic attack. We represent you.
We’ve gone head-to-head with multinational corporations and made them pay. The private equity sponsors behind these chains — Palladium and Seidler — don’t bring anything we haven’t beaten before. We advanced the expert costs, we handled the complex corporate archeology, and we worked on a contingency basis.
Your child’s case depends on what is preserved this week. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 now. Hablamos Español. Our Texas offices in Houston, Austin, and Beaumont anchor a nationwide practice that never backs down from a fight. The case starts now.
Verbatim Parent-Query Resource: The Anti-Myth Guide
Myth: “Trampoline parks are safe because they are regulated.”
The Truth: Texas has no state-level trampoline park inspection law. They are effectively unregulated by the state. They are only subject to the rules they choose to follow.
Myth: “I can’t sue because my kid signed up for the risk.”
The Truth: Assumption of risk covers inherent dangers, like a sore muscle. It does not cover a park’s decision to have a foam pit that is too shallow or an attendant who was looking at their phone.
Myth: “If the other kid caused it, the park isn’t at fault.”
The Truth: The park has a non-delegable duty to supervise. If they allowed a 15-year-old on the same bed as your 5-year-old, the park created the hazard. They are the responsible party.
Myth: “I don’t need a lawyer until I know how bad the injury is.”
The Truth: You need a lawyer before the video is deleted. Even if the injury seems minor now, you cannot prove it three months from now if the evidence has been destroyed.
What happened to your child at a jump park wasn’t an accident. It was the predictable output of a business model that prioritizes throughput over safety. The AAP has been warning about these hazards since 1999. ASTM F2970 was written by the industry to establish a floor, and the park chose to operate beneath it. The waiver was drafted by lawyers who count on you giving up.
Attorney911 was built for exactly this fight. Ralph Manginello brings quarter-century trial expertise. Lupe Peña knows the defense playbook from the inside. We advance every expense — the forensic engineer, the pediatric orthopedic surgeon, the life-care planner. You pay nothing unless we win.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hablamos Español. Your child’s recovery fund stays intact. Our spoliation letter goes out within 24 hours. The time to act is right now.
