At a trampoline park in Lewisville or Denton, just a short drive from City of Lake Dallas, the afternoon usually starts with the same routine. You stand at a kiosk, you scroll through screens of fine print, and you tap an “I agree” button while your children pull at your sleeve, anxious to get onto the court. You handed over the credit card, you bought the grip socks, and you believed that because the facility was open to the public, it was safe.
Twenty minutes later, the routine changed forever.
Maybe it was the sound of the double-bounce—the “rebound energy transfer” that physicists and pediatricians have been warning about for decades. Your child was launching off the mat just as a teenager twice their size landed. In that microsecond, the kinetic force multiplied by four times. Your child didn’t just jump; they were catapulted. Then came the scream—what Kati Hill, a mother whose story went viral after a similar incident, called “the worst scream that you could ever have heard from a child.”
At Attorney911, we know what follows that scream. We know the drive to Medical City Lewisville or the frantic transport to a Level 1 pediatric trauma center like Children’s Medical Center Dallas. We know the look on a surgeon’s face when they explain that a Salter-Harris growth plate fracture at age nine means a decade of orthopedic monitoring and a leg that may never grow straight.
Most importantly, we know what the park is doing while you are in that hospital room. They are finalizing an incident report that likely blames your child. They are waiting for the surveillance DVR to hit its 7-day or 30-day overwrite cycle. They are relying on the piece of paper you signed at the kiosk as a total shield against accountability.
They are wrong. A signed waiver in Texas is not a license for a park to maim children. We have spent over 25 years making corporate defendants pay for putting margin ahead of safety, and we are built for this fight.
Why Your Case Matters in City of Lake Dallas
City of Lake Dallas families are uniquely positioned in one of the most saturated trampoline park markets in the world. With Urban Air headquartered in nearby Grapevine and Altitude Trampoline Park based in Fort Worth, North Texas is the epicenter of the industry. These chains aren’t just local businesses; they are massive, private-equity-backed conglomerates like Sky Zone, Inc. and Unleashed Brands.
When your child is injured at the Launch in Lewisville or a park in Denton, you aren’t just up against a local manager. You are up against the same legal teams that multi-national corporations hire. Ralph Manginello, our founding partner, is federal-court admitted and spent years litigating against giants like BP after the Texas City refinery explosion. We don’t blink when a franchisor says they aren’t responsible for their franchisees. We go upstream to where the money and the decisions live.
The Reality of the “Safe” Trampoline Industry
The industry wants you to believe these injuries are “freak accidents.” The data says otherwise. According to the January 2024 study by Teague et al. in the journal Pediatrics, trampoline park injury rates are measurable and predictable. Foam pits produce 1.91 injuries per 1,000 jumper-hours. High-performance “advanced” courts produce 2.11 per 1,000.
In a metro as dense as the Dallas-Fort Worth area, this adds up to a public health crisis. An investigation by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram documented 500 injury reports across 21 DFW trampoline parks over a seven-year span. This isn’t bad luck. This is the output of a system designed to maximize throughput at the expense of supervision.
The Standard They Wrote Themselves
One of the most powerful weapons in our arsenal is ASTM F2970. This is the safety standard for commercial trampoline courts. Here is the secret the industry doesn’t want City of Lake Dallas parents to know: The industry wrote this standard itself.
ASTM F2970 is the “floor” for safety—the minimum requirements for attendant-to-jumper ratios, age separation, and foam pit maintenance. When a park in Lewisville or Denton operates with one teenager watching three courts on a Saturday afternoon, they are violating a standard their own peers agreed was necessary. In our practice, we don’t just say they were “careless.” We prove they were non-compliant with their own industry rules.
The Waiver You Signed: It Is Noise, Not a Wall
The first thing an insurance adjuster will tell a City of Lake Dallas parent is: “You signed a waiver, so there’s nothing we can do.”
Don’t believe them. In Texas, a liability waiver is a contract, and like every contract, it has limits. Our associate attorney, Lupe Peña, brings an insider’s edge to this fight—he used to defend recreational businesses and insurance carriers. He has seen the waiver language from the other side. He knows exactly where the holes are.
How We Dismantle the Texas Waiver
- The Minor-Injury Rule (Munoz v. II Jaz): In Texas, since the landmark 1993 case of Munoz v. II Jaz, Inc., courts have held that a parent cannot pre-emptively waive a minor child’s personal injury claim. Your signature might affect your own rights, but it generally cannot kill your child’s right to seek justice.
- The Gross Negligence Carve-Out: Texas law—and the $11.485 million Cosmic Jump verdict in Harris County proves this—refuses to enforce waivers in cases of gross negligence. If the park knew a trampoline mat was torn or a foam pit was too shallow and let your child jump anyway, that “paper shield” at the front desk disappears.
- The Fair Notice Doctrine: Under the Dresser v. Page Petroleum rule, a waiver must be conspicuous. If the release was buried in a twenty-page scroll on a cracked iPad, it may not meet the “fair notice” standard required by Texas law.
- The Bilingual Barrier (Delfingen): If your family’s primary language is Spanish and the park only provided an English waiver without a translation or explanation, the waiver may be void on formation grounds. Lupe Peña speaks Spanish natively and handles these “bilingual-formation” attacks directly for our clients.
The 2025 Jurisdictional Shift
The law is moving fast. In May 2025, the Texas Supreme Court issued a pro-defendant ruling in Cerna v. Pearland Urban Air, enforcing “delegation clauses” that send disputes over the waiver’s validity to an arbitrator rather than a judge. However, other states, like Pennsylvania in the 2025 Santiago/Shultz cases, have moved the opposite direction, protecting a child’s right to a jury.
Even with the Cerna ruling in Texas, your case is not over. Arbitration is simply a different forum—not a dead end. We litigate in both. In Kansas, an arbitrator recently awarded Damion Collins $15.6 million for a trampoline-related injury, finding a “systemic failure” by the franchisor. We know how to win in the courtroom, and we know how to make them pay in arbitration.
The Mechanisms of Injury: Why They Happen Near Lake Lewisville
Whether you are jumping at a chain like Sky Zone or Urban Air, or using a backyard trampoline in a neighborhood near City of Lake Dallas, the physics remain the same.
The Double-Bounce Catapult
This is the “catastrophic signature” of the park. When a 200-pound adult lands on a bed at the same time a 60-pound child pushes off, the energy doesn’t just dissipate—it transfers. The child’s launch force is multiplied. This is why ASTM F2970 requires age and weight separation. When a park ignores this to keep the courts full, they are gambling with your child’s spine.
Foam Pits: The Illusion of Softness
Foam pits are among the most dangerous attractions. When foam blocks compact over time or aren’t replaced, the pit loses its deceleration capacity. A child diving in head-first can strike the hard floor beneath. This is the mechanism behind “SCIWORA”—Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality. A child can have a “normal” CT scan in the ER but be suffering from cord ischemia that leads to permanent paralysis hours later.
The industry knows this. It is why they are largely moving to airbags. A park that still uses a foam pit in 2026 is often making a choice to save money on equipment upgrades at the expense of your child’s cervical spine.
Harness Failures
From climbing walls to “Sky Rider” ziplines, harness-based attractions add a fall-from-height risk to the trampoline environment. In Sugar Land, a teenager fell 30 feet because an attendant failed to attach the fall-protection line. In Port St. Lucie, Florida, a six-year-old was killed on an Urban Air go-kart attraction in December 2025. These bolton attractions are often supervised by the same minimally trained staff as the jump courts.
Backyard Trampolines: The “Attractive Nuisance” in City of Lake Dallas
Not every injury happens at a park. City of Lake Dallas’s suburban yards are filled with Jumpking, Skywalker, and Springfree trampolines. While no waiver is involved here, the legal issues are just as complex.
If a neighbor’s child wanders onto your property and is hurt on your trampoline, you may be liable under the “attractive nuisance” doctrine. Texas law protects children of “tender years” who cannot appreciate the danger of a trampoline.
Furthermore, many backyard injuries are the result of product defects. We track CPSC recalls closely—from the million-unit Jumpking recall in 2005 for breaking frame welds to the 2026 SEGMART recall for strangulation hazards. If a net fails because of UV degradation that the manufacturer didn’t warn you about, we don’t just sue the neighbor; we go after the manufacturer and the retailer, like Walmart or Amazon.
The Evidence Clock is Running
In City of Lake Dallas, you have two years to file a personal injury claim, and that statute is tolled for minors until they turn 18. But the legal deadline is a trap.
The real deadline is the Evidence Clock.
Most trampoline park DVR systems overwrite their footage in 7 to 30 days. If you wait until the cast comes off to call a lawyer, the video of the attendant on his phone during your child’s accident is gone. If you wait, the park “revises” the incident report. If you wait, the teenaged monitor who saw everything quits and disappears.
Our spoliation letter goes out within 24 hours of your retention. We demand the DVR hard drive, the maintenance logs, and the original, un-sanitized incident reports. We stop the evidence-destruction cycle immediately.
Rhabdo and the UH Case: Our Medical Edge
We are currently litigating a $10 million lawsuit against the University of Houston regarding rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney failure. This is the same muscle-and-organ breakdown we see in children who jump for two hours in a heated indoor park with no hydration breaks.
“Rhabdo” is often misdiagnosed as simple muscle soreness. If your child has dark, tea-colored urine or muscle pain that seems “impossible” after a park visit, it is a medical emergency. Because we are litigating a major rhabdo case right now, we have the medical experts and the institutional accountability blueprints ready to deploy for your child.
Catastrophic Injuries: Counting the True Cost
A “broken leg” is a phrase for an insurance adjuster. We use the language of pediatric orthopedics because that is how you win.
- Salter-Harris Fractures: We project the cost of growth-arrest and future corrective surgeries.
- Vertebral Artery Dissection: Like the viral TikTok case of Elle Yona, we hold parks accountable for “spinal-cord strokes” caused by rotational shear.
- Compartment Syndrome: We know that a missed diagnosis in the first six hours after an injury can lead to permanent muscle death and amputation.
We build a Pediatric Life-Care Plan. We don’t just look at the ER bill; we look at the next fifty years. We calculate lost earning capacity, future therapy needs, and the educational accommodations your child will need for a TBI that doesn’t fully manifest for eighteen months.
Why Attorney911?
We aren’t a volume firm. We are a catastrophic-injury firm.
- Financial Strength: We advance every cost. We pay for the biomechanical engineer to reconstruct the jump. We pay for the pediatric neurologist to testify. You pay nothing unless we win.
- The “Insider” Edge: Lupe Peña knows the defense playbook because he helped write it.
- Federal Court Experience: Ralph Manginello has taken on BP and Walmart. He doesn’t blink at a trampoline park parent-company’s fleet of lawyers.
- National Reach from a Texas Base: We handle cases in City of Lake Dallas and across the country. Our 50-state map of waiver law and attractive-nuisance doctrine is the most comprehensive in the field.
As client Chad Harris said, “You are NOT just some client… You are FAMILY to them.” We treat your child’s recovery with the same urgency we would our own.
Frequently Asked Questions for City of Lake Dallas Parents
Can I sue if I signed the paper at the front desk?
Yes. In Texas, parents generally cannot waive their child’s direct right to sue. Furthermore, no waiver in Texas protects a park against gross negligence—like failing to fix known broken equipment or ignoring dangerous staffing levels.
What if I was the one who double-bounced my child?
Texas follows a modified comparative-fault rule. Even if you were partially at fault, you can still recover as long as the park’s responsibility is 50% or more. The park has a non-delegable duty to supervise and enforce safety rules like “one jumper per bed.” Their failure to stop you is their negligence.
How much is my child’s case worth?
Every case is different, but documented results are substantial. From the $11.485 million Cosmic Jump verdict in Houston to the $15.6 million Collins arbitration award, catastrophic outcomes command catastrophic settlements. For a standard pediatric fracture with no permanent growth issues, settlements often range from $50,000 to $500,000. For life-altering SCI or TBI, the numbers reach into the tens of millions.
How do I pay for your help?
We work on a contingency fee. That means we only get paid if we win your case. We advance 100% of the costs of the investigation, the experts, and the court fees. Your family’s limited resources stay focused where they belong: on your child’s medical recovery.
The park’s adjuster offered to pay my deductible. Should I take it?
No. This is a common tactic called the “Med-Pay Trojan Horse.” Often, the fine print on that small check or the form they want you to sign is a full release of all future claims. Once you deposit it, your case is likely over. Never sign anything before we review it.
Why is the 911 call important?
We’ve seen reports that some DFW parks instruct staff not to call 911 to avoid public records and negative press. If you had to call 911 yourself because the park refused, that is massive evidence of gross negligence. We subpoena the CAD records and 911 audio immediately to prove how the park handled the crisis.
Can I sue the corporate headquarters in Grapevine or Dallas?
Yes. We often name the franchisor (corporate) alongside the local park (franchisee). This allows us to reach the deeper insurance layers and prove that the training failures at your local park were actually the result of systemic corporate policies.
What to Do Now
- Call 1-888-ATTY-911. We are available 24/7.
- Speak with Lupe Peña. Hablamos Español. Get the insider defense perspective on your case immediately.
- Preserve the evidence. Before you hang up with us, our team is already preparing the spoliation letter.
- Focus on your child. Let us handle the corporate lawyers, the insurance adjusters, and the investigators.
One bounce changed your life. One phone call starts the process of making the responsible parties pay for it.
Attorney911: We don’t just handle cases. We hold systems accountable.
1-888-ATTY-911
The Manginello Law Firm
Houston · Austin · Beaumont · Serving City of Lake Dallas Families Nationwide
Verbatim Parent-Query Reference
“Can I sue if I signed the waiver?”
Yes. Texas law under Munoz v. II Jaz and the Dresser fair notice doctrine provides multiple ways to void or bypass a waiver, especially in cases of pediatric injury or gross negligence.
“Are trampoline parks safe for toddlers / kids under 6?”
The American Academy of Pediatrics says no. Most parks violate this medical consensus for profit. If your child under six was hurt, the park’s decision to market to that age group is a powerful negligence argument.
“They wouldn’t call 911 — is that legal?”
It is a massive breach of the standard of care and evidence of a corporate culture that puts image over life. It is often the “smoking gun” in a gross negligence claim.
“Is an iPad / kiosk waiver even enforceable?”
Many are not. Between technical formation failures and the lack of “fair notice” in a rushed lobby, these waivers are far more vulnerable than the park wants you to believe.
“How much does a trampoline-park lawyer cost?”
With us, nothing out of pocket. We only take a percentage of the final recovery. If we don’t win, you don’t pay.
“What if I didn’t actually sign — my in-laws / the friend’s parent did?”
If a non-guardian signed, they had no legal authority to bind your child. The waiver is almost certainly void as to your child’s claim under Texas Family Code § 153.073.
A Final Warning to City of Lake Dallas Families
What happened to your child wasn’t just “bad luck.” It was the output of a system designed to put 50 children on a court with a single, minimum-wage teenager watching them. It was a business decision.
The park has a risk management team. They have insurance lawyers. They are already building a file that says your child was “jumping wildly” or that you were “negligent in supervision.”
Don’t let them win. Call a firm that has spent 25 years beating Fortune 500 companies. Call a firm that knows their playbook. Call Attorney911.
1-888-ATTY-911.
The clock is running.
