One bounce. One bad landing. One broken neck. That is all it takes for a family’s life in Westworth Village to change forever.
Imagine a Saturday afternoon at an adventure park near Westworth Village. The music is loud, the air is thick with the smell of pizza and sweat, and your child is doing exactly what the park marketed to you: having “safe family fun.” While you are watching from the observation rail near the intersection of Alta Mere Drive and Roaring Springs Road, the unthinkable happens. A larger jumper—maybe a teenager or a full-grown adult—lands on the same trampoline bed as your eight-year-old. Your child is launched into the air with a force their growing bones cannot sustain. They hit the mat, and you hear it—what mother Kaitlin Hill described to ABC News as “the worst scream that you could ever have heard from a child.”
Within minutes, the excitement of a birthday party is replaced by the sterile blue lights of an ambulance heading toward Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. While you are sitting in the trauma bay, an operations manager at the park is already handing you a clipboard. They aren’t just checking on your child; they are checking their armor. They are counting on the waiver you signed at the kiosk. They are counting on you believing that because you tapped “I agree,” your child’s rights are gone.
We are here to tell you they are wrong.
At Attorney911, led by managing partner Ralph Manginello, we have spent more than 25 years making corporate defendants pay for the shortcuts they take. We are a firm built on catastrophic injury litigation, from the BP Texas City refinery explosion cases to our current active $10 million lawsuit against the University of Houston involving rhabdomyolysis and kidney failure. We aren’t a general practice firm that “handles accidents.” We are a high-stakes litigation team that knows the trampoline industry from the inside. Our team includes an associate attorney, Lupe Peña, who used to sit on the other side of the table—defending insurance companies and the very adventure parks that now try to hide behind waivers. He knows their playbook because he helped write it. Now, he uses that knowledge to dismantle their defenses for families in Westworth Village and across Tarrant County.
The Systemic Architecture of Trampoline park Injuries
When a child is hurt at a facility like Sky Zone, Urban Air, or Altitude, the park’s insurance adjuster will call it an “accident.” We call it a predictable business decision.
The trampoline park industry is not governed by binding federal safety laws. Instead, it operates under a voluntary standard called ASTM F2970. This standard wasn’t written by government regulators; it was written by the trampoline industry itself. It establishes a “safety floor” for things like attendant-to-jumper ratios, foam pit depth, and age-segregated jumping. When a park in the Westworth Village area violates these standards—when they staff a Saturday shift at half the required ratio to protect their profit margins—they aren’t just being careless. They are making a choice to operate below the very bar their peers set.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has been warning parents since 1999 that trampolines do not belong at home and carry significant risks even in supervised parks. These warnings were reaffirmed in 2012 and 2019. Every commercial park in Tarrant County knows this. They know that children under six are at a disproportionate risk for fractures because their bones are not fully ossified. They know that “double-bouncing”—the transfer of kinetic energy from a heavier jumper to a lighter one—can multiply launch forces by up to four times, essentially turning the trampoline into a catapult.
Yet, they continue to sell “Toddler Time” and all-day passes that encourage the exact behaviors that lead to the emergency room.
Why the Waiver Is Noise, Not a Wall
The most common question we hear from parents in Westworth Village is: “Can I sue if I signed the waiver?”
The answer in Texas is a definitive yes, particularly when the conduct involved rises to the level of gross negligence. In Harris County, a jury returned a landmark $11.485 million verdict—including $6 million in punitive damages—against the operator of Cosmic Jump after a teenager fell through a torn trampoline mat onto unpadded concrete. The park pointed to the signed waiver. The jury found gross negligence anyway.
Under Texas law, specifically the Dresser Industries v. Page Petroleum “fair notice” doctrine, a waiver must be conspicuous and use express language to be enforceable. Many electronic kiosk waivers used in parks today fail this test. Furthermore, under the Munoz v. II Jaz Inc. ruling, Texas courts have held that a parent’s signature cannot unilaterally waive a minor child’s independent legal right to recover for their own personal injuries.
If your family’s primary language is Spanish and you were presented with an English-only waiver on an iPad with no translation and no time to read it, the Delfingen US-Texas v. Valenzuela doctrine provides another powerful weapon to strike that waiver down. Lupe Peña speaks Spanish natively and represents our clients directly, ensuring that no language gap is used as a tactic by the park’s lawyers.
The 48-Hour Evidence Crisis near Westworth Village
The most critical moment in your case is the first 48 hours. Trampoline park evidence is engineered to vanish.
- Surveillance Overwrites: Most park DVR systems are set to overwrite footage in as little as 7 to 30 days. If we don’t send a formal spoliation letter immediately, the video of the moment your child was launched may be gone forever.
- The “Revision” of Reports: Incident reports are often filled out by a 17-year-old attendant who may write something honest in the first draft, like “attendant was on phone.” Within 48 hours, corporate risk management often “revises” these reports to sanitize the language.
- Vanishing Witnesses: Staff turnover in Tarrant County trampoline parks is notoriously high, often reaching 150% annually. The monitor who saw what happened today may not work there next month.
Within 24 hours of your call to 1-888-ATTY-911, our firm sends a comprehensive preservation demand by certified mail to the park, its franchisor, and its insurance carrier. We don’t just “gather evidence”—we use forensic tools like Magnet AXIOM and FTK Imager to extract digital metadata and ensure the original, unedited record is what a jury sees.
The Anatomy of Catastrophic Trampoline Injuries
A “broken leg” at a jump park is rarely just a broken leg. Because of the high-velocity impact and the biomechanics of a developing body, the injuries we see at Attorney911 fall into specialized medical categories that require expert handling.
Salter-Harris Growth Plate Fractures
In pediatric patients, the growth plate (physis) is the weakest part of the bone. A trampoline impact often causes a fracture that extends through this cartilage. If not managed properly by a specialized pediatric surgeon—such as those at the trauma centers serving Westworth Village—it can result in a permanent limb-length discrepancy or angular deformity. We work with life-care planners to forecast the costs of the corrective surgeries and decade-long monitoring these children will need through skeletal maturity.
SCIWORA and Cervical Injuries
Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality (SCIWORA) is a terrifying pediatric-specific condition. A child can suffer a head-first landing in a foam pit—which may be compacted to half its required ASTM depth—and have a “normal” CT scan in the ER, only to lose sensation hours later as the cord begins to swell and infarct. We recently watched the viral case of Elle Yona, whose spinal-cord stroke after a trampoline backflip was initially misdiagnosed as secondary to a panic attack. Our firm knows the imaging signatures of vertebral artery dissection and we retain the neuro-specialists to prove it.
Exertional Rhabdomyolysis
If your child jumps for two hours in a heated indoor park with inadequate hydration, their muscles can literally begin to rupture. This releases myoglobin into the bloodstream, which is toxic to the kidneys. If your child has cola-colored urine, extreme muscle hardness, or vomiting 24 to 48 hours after a park visit, go to the emergency room immediately and ask for a CK blood test. Our active $10 million UH litigation gives us a direct medical bridge to these rhabdo cases. We understand the myoglobin cascade and the dialysis risk because we are fighting that battle right now.
Who Is Truly Accountable?
When we sue an adventure park, we don’t just sue the local LLC. We trace the money upstream to the deepest pockets.
- The Operator LLC: The immediate business running the facility.
- The Franchisee: The multi-unit group that owns several locations.
- The Franchisor: Corporate entities like Sky Zone Franchising LLC or Urban Air Franchise Holdings, who dictate the training and safety standards their parks failed to meet.
- The Parent Conglomerate: Sky Zone, Inc. (renamed from CircusTrix in 2023) is backed by Palladium Equity Partners. Urban Air’s parent, Unleashed Brands, was acquired by Seidler Equity Partners in 2023. These billion-dollar firms hire the same defense lawyers BP hired. We aren’t intimidated by them; we’ve already beaten them.
- The Manufacturer: If a net failed, a frame weld snapped, or an auto-belay on a climbing wall malfunctioned, we bring in product-liability counts against the manufacturers (Jumpking, Skywalker, Ropes Courses Inc.).
Frequently Asked Questions for Westworth Village Parents
How long do I have to file a claim in Tarrant County?
In Texas, the personal injury statute of limitations is generally two years. For a minor child, that clock is tolled until they turn 18, giving them until age 20 to file. However, you should never rely on tolling as an excuse to wait. The evidence clock is the one that matters. Surveillance video and witness memories disappear in weeks, not years. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 immediately after the injury to preserve the case.
Can I sue if the park says it was my child’s fault?
Texas is a modified 51% comparative negligence state. You can recover as long as your child was not more than 50% responsible. More importantly, children under age seven are generally presumed incapable of negligence in Texas, and those aged seven to fourteen are rebuttably presumed incapable. The park cannot shift their duty to supervise onto an eight-year-old child.
What if I signed the waiver at the Urban Air headquarters city?
Urban Air is based in Grapevine and Altitude is based in Fort Worth. These corporate giants view Tarrant County as their home turf. We view it as the place where their training manuals and audit reports live. Even with the recent 2025 Cerna ruling regarding delegation clauses, we have strategies to challenge the formation of those agreements and reach the underlying gross negligence.
How much is my child’s trampoline case worth?
The values of these cases depend on the medical life-care plan and the degree of the park’s negligence. While a moderate fracture may settle in the high five or low six figures, catastrophic spinal cord or brain injuries can reach into the millions. Our goal is to recover every dime your child will need for the next 70 years of their life, including future surgeries, special education needs, and lost earning capacity.
What should I not say to the insurance adjuster?
Do not say anything. Do not give a “friendly” recorded statement. Do not accept a $1,500 “Med-Pay” check—it is often a Trojan horse that contains a hidden release of your entire claim. Tell the adjuster you are represented by Ralph Manginello and his team, then hang up. We have an associate who used to train these adjusters; we know exactly how to handle them.
Why Choose Attorney911?
Most personal injury firms treat a trampoline case as a “slip-and-fall.” They send a form demand, accept the first policy-limits offer, and move on. We don’t. We build a moat around your case.
- Federal Court Admission: Ralph Manginello is admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, giving us the ability to handle complex maritime, industrial, and national product liability claims.
- The Defense Edge: Lupe Peña’s background in insurance defense is our competitive advantage. He knows which waiver clauses break and which ones hold. He recognizes manufactured documentation and “convenient” video glitches before they reach a courtroom.
- Total Financial Commitment: We work on a contingency fee basis. You pay us nothing unless we win. We advance every expense—the biomechanical engineer who reconstructs the bounce, the ASTM-certified safety expert who analyzes the park’s staff ratios, and the life-care planner who builds your child’s future medical budget.
- Local Density, National Authority: Our offices in Houston, Austin, and Beaumont are the launch point for a practice that understands the law in every state. We represent families in Westworth Village as if they are our own. As client Chad Harris said, “You are NOT just some client… You are FAMILY to them.”
The Recovery You Deserve
What happened to your child at an adventure park near Westworth Village wasn’t an act of God—it was the result of a system that put profit ahead of pediatric bone biology. The AAP warned them. The ASTM standards gave them a floor. The manufacturers published the warnings. The parks chose to ignore them.
Now, it’s our turn to act. Your child’s recovery fund—for their future, their education, and their long-term health—depends on the evidence we preserve this week. The DVR is already counting down.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. We answer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hablamos Español. No fee unless we win. Our spoliation letter goes out within 24 hours of your retention. The case starts today.
What to Do in the Next 72 Hours: A Parent’s Checklist
- Seek Medical Care: Go to an Emergency Room, not just an urgent care. Demand imaging and blood work for myoglobin if exertion was involved.
- Capture the Scene: If you can go back to the park, take high-resolution video of the attraction. Look for torn mats or absent monitors.
- Preserve the Clothes: Do not wash the grip socks or clothing your child was wearing; they can provide traction and impact evidence.
- Screenshot Social Media: Capture any posts the park or other parents made that day. They often disappear after an incident.
- Do Not Sign Anything: Refuse any offer of refunds or medical payments until you speak with us.
- Call 1-888-ATTY-911: Let us handle the insurance company while you focus on your child.
Detailed Analysis of Trampoline Park Claims
How a park manages an attraction like the “Sky Rider” zipline or a “Wipe-Out” arm matters. The Damion Collins case showed how a father became a quadriplegic because of a backflip into a triangular trampoline that responded differently than a traditional round one. The Ispahani family suit in Sugar Land reminds us that even when a child is “strapped in,” an untrained teenager can forget the most vital component—the carabiner itself.
We have memorized ASTM F2970. We know that Section 10 requires specific attendant ratios and that foam pits need a minimum depth that many parks simply do not maintain. When we take a deposition from a park’s operations manager in Tarrant County, we know their standards better than they do.
Whether it was a backyard Skywalker or a Sky Zone court monitor failure, the physics remain the same: high force, young bones, and a foreseeable outcome. We have gone head-to-head with some of the largest corporations in the world, and we are ready for this fight.
1-888-ATTY-911. Free Consultation. National Reach. Texas Experience.
Understanding the Liability Matrix
The corporate parent behind most Sky Zone, DEFY, and Rockin’ Jump locations is Sky Zone, Inc., a company renamed from CircusTrix and backed by Palladium Equity Partners. Urban Air’s franchisor is UATP Management LLC, a subsidiary under Unleashed Brands and Seidler Equity Partners. These private equity giants are the ones who approve the labor cuts that lead to understaffed courts. We trace the negligence from the court monitor on the floor all the way up to the investment committee in the boardroom.
Don’t let them hide behind a kiosk. A piece of paper is not an excuse for a shattered femur. We use every tool in our arsenal—from Rule 202 pre-suit petitions in Texas to 30(b)(6) corporate depositions—to uncover the truth.
The Truth About Homeowners Insurance and Backyard Trampolines
If your child was injured on a neighbor’s trampoline in Westworth Village, the situation is legally distinct but equally urgent. Standard homeowners’ policies frequently exclude trampoline-related injuries. We look for umbrella layers and investigate the manufacturer (Jumpking, Skywalker, ACON) for design or manufacturing defects. Under the “attractive nuisance” doctrine, a homeowner may be liable for injuries to a child who wandered onto the property, even without an invitation, if the trampoline was unsecured.
Whether it’s a big-box chain or a backyard manufacturer, our firm has the resources to win. We advance the investigators, the digital forensic experts, and the elite medical consultants needed to prove it.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911 today.
Frequently Asked Questions – Advanced Scenarios
What should I do if the park manager tells me they don’t have an incident report?
They are lying or violating industry standards. Every professional park is required by their own internal SOPs and ASTM F2970 to document injuries. If they refuse to provide it, we use forensic discovery to pull their digital internal logs. Metadata doesn’t lie, even if a manager does.
Can I sue if my child was injured on a school field trip?
Schools and summer camps have a heightened duty of in loco parentis. If they took your child to a park with a documented history of injuries or failed to maintain adequate chaperone-to-child ratios, they are accountable. We navigate the sovereign immunity limits of public school districts and the commercial GL policies of private camps.
Is it true that Tarrant County is a “bad venue” for these cases?
Tarrant County has a reputation for being conservative, but jurors here also value personal responsibility and protecting children. When we show the jury that a corporation consciously disregarded its own safety manual to save a few thousand dollars on staffing, they react. The Cosmic Jump verdict proves that Texas juries will hold parks accountable for gross negligence.
What is the “Friendly Adjuster Call”?
It is a scripted trap. The adjuster will ask how you are doing, sound sympathetic, and then ask for a “quick recorded statement to help process the claim.” They are looking for you to say “I wasn’t looking for a second” or “My child was jumping fast.” Once they have that recording, your case value drops. Do not take the call.
Will I have to pay for the experts you hire?
Only if we win. We advance 100% of the costs for the biomechanical engineers, orthopedic consultants, and ASTM specialists. If we don’t recover money for you, we never ask for a dime of those costs back. Your child’s recovery is our only priority.
How does rhabdomyolysis happen on a trampoline?
It is caused by the repetitive, eccentric loading of the muscles over an hour or two of intense jumping. In a hot room without water breaks, the muscles reach a breaking point and release toxins. It is a documented pediatric medical emergency and a direct result of the park’s failure to manage heat and hydration.
Hablamos Español. Llame al 1-888-ATTY-911.
Summary of State-Specific Waivers and Minor Rights
- Texas: Waivers don’t bar minor claims or gross negligence.
- Florida: Kirton voids commercial parent waivers for negligence.
- Michigan: Woodman voids commercial parent waivers for minors.
- New Jersey: Hojnowski voids parent waivers but allows arbitration.
- Pennsylvania: Santiago/Shultz (2025) stops parents from binding children to arbitration.
- Louisiana: Waivers are generally void for physical injury.
No matter where you are, if you are reading this in Westworth Village or anywhere in the United States, you need an attorney who treats your family like their own. Call Ralph and Lupe at Attorney911.
The case starts with one call. 1-888-ATTY-911.
