“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.”
That is what Kaitlin “Kati” Hill told ABC News after her three-year-old son, Colton, suffered a broken femur at a trampoline park. Her warning, shared hundreds of thousands of times across the country, resonates with every family in the Town of Winona that has experienced the sudden, violent transition from a Saturday afternoon of “family fun” to a months-long journey of surgeries, casts, and specialized pediatric care. Kati ended her warning with five words that we hear from parents in our office every week: “We had no idea.”
We are Attorney911, The Manginello Law Firm. We serve families across the Town of Winona and throughout Smith County who are dealing with the aftermath of a catastrophic trampoline injury. We wrote this guide because the trampoline park industry in Texas operates in a regulatory vacuum, relying on families to believe that a signature on a kiosk waiver ends their legal rights.
It does not.
Our founding partner, Ralph Manginello, has spent over 25 years fighting for the victims of catastrophic injuries. He has gone head-to-head with international corporations like BP after the Texas City refinery explosion and has litigated against Fortune 500 giants like Walmart, Amazon, FedEx, and UPS. We bring that same federal-court-tested aggression to every trampoline case we file. We are joined by associate attorney Lupe Peña, a native Spanish speaker who used to sit on the other side of the table—defending insurance companies and the very recreational businesses we now sue. He know their playbook because he helped write it. Now, he uses that insider knowledge to dismantle their defenses for our clients.
What happened to your child in the Town of Winona wasn’t an accident. It was the predictable output of a system that puts margin ahead of your child’s safety. Whether your injury happened at an Urban Air in the Tyler metro area, an iJump in East Texas, or on a backyard trampoline in a Winona neighborhood, your family deserves an advocate who understands the physics, the medicine, and the specific corporate structures designed to shield these companies from accountability.
The Business of Risk: Why Trampoline Injuries Happen in the Town of Winona
Families in the Town of Winona often travel into the Tyler area or Longview to visit major trampoline park franchises like Urban Air Adventure Park or regional specialty centers like iJump Tyler. These facilities are no longer just “jump parks.” They are massive family entertainment centers (FECs) that bolt on high-risk attractions like electric go-karts, indoor zipline coasters (like the Sky Rider), climbing walls over concrete subfloors, and ninja warrior courses.
While the marketing materials promise “safe family fun,” the internal reality is different. The trampoline park industry in the United States operates under a voluntary consensus standard called ASTM F2970. This standard wasn’t written by the government; the industry wrote it for itself. When a park in Smith County violates these rules—when they understaff the courts, ignore age-separation requirements, or fail to maintain a foam pit—they are operating below the very safety floor they admitted was necessary.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has been clear since 1999: trampolines do not belong in a recreational setting for children. This position was reaffirmed in 2012 and updated again in 2019. Despite twenty-five years of medical consensus and repeated warnings from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regarding the 300,000+ trampoline-related ER visits annually, these parks continue to expand across East Texas.
The Physics of the Double-Bounce
The most common mechanism of injury we see in the Town of Winona is the double-bounce. Science tells us that when a 200-pound adult lands on a trampoline bed at the same instant a 60-pound child is pushing off, energy transfer can multiply the child’s launch force by up to 4x. The child isn’t jumping; the child is being thrown by a catapult.
This is exactly why ASTM F2970 requires parks to operationalize weight and age separation. When an Urban Air or a Sky Zone allows a teenager and a toddler on the same court, they are accepting a known injury pattern. As the 4.9★ reviews from our clients like Chad Harris confirm, “You are NOT just some client… You are FAMILY to them.” We treat your child’s injury with the technical and medical seriousness it deserves, utilizing biomechanical engineers to model exactly how the park’s failure to enforce these ratios led to your child’s broken bone or spinal injury.
The Smith County Regulatory Vacuum
Parents in the Town of Winona are often shocked to learn that Texas has no statewide trampoline park safety act. While the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) regulates “Class B” inflatable rides under Texas Occupations Code Chapter 2151—including bungee trampolines and the Sky Rider ziplines you see at Urban Air—the core trampoline decks themselves are statutorily excluded under § 2151.002(1)(C)(iv).
This means as of 2026, Texas has no mandatory state-level inspection for the trampoline beds where most injuries occur. There is no mandatory injury reporting to the state. This regulatory gap is one of the strongest negligence arguments we make: the park is operating in a rule-vacuum, and they chose to fill that vacuum with internal policies that prioritize throughput over child safety.
Contrast this with the international standard, EN ISO 23659:2022, which is mandatory across Europe. Or Australia’s mandatory standards. The U.S. remains an outlier, leaving families in the Town of Winona at the mercy of private-equity-backed conglomerates like Sky Zone, Inc. (formerly CircusTrix, backed by Palladium Equity Partners) and Unleashed Brands (the parent of Urban Air, backed by Seidler Equity Partners).
The Waiver Is Not a Wall: Protecting Winona Families
When you entered the park in Tyler or Longview, you likely signed a waiver on an electronic kiosk. You may have been told by the staff that this signature prevents you from ever filing a claim. In Texas, that is a half-truth designed to keep you from calling an attorney.
Why Your Waiver May Be Void
Under Texas law, there are several ways we dismantle a trampoline park waiver:
- The Minor-Waiver Rule (Munoz v. II Jaz, Inc.): In Texas, a parent cannot generally sign away a minor child’s personal cause of action. While the parent’s own claims for medical bills might be affected, the child’s right to recover for their own pain, suffering, and permanent impairment typically survives.
- The Gross Negligence Carve-Out: No waiver in Texas can release a company from gross negligence. As the Landmark Cosmic Jump $11.485M verdict in Harris County proved, when a park has actual knowledge of a defect—like a torn mat or a shallow foam pit—and proceeds with conscious indifference, the waiver is shredded.
- The Fair-Notice Doctrine (Dresser Industries): To be enforceable in Texas, a release must be “conspicuous.” It must use the word “negligence” specifically and be formatted in a way that attracts the attention of a reasonable person. Buried kiosk text often fails this test.
- Signer Authority (Texas Family Code § 153.073): We see many cases in Winona where a grandparent, an aunt, or a family friend signed the waiver at a birthday party. Under Texas law, only a legal guardian or conservator has the authority to sign for a child. A non-guardian signature makes the waiver a legal nullity.
- Bilingual Formation (Delfingen Doctrine): If your family’s primary language is Spanish and the park provided an English-only iPad waiver without translation, you may not have formed a valid contract. Lupe Peña handles these Hablamos Español cases directly, ensuring the language gap doesn’t become an insurance company’s shield.
Call us at 1-888-ATTY-911. We used to represent the insurance companies. Now we make them pay. That piece of paper you signed at the front desk is just noise—it is not a wall.
Mechanisms of Catastrophic Injury in East Texas
Our firm is uniquely positioned to handle the specific medical pathology associated with trampoline trauma. We currently litigate a $10 million lawsuit against a major university involving rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney failure. This is the exact same injury we see in “extended jump” packages where children jump for 90+ minutes in heated East Texas warehouses without proper hydration protocols.
Common Local Injury Profiles:
- Salter-Harris Growth Plate Fractures: A “broken ankle” at age eight is a decade-long medical event. If the growth plate is destroyed, the bone may never grow straight or reach full length. We build Life Care Plans that account for corrective surgeries that may not happen for another five years.
- SCIWORA (Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality): In children, the spinal cord can be permanently damaged even when X-rays and CT scans look “normal.” The ligamentous laxity of a child’s spine allows for cord ischemia during a backflip or foam-pit landing.
- Vertebral Artery Dissection: The viral Elle Yona case (27M+ TikTok views) brought national attention to the spinal-cord strokes caused by backflips into foam pits. These are often misdiagnosed as “panic attacks” in the ER. We know how to look for the neurovascular signatures of these injuries.
- Foam Pit Submerged-Entrapment: Foam pits in Smith County are a major liability. When foam blocks are compacted or missing, they lose their deceleration capacity. If an East Texas park hasn’t replaced its foam with an airbag, they are running an attraction the industry has largely abandoned due to high injury rates.
As our client Donald Wilcox said, “One company said they would not accept my case. Then I got a call (from us)… and I got a call to come pick up this handsome check.” We don’t run from medical complexity. We embrace it.
The 48-Hour Evidence Window in Town of Winona
If your child was recently hurt, the clock is ticking on the evidence needed to win your case. Trampoline park surveillance DVRs are often set to overwrite in as little as 7 to 30 days. Incident reports are “finalized” (and often sanitized) on park computer systems with metadata that we must stop from being deleted.
Our firm sends a comprehensive spoliation letter within 24 hours of your retention. We demand the preservation of:
- Multi-angle surveillance footage.
- The original handwritten incident report before it was revised.
- Attendant shift logs and time-clock data (to prove understaffing).
- The waiver kiosk database (to check for version-history metadata).
- Daily pre-opening inspection logs for the previous 30 days.
Every minute the park delays a 911 call or a refund is a minute they are using to help the surveillance footage approach the overwrite limit. We file fast to stop the destruction of evidence.
Who Is Responsible for Your Winona Injury?
We don’t just sue the local LLC. To get your family the maximum recovery, we go upstream. The operator in Tyler or Longview is usually undercapitalized with a policy limit that won’t cover a life-altering spinal cord injury.
We identify and pursue:
- The Operator LLC: The local business running the park.
- The Franchisee: The multi-unit owner who may own several parks across Texas.
- The Franchisor: UATP Management LLC (Urban Air), Sky Zone Franchising LLC, or Altitude Franchise Holdings. We pierce their “we just license the brand” defense by showing they retained operational control over the safety manuals.
- The Parent Company: Sky Zone, Inc. (the post-2023 name for CircusTrix) or Unleashed Brands. These are the deep pockets backed by billions in private equity.
- Component Manufacturers: The vendors who sold the torn mat, the failed auto-belay harness, or the compacted foam blocks.
- Product Manufacturers: Names like Jumpking, Skywalker, Springfree, JumpSport, or ACON for backyard cases.
- The Landlord: The property owner who allowed a dangerous mechanical attraction (like a 30-foot climbing wall over concrete) on their premises.
In the Damion Collins v. Urban Air arbitration, the award was $15.6 million. The franchisor (UATP Management) was held responsible for 40% of that total. We use that national precedent to prove that in the Town of Winona, the “corporate shield” is full of holes.
Frequently Asked Questions for Winona Families
Can I sue if I signed the waiver at Urban Air or iJump?
Yes. In Texas, waivers are highly scrutinizable. Between the minor-waiver rule, the gross-negligence carve-out, and the Delfingen bilingual doctrine, we find that most park waivers do not provide the absolute protection the parks claim.
How much is my trampoline injury case worth?
Catastrophic cases can result in multi-million dollar settlements. A permanent pediatric injury requiring a Life Care Plan for 60+ years of medical monitoring and home modifications often anchors in the $5M to $15M range. Smaller fracture cases with growth-plate involvement regularly settle in the mid-to-high six figures.
What if my neighbor’s trampoline in Winona injured my child?
We handle these under the “Attractive Nuisance” doctrine. If the neighbors had a trampoline that attracted children but failed to secure the yard with a fence or a locked gate, they (and their insurer) can be held liable for injuries to trespassing children. Note that many homeowners’ policies in Texas now exclude trampolines—we look for umbrella policies and manufacturer-defect theories to find the coverage your child needs.
They offered us a refund and a medical payment—should we take it?
Never sign anything the park offers after an injury. The $3,000 “medical payment” (Med-Pay) check usually comes with a release on the back. Once you deposit it, your case is likely over. They are trying to buy their way out of a $1 million liability for the price of an ER visit.
How long does a lawsuit take in Smith County?
We file suit as quickly as the investigation allows to trigger formal discovery. Most cases settle through mediation within 12 to 24 months, but we prepare every file for a Smith County jury from day one. Pushing for a trial date is how we force the insurance company to take your child’s injury seriously.
Why Town of Winona Families Choose Attorney911
We aren’t a volume firm. We represent families. We represent the parent who has been told by the park’s insurer that their child is to blame. We represent the family that lost everything—as client Kiimarii Yup said, “I lost everything… 1 year later I have gained so much in return.”
We offer:
- Contingency Fee Representation: No fee unless we win. We advance every expense—the biomechanist, the pediatric neurologist, the ASTM expert. Your child’s recovery fund stays intact.
- Federal Court Experience: We litigate against national corporations in their own backyard.
- Bilingual Direct Advocacy: Lupe Peña speaks with you directly in Spanish.
- Medical Mastery: We understand the CK levels of rhabdomyolysis and the radiographic signs of SCIWORA better than the park’s own management.
If your family is in the Town of Winona and your child is currently in a hospital bed or a body cast, call 1-888-ATTY-911 today. The park has risk management teams working right now to minimize your claim. You need a team working to maximize it.
1-888-ATTY-911. (888) 288-9911. Hablamos Español. No fee unless we win.
The Backyard Trampoline Threat in Winona
While the parks in Tyler get most of the attention, the yards of the Town of Winona are filled with equipment that the AAP says should not exist. Backyard brands like Jumpking, Skywalker, and Bouncepro (Walmart’s private label) are often found in Smith County yards.
East Texas weather is particularly brutal on this equipment. The high-UV Sun Belt heat in the summer degrades polypropylene nets and mats, causing them to lose their tensile strength. By the third year of a Winona summer, a safety net may look intact but will fail instantly under the impact of a jumping child. We pursue manufacturers for Failure to Warn and Design Defects when these components fail long before a reasonable consumer would expect.
If your child was injured on a neighbor’s trampoline or your own home equipment failed, don’t throw the trampoline away. It is the primary piece of evidence. Contact us so we can dispatch a materials science expert to document the failure before the rust and sun finish destroying the proof.
Protecting Your Recovery: Structured Settlements and Liens
Recovering the money is only half the battle. In a catastrophic pediatric case, the firm’s competence in navigating medical lien negotiation determines the net recovery in your child’s pocket. We perform medical lien negotiation in-house, fighting hospital systems and ERISA health plans to reduce their share of your settlement by 20-40%.
We also coordinate with specialized estate counsel to set up Special Needs Trusts and Structured Settlement Annuities. This protects your child’s future, ensuring they don’t lose access to government benefits like Medicaid or SSI while providing a tax-free, guaranteed income stream for the next fifty years of their life.
Call Attorney911 Today
The trampoline industry has spent millions of dollars on lobby groups to keep Texas unregulated. They have hired corporate law firms to draft “impossible” waivers. They have trained their adjusters to downplay injuries and discourage 911 calls.
We built our firm to push back. Ralph Manginello and the team at Attorney911 bring a record of multi-million dollar results and the relentless tenacity of 25 years in the East Texas legal community. As Glenda Walker said, “They fought for me to get every dime I deserved.” We will do the same for your child.
Your child’s case will be decided by what is preserved this week. Whether it’s the Urban Air Southlake “NOT call 911” pattern or a local park’s training failure, we find the facts.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. Hablamos Español. Our Texas offices in Houston, Austin, and Beaumont are the launch point for a national fight. The case starts today.
