“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 how Kati Hill described the moment her three-year-old son Colton’s life changed at a trampoline park.
If you are reading this in a waiting room at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth or sitting at your kitchen table in Azle while your child sleeps in a body cast in the next room, we know the weight you’re carrying. You didn’t go to the park for a lawsuit. You went for a birthday party, a Saturday afternoon escape from the Texas heat, or a reward for good grades. You signed the waiver on the iPad because the line was long and the kids were excited. You handed over your credit card and your trust.
Then the double-bounce happened. Or the attendant was on his phone while your child climbed the wall. Or the foam pit was so compacted that it offered no more protection than the concrete floor beneath it.
We are The Manginello Law Firm, known to families across Texas as Attorney911. Since 1998, our founder Ralph Manginello has fought corporate defendants that hide behind layers of LLCs and fine-print waivers. We have litigated against multinational giants like BP and handled catastrophic multi-million dollar injury cases involving traumatic brain injuries and permanent spinal paralysis. Our team includes Lupe Peña, a former insurance defense attorney who used to represent these very parks. He knows exactly how they train their adjusters to minimize your child’s pain. He knows which waiver clauses work and which ones we can dismantle in a Tarrant County courtroom.
If your family’s life was altered in a single jump in or around Azle, you need more than a “personal injury lawyer.” You need a firm that knows ASTM F2970 by heart, that understands the physics of energy transfer during a double-bounce, and that isn’t afraid to take on the private equity giants behind brands like Sky Zone, Urban Air, and Altitude.
The Business Decision Behind the “Accident” in Azle
A trampoline injury is almost never a true accident. In the twenty-five years we have handled catastrophic injury cases, we have learned a hard truth: these injuries are the predictable output of business decisions.
When an Urban Air in the DFW metroplex chooses to staff a Saturday rush with one teenager for every sixty jumpers instead of the industry-standard ratio, they are making a margin decision. When a park continues to use a foam pit that hasn’t had its blocks rotated or replenished in months, they are making a maintenance decision. When they encourage children to attempt “Advanced Skills” like backflips on an unmonitored court, they are making a marketing decision.
For families in Azle, these decisions often play out at the massive facilities lining the Highway 199 corridor into Fort Worth or the surrounding suburbs. Tarrant County is the national headquarters for the trampoline park industry—Urban Air is based in Grapevine and Altitude is based in Fort Worth. They think this is their backyard. We are here to tell them it is yours.
In Harris County, a Texas jury sent a message to this industry with an $11.485 million verdict against Cosmic Jump. That case involved a sixteen-year-old who fell through a torn trampoline slide onto unpadded concrete. The park knew about the tear. They let children jump anyway. The jury found the park grossly negligent—and that finding overrode the signed waiver. That is the same level of accountability we bring to every case we file in Northwest Tarrant County.
Part I: Why Trampolines Are Uniquely Dangerous to Children
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has been clear since 1999: trampolines do not belong in a recreational setting for children. This isn’t just an opinion; it’s based on twenty-five years of pediatric trauma data. Most parents in Azle are never told that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) tracks over 300,000 trampoline-related emergency room visits every year.
The Physics of the Double-Bounce
This is the most common way children are maimed at parks near Azle. It is also the most preventable. When a heavier jumper (an adult or a teenager) lands on the same trampoline bed that a smaller child is pushing off of, the rebound energy is transferred. This multiplies the launch force on the smaller child by up to 4x. The child is no longer jumping; they are being catapulted. This energy transfer hits the child’s tibia or femur with the force of a hammer, often resulting in comminuted fractures or permanent growth plate damage.
Pediatric Bone Biomechanics
Your child’s bones are not just smaller versions of yours. They contain “physes,” or growth plates, which are made of cartilage. In a high-impact trampoline landing, these growth plates often fail before the bone does. A Salter-Harris Type II fracture in a seven-year-old Azle athlete can lead to the bone stopping its growth entirely or growing at a crooked angle. The medical bills you see today in the ER are nothing compared to the cost of a decade of orthopedic monitoring, corrective osteotomies, and the loss of an athletic scholarship.
The SCIWORA Risk
In children, the cervical spine is highly flexible. This leads to a phenomenon called SCIWORA—Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality. A child can land on their head in a shallow foam pit, sustain a permanent spinal cord injury, and have a “normal” CT scan in the emergency room. If the park monitors are not trained to recognize the signs of spinal distress, they may allow the child to be moved or even to keep jumping, converting a treatable injury into permanent quadriplegia.
We currently litigate a $10 million lawsuit against a major university involving rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney failure following extended physical exertion. We apply that same medical-legal depth to trampoline cases. Whether it’s the myoglobin cascade of “rhabdo” from a child jumping for two hours in a 90-degree indoor facility or a “trampoline fracture” of the proximal tibia, we have the experts to prove the medicine.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. The evidence clock is ticking.
Part II: The 5-Layer Shield — Who is Actually Responsible?
When you call a generalist law firm, they might just sue the local LLC listed on the building. That is a mistake that can leave 90% of your recovery on the table. The trampoline industry is built on a “Shield Architecture” designed to hide the money from families.
As your Azle injury attorneys, we perform “Corporate Archeology” on every case. We look at all five layers of the defendant stack:
- The Operator LLC: The local business in Tarrant County. They usually carry a $1 million primary policy, which is gone in the first week of a catastrophic injury.
- The Franchisee: Often a multi-unit holding company that owns several locations across North Texas. They have their own insurance layers.
- The Franchisor: Entities like Sky Zone Franchising LLC or UATP Management (Urban Air). They set the safety rules. When they fail to audit a park properly, they are liable. In the Damion Collins case, an arbitrator awarded $15.6 million and held the franchisor responsible for 40% of that award due to “systemic failure.”
- The Corporate Parent: Sky Zone, Inc. (formerly CircusTrix) is backed by Palladium Equity Partners. Urban Air’s parent, Unleashed Brands, was acquired by Seidler Equity Partners in 2023. These are massive private equity foundations with multi-million dollar insurance towers.
- The Component Manufacturer: The companies that made the defective net, the torn mat, or the unpadded frame bolt.
We’ve gone head-to-head with some of the biggest corporations in America, including BP and Walmart. We know how to pierce these layers. Our team includes a native Spanish speaker, Lupe Peña, who can speak with you directly without an interpreter, ensuring your family’s story isn’t lost in translation when we face these corporate giants.
Part III: The Truth About the Waiver You Signed in Azle
The most common reason parents in Azle don’t call a lawyer is the waiver. “I signed the paper,” they say. “I gave up my rights.”
The truth is that a piece of paper cannot give a corporation a license to be reckless. In Texas, our courts have established several “Waiver Attack Vectors” that we use to get your case into a courtroom:
- The Munoz Doctrine: In Texas, under Munoz v. II Jaz Inc., a parent generally cannot waive a minor child’s personal injury claim in advance. Your signature may bar your claim for the medical bills you paid, but it does not bar your child’s claim for their own lifelong pain and suffering.
- The Gross Negligence Carve-Out: Texas law (and most states) refuses to enforce any waiver where the injury resulted from gross negligence. If the park knew a net was torn or a monitor was missing and they let your child jump anyway, the waiver is void.
- The Dresser Fair-Notice Standard: A waiver must be “conspicuous.” If the release language was buried in a twenty-page electronic scroll or printed in a font so small a reasonable person wouldn’t see it, it fails the Texas fair-notice test from Dresser Industries v. Page Petroleum.
- Signer Authority: Was the waiver signed by a grandmother? A babysitter? An aunt? Texas Family Code § 153.073 is clear: only a legal guardian can bind a minor. If the “wrong” person signed at the birthday party, the waiver has no footing.
- The Bilingual Formation Attack: Under the Delfingen doctrine, if your primary language is Spanish and the park only provided an English waiver on an iPad without explanation, the contract was never validly formed.
Don’t let a kiosk agreement stop you from seeking justice. We have an attorney who used to defend these waivers; he knows where the holes are. Call us at 1-888-ATTY-911 and let us read the fine print for you.
Part IV: The 7-Day Evidence Countdown
The most critical period for your case isn’t the two-year statute of limitations. It is the first seven days. While you are focused on surgeries and recovery, the park’s risk management team is focused on their DVR.
- Surveillance Overwrites: Most trampoline parks in the DFW area use digital systems that overwrite themselves every 7, 14, or 30 days. If we don’t send a formal spoliation letter immediately, the video of the monitor on his phone at the exact moment of the break will be gone forever.
- Incident Report Metadata: The report they handed you at the park is often edited over the next 48 hours. Our forensic investigators look for the “metadata”—the digital trail that shows who changed the report and when.
- The “Don’t Call 911” Pattern: We investigate whether the park has an internal policy of discouraging 911 calls. A parent at an Urban Air in Southlake publicly reported that employees were instructed by management to NOT call 911. We look for that same pattern in every case.
- Equipment Remediation: A torn mat or a failed zipline harness will be replaced within twenty-four hours of an injury. We move to preserve the physical equipment before it hits a dumpster in Azle.
When we take a case, our spoliation letter goes out by certified mail within 24 hours of retention. We don’t wait for “standard procedures.” We freeze the evidence.
Common Trampoline Injury Mechanisms Near Azle
| Mechanism | Typical Injury | Why It Happens |
|---|---|---|
| Double-Bounce | Comminuted Femur/Tibia Fracture | Weight mismatch on a single bed; 4x launch force energy transfer. |
| Foam Pit Landing | Cervical Spine (C1-C7) Injury | Pit compacted to 4 inches instead of 8; head wedges between cubes. |
| Netting Failure | Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) | UV-degraded polypropylene netting tears upon impact; fall to concrete. |
| Harness Failure | Spinal Compression / Broken Ankles | Attendant fails to attach fall-protection to the climbing wall or zipline. |
| Spring Strike | Open Fracture / Laceration | Padding shifts, leaving a “void” where a child’s foot can slip into the springs. |
Extended-Jumping Rhabdomyolysis
One of the most under-reported injuries at parks serving Azle is exertional rhabdomyolysis. A child jumping for ninety minutes in an indoor facility without proper hydration can experience muscle breakdown. If your child has “cola-colored” urine, severe muscle pain, or confusion 24 hours after a visit, this is a medical emergency. We litigate $10 million cases involving this exact pathology and know how to document it for a jury.
Part V: Calculating Your Child’s Future in Tarrant County
If your child sustained a serious fracture, a head injury, or a neck injury, the “medical bills” are only about 10% of the true damages. In Azle, we understand that your child’s ability to run, play sports at Azle High School, and pursue a career matters.
We build a Pediatric Life-Care Plan for our clients. We work with board-certified pediatric orthopedic surgeons and life-care planners to calculate:
- Growth-Plate Monitoring: Annual visits until age 18.
- Corrective Osteotomies: Future surgeries to straighten bones that grew crooked.
- Lost Earning Capacity: The difference in what your child will earn over their lifetime because of a permanent cognitive or physical impairment.
- Hedonic Damages: Compensation for the loss of the “joy of life”—the soccer seasons, dance recitals, and childhood milestones they missed.
In the Damion Collins case, the arbitrator understood that a spinal cord injury costs millions over a lifetime. Whether the recovery is $500,000 for a Salter-Harris fracture or $15 million for paralysis, we advance every expense for the experts required to prove the value of your case. You pay us nothing unless we win.
Frequently Asked Questions for Azle Parents
Can I sue if I signed the waiver?
Yes. In Texas, waivers frequently fail the “fair notice” test, cannot bar gross negligence, and generally do not bind a minor child’s own personal claim. The Cosmic Jump $11 million verdict was achieved despite a signed waiver.
How much does it cost to hire an attorney?
Nothing upfront. We work on a contingency fee (33.33% pre-trial). We pay for the biomechanical engineers, doctors, and investigators. You only pay us back out of the money we recover for you. If we don’t win, you owe us zero.
What if my child was hurt by another kid?
The park still has a non-delegable duty to supervise. If a 200-pound teenager was allowed on a court with your 50-pound child, that is the park’s failure to enforce separation rules, regardless of who “hit” whom.
How long does the process take?
We file fast to preserve evidence. A typical case can resolve in 12 to 24 months, but we never settle until your child has reached “maximum medical improvement.” We don’t want to settle your case today only to find out next year your child needs another surgery.
Should I take the “Medical Payment” the park offered?
No. This is often a “Med-Pay” Trojan Horse. The park offers to pay $5,000 in medical bills in exchange for you signing a “receipt,” which is actually a full release of all your legal rights. Never sign anything or deposit a check from the park’s insurance without us reading it first.
Is the park’s surveillance video private property?
They will tell you it is. We will tell you it is evidence. We use Tarrant County court orders to compel they turn over the DVR. If they say the video “glitched,” we look for a “Mathew Knight Pattern,” named after a Georgia case where a $3.5 million verdict was awarded after a park’s cameras conveniently failed at the moment of injury.
Why Azle Families Choose Attorney911
We are not a high-volume “settlement mill.” We are a boutique catastrophic-injury firm that treats every client like family. As client Chad Harris said, “You are NOT just some client… You are FAMILY to them.” We take the cases other firms reject because we have the internal knowledge to defeat the waivers and the resources to fight 13+ institutional defendants at once.
We have offices in Houston, Austin, and Beaumont, but we are in Azle and the rest of North Texas every week. Ralph Manginello brings federal court experience and a track record against Fortune 500 companies. Lupe Peña brings the insider playbook of an insurance defense lawyer.
Trampoline parks near Azle have risk management teams. Their insurers have defense firms. Their corporate parents have private equity lawyers. You need a team that has already beaten them.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911 or 888-288-9911. We answer 24/7. Hablamos Español. Your consultation is free, and the spoliation letter goes out to the park’s lawyers today.
Closing the Case for Accountability
What happened to your child wasn’t just bad luck. It was the result of a system that puts margin before safety. The AAP has been warning since 1999. ASTM F2970 is the industry’s own safety floor—one they frequently fall through. The private equity sponsors behind Sky Zone and Urban Air can afford the best legal defense money can buy, but they cannot escape the physics of a double-bounce or the medical reality of a destroyed growth plate.
Your child’s case depends on what gets preserved this week. The DVR overwrites in 7 to 30 days. The kiosk database purges. The monitors transfer. In Texas, your child has until age 20 to file, but we shouldn’t wait another minute. Let us take the burden of the insurance adjusters off your shoulders so you can focus on your child’s recovery.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. No fee unless we win. The case starts now.
