“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 Kaitlin “Kati” Hill, a mother who lived every parent’s nightmare when a trampoline park broke her three-year-old son Colton’s femur. Her warning to other parents was shared 240,000 times. We read it. We’ve heard that scream in the stories of the families we represent. We know that as you read this in McKinney, perhaps from a hospital room at Medical City McKinney or while sitting at your kitchen table near Stonebridge Ranch, you are feeling that same sense of “we had no idea” that Kati Hill described to ABC News.
One bounce. One bad landing. One broken neck. That is the timeline of a catastrophic trampoline injury. In the seconds it takes for a child to be launched by a double-bounce energy transfer, a family’s life changes forever. At the Urban Air in McKinney on South Hardin Boulevard, or any of the dozens of parks lining the U.S. 75 corridor through Allen, Plano, and Frisco, thousands of children are airborne every weekend. Every one of them is jumping against twenty-five years of medical warnings from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Every one of them is an insurance policy with a waiver attached.
If your child was hurt, the park’s risk management team is already at work. Before the EMS unit even cleared the parking lot on Hardin Blvd, the operator’s insurer was likely opening a file—not to help your child, but to protect their margin. They have a system for denying these claims. They rely on the fact that you signed a piece of paper at a kiosk.
We have a system for winning them.
For over two decades, Ralph Manginello and our team at Attorney911 have fought for catastrophic injury victims. We’ve gone head-to-head with Fortune 500 corporations like BP, Walmart, and Amazon. The parent conglomerates behind national trampoline park chains—Sky Zone, Inc., backing brands like DEFY and Rockin’ Jump, or Unleashed Brands, which owns Urban Air—don’t intimidate us. We know their playbook because our own Associate Attorney, Lupe Peña, used to sit on the other side of the table defending recreational businesses against these exact claims. He knows where the holes are in their waivers. He knows which arguments Texas courts actually void.
You aren’t just another client to us. As our client Chad Harris said, “You are FAMILY to them.” We represent the parent standing at a hospital gale-force watching a surgeon explain what happens when a growth plate is destroyed at age nine. That is who we fight for in McKinney.
The McKinney Trampoline Landscape: A Saturated Market of Risk
McKinney sits in the heart of what we call a “saturated” trampoline park market. Between the Urban Air on Hardin Blvd in McKinney, the Jumping World in Allen, and the multiple Sky Zone and Altitude locations in Frisco and Plano, Collin County families are surrounded by high-throughput facilities. During a typical North Texas summer, when the 100-degree heat makes outdoor play at Bonnie Wenk Park or Gabe Nesbitt Community Park unsafe, these indoor parks reach capacity.
When throughput peaks, safety drops. ASTM F2970, the safety standard written by the trampoline industry itself, requires specific attendant-to-jumper ratios. Walk into any McKinney area park on a Saturday afternoon and count the monitors. If you see one teenager on their phone supervising sixty kids, you are looking at a violation of the industry’s own safety floor.
Because we operate out of our Texas base with offices in Houston, Austin, and Beaumont, we treat McKinney cases with local priority. We know the local interstates, like Hwy 121 and the Sam Rayburn Tollway, where families commute from Prosper and Anna to reach these “adventure parks.” We know that a catastrophic injury in McKinney often routes to Children’s Medical Center Plano or the Level 1 trauma bays at Children’s Medical Center Dallas. The standard of care at those facilities is the benchmark against which we measure your child’s recovery.
Our presence in McKinney isn’t just about geography; it’s about authority. We cite the exact standards the parks violate. While most personal injury firms can’t tell you what ASTM F2970 requires, we can cite it from memory—attendant ratios, foam pit depth, age-separated jumping zones. When we depose a McKinney park’s operations manager, we know their standards better than they do.
What Happened: The Physics of “Accidents” That Weren’t
A trampoline injury is never an accident. It is the predictable output of a business decision. When a park in McKinney decides to staff a shift with three attendants instead of the six required by their own manual, they are choosing margin over your child’s safety.
The Double-Bounce: A Catapult Mechanism
The most frequent mechanism we see in McKinney involves the double-bounce. Physics doesn’t negotiate. When a 200-pound adult lands on a trampoline mat at the same instant a 60-pound child is pushing off it, the energy transfer multiplies the child’s launch force by up to 4x. The child isn’t jumping anymore; the child is a projectile. This is why the Nysted & Drogset study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that the smaller jumper is 14 times more likely to be injured in a multi-jumper scenario.
Despite this, parks in the McKinney area often fail to enforce age and weight segregation. If a court monitor allowed a teenager to bounce near your toddler, they violated ASTM F2970. That is negligence.
Foam Pits: The Illusion of Safety
Foam pits in McKinney parks look soft. They aren’t. If the open-cell polyurethane cubes haven’t been rotated or replaced, they compact. A child landing head-first enters what is effectively a dive into shallow water. The head wedges between cubes, the body’s momentum continues, and the result is a cervical fracture or SCIWORA (Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality).
The industry knows this. That’s why major chains are swapping foam pits for airbags. If the park your child visited in McKinney still uses a foam pit, they’ve made a cost decision to keep an outdated, dangerous attraction. We know how to document the compacted depth that leads to these $5 million lifetime injuries.
The Hidden McKinney Hazard: Rhabdomyolysis
One under-reported mechanism we specialize in is exertional rhabdomyolysis. Imagine a child jumping for 90 minutes at a McKinney park in mid-July. The facility is hot, the child is drinking a sugary soda instead of water, and they are pushing their limits to “get their money’s worth” from an all-day pass.
Twenty-four hours later, the child has cola-colored urine and rock-hard muscles. Their kidneys are failing. This is rhabdo. We are currently litigating a $10 million lawsuit against the University of Houston involving rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney failure. We use that same medical-litigation architecture—the same nephrology experts and the same muscle-breakdown science—for trampoline rhabdo cases in McKinney.
If your child has symptoms, go to the Emergency Room at Medical City McKinney immediately. Then call us. 1-888-ATTY-911.
The Waiver Is Not a Wall: Texas Law and McKinney Families
The most common reason parents in McKinney don’t call a lawyer is the waiver. They remember signing that tablet at the Urban Air or Sky Zone check-in. They think they signed their rights away.
Think again.
The Dresser Fair Notice Doctrine
Texas law is very specific about waivers. Under Dresser Industries v. Page Petroleum, a release of future negligence must meet the “Fair Notice” doctrine. This means the word “negligence” must be used specifically, and the language must be conspicuous. A waiver buried in a 20-page click-through on an iPad often fails this test.
The Munoz Rule: You Can’t Waive a Minor’s Rights
In McKinney, as in the rest of Texas, the controlling authority is Munoz v. II Jaz Inc. The court held that a parent generally cannot waive a minor child’s personal injury claim in advance. Your signature might bar your own claims for medical bills, but it does not kill your child’s right to be whole.
The Cosmic Jump Precedent
In Harris County, a jury awarded $11.485 million—including $6 million in punitive damages—against the operator of Cosmic Jump after a teen fell through a torn trampoline mat onto concrete. The waiver was signed. The jury found gross negligence anyway. Gross negligence—a conscious indifference to a known risk—voids the protection of a waiver in every state, including Texas.
If the McKinney park knew a mat was torn, or if they knew they were dangerously understaffed and jumped anyway, they are liable. Our Associate Attorney Lupe Peña used to write these waivers for the insurance companies. He knows exactly how to tear them apart.
Liable Parties: Who Is Actually on the Hook?
We don’t just sue the local McKinney LLC. We go upstream because the money is upstream. The operator of a park on Hardin Blvd may only have a $1 million policy, which won’t cover a catastrophic spinal injury. We perform “corporate archeology” to name every layer:
- The Operator LLC: The local business.
- The Franchisee: The multi-unit owner.
- The Franchisor: Sky Zone Franchising LLC or Urban Air Franchise Holdings. They mandate the safety manuals that the local park ignored.
- The Corporate Parent: Sky Zone, Inc. (formerly CircusTrix LLC) or Unleashed Brands.
- The Private Equity Sponsor: Firms like Palladium Equity Partners or Seidler Equity Partners, who may have pushed for the cost-cutting that caused the understaffing.
- The Component Manufacturer: If a spring failed or a net tore, companies like Jumpking or Skywalker may be liable under strict product liability.
We’ve litigated against multinational oil and gas companies. The private equity groups behind McKinney trampoline parks don’t intimidate us.
The Evidence Clock: 48 Hours to Act in McKinney
In McKinney, the evidence is evaporating as you read this.
- Surveillance Video: Most park DVR systems in McKinney overwrite in 7 to 30 days. If we don’t send a spoliation letter today, the footage of your child’s injury will be gone forever.
- Waiver Metadata: Kiosk databases can purge session logs in as little as 72 hours.
- The Incident Report: Parks often “revise” these reports once they realize a lawyer is involved.
- The Staff: The teenager who saw what happened might quit their job in McKinney next week and disappear.
Our spoliation letter goes out via certified mail within 24 hours of you hiring us. We demand the DVR hard drive, the training logs, and the metadata. We don’t wait for them to “lose” the video. We have seen what parks do after a catastrophic injury in Texas. We know how to stop them.
McKinney Pediatric Injuries: The Medical Reality
Children’s bones are biomechanically distinct. They are more pliable and contain an open physis—the growth plate.
Salter-Harris Fractures
If your child’s fracture occurred near a joint, it’s likely a Salter-Harris injury. A Salter-Harris Type II fracture at age eight is not a “broken ankle.” It is a decade of monitoring. If the growth plate is destroyed, your child’s leg may not grow straight. At age 14, they may require a corrective osteotomy. We build your case around this 10-year medical horizon, not just today’s ER bill.
SCIWORA and Head Trauma
A child’s flexible spine can suffer cord ischemia without a visible fracture. This is SCIWORA (Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality). If the ER at Medical City McKinney gave your child a CT and said they were “fine,” but they still have neck pain or listlessness, they need an MRI. A 2024 pictoral radiographic essay in the American Journal of Roentgenology documents that 1.6% of all pediatric emergency department trauma is now trampoline-related. It is a documented trauma category.
Why Choose Us? The Attorney911 Advantage for McKinney Families
Most personal injury firms in McKinney handle a trampoline case like a car wreck. We don’t. We built our practice around this specific fight.
- 25+ Years Experience: Ralph Manginello is admitted to the Southern District of Texas and has handled multi-million dollar catastrophic cases since 1998.
- The Defense Edge: Lupe Peña knows the insurance carrier’s playbook because he used to defend them.
- Hablamos Español: Lupe Peña habla con usted directamente—sin intérpretes. Muchas de las familias en McKinney y el norte de Texas necesitan representación bilingüe que entienda la doctrina de Delfingen sobre waivers en otro idioma.
- Contingency Fee: You pay nothing unless we win. We advance every expense—the biomechanical engineer, the pediatric orthopedic consultant, the ASTM compliance specialist.
- The Rhabdo Moat: Because we are litigating a $10M rhabdo case against the University of Houston, we have a medical expert network ready for McKinney families that other firms simply haven’t built.
Frequently Asked Questions for McKinney Parents
Can I sue if I signed the waiver at the McKinney Urban Air?
Yes. In most cases, parental waivers for minors are void in Texas under Munoz v. II Jaz. Even for adults, the waiver fails if there was gross negligence, such as the park knowingly operating with dangerous equipment or understaffed courts. The $11.485M Cosmic Jump verdict proved that a waiver is not a blank check for a park to be reckless.
How much is my child’s trampoline injury case worth?
Catastrophic cases in the US have settled for $5 million to $15 million. A serious fracture with growth plate damage in McKinney typically anchors in the $500K to $2M range. We calculate the next forty years of medical care and lost earning capacity, not just the initial surgery costs.
What if the park says they aren’t responsible because it was a “freak accident”?
The park’s defense is always “it’s an inherent risk.” Our response is to name the specific breach of ASTM F2970. An awkward landing is inherent; an attendant being on their phone while an adult double-bounces your child is not. A shallow foam pit is not. Those are negligent acts that fall outside the “accident” category.
How long does a McKinney trampoline case take?
While we file quickly to preserve evidence, a complex case with a life care plan can take 18 to 36 months to properly value. We prepare every case for trial from day one. When the insurers in their corporate offices see that Ralph Manginello is ready to go to a jury in Collin County, they bring real numbers to the table.
My child was hurt at a birthday party, and I didn’t sign the waiver. What now?
This is a major “Waiver Gap.” If the birthday party host signed a master agreement but you didn’t sign for your individual child, the park has no waiver defense against you at all. This happens frequently at McKinney birthday parties.
Your McKinney Case Starts Today
The clock isn’t running tomorrow. It’s running right now. By the time you finish your coffee, the DVR at the McKinney park may be closer to overwriting. The “friendly adjuster” from the insurance company is already preparing their call to “check in” on you—hoping you’ll say your child is “feeling better” so they can use it against you later.
What happened to your child at McKinney wasn’t an accident. It was the predictable output of a system that puts margin ahead of kids. We were built for exactly this fight.
You signed the waiver because the line was long at the McKinney check-in. You let your child jump because you wanted them to laugh. None of that put them in that hospital bed. The park did.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hablamos Español. Ralph Manginello and Lupe Peña are ready to hold them accountable. No fee unless we win.
Attorney911 / The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC
Houston · Austin · Beaumont · Serving McKinney and Statewide
1-888-ATTY-911
As client Donald Wilcox said, “One company said they would not accept my case. Then I got a call from Manginello… I got a call to come pick up this handsome check.” Don’t let a waiver stop you from getting the justice your child deserves.
McKinney Area Contact and Emergency Resources
If you are in the acute stage of an injury in McKinney, please ensure you are seeking Level 1 or Level 2 pediatric care:
- Medical City McKinney: 4500 Medical Center Dr, McKinney, TX 75069
- Children’s Medical Center Plano: 7601 Preston Rd, Plano, TX 75024
- Children’s Medical Center Dallas (Level 1 Trauma): 1935 Medical District Dr, Dallas, TX 75235
Once your child is stable, your first call should be to preserve the evidence. We coordinate same-day investigations in the McKinney area. Call us at (888) 288-9911.
Si prefiere hablar en español, llame ahora. Lupe Peña le explicará sus derechos.
