“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.”
Those are the words of Kaitlin “Kati” Hill, a mother who watched her three-year-old son, Colton, suffer a broken femur—the strongest bone in the human body—during what was supposed to be a safe “Toddler Time” session at a trampoline park. Her warning, shared more than 240,000 times on social media, ended with a haunting admission: “We had no idea. We would have never put our baby boy on a trampoline if we would have known.”
For families in Somerset, Texas, that nightmare is closer than you think. Whether you are visiting the popular trampoline parks in San Antonio—like The Rush Fun Park, Urban Air South San Antonio, or Altitude—or you have a Jumpking or Skywalker trampoline in your Somerset backyard, the risks are documented, foreseeable, and, in many cases, the result of corporate decisions that put profit margins above pediatric safety.
At Attorney911, led by managing partner Ralph Manginello with over 25 years of trial experience, we don’t treat these as “accidents.” Since 1998, we have held Fortune 500 corporations and institutional defendants accountable for catastrophic injuries. We bring federal court experience and a specialized understanding of trampoline litigation to Somerset families. Our team includes associate attorney Lupe Peña, a former insurance defense lawyer who used to represent the very recreational businesses and insurers we now fight. He knows their playbook because he helped write it. He knows which Somerset park waivers are full of holes and exactly how to pierce the corporate shields of national chains like Sky Zone, Inc. and Unleashed Brands.
If your child is currently in a trauma bay at University Hospital in San Antonio or another regional pediatric center, you are likely feeling a mix of terror and guilt. You signed the waiver. You let them jump. We are here to tell you: this is not your fault. The industry has known about these risks for decades. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has warned against recreational trampoline use since 1999. The park knew the risks. The manufacturer knew the risks. They chose to operate anyway.
Call us today at 1-888-ATTY-911. Hablamos Español. Our consultation is free, and you pay nothing unless we win. We advance every expense—from biomechanical engineers to pediatric orthopedic surgeons—to ensure your child’s recovery fund stays intact.
The Somerset Trampoline Injury Landscape: More Than Just a “Jump”
Somerset sits in the heart of South Texas, a region where family life often revolves around youth sports, birthday parties, and outdoor recreation. But the “fun” sold by commercial parks and backyard retailers often hides a systemic architecture of negligence.
Commercial Parks vs. Backyard Trampolines in Somerset
In a metro area as dense as Bexar County, families in Somerset are surrounded by options. National chains like Sky Zone (newly consolidated under the parent company Sky Zone, Inc., formerly CircusTrix LLC and backed by Palladium Equity Partners) and Urban Air (owned by Unleashed Brands and Seidler Equity Partners) dominate the market. These facilities are industrial-scale operations serving hundreds of jumpers an hour.
However, Somerset families also rely heavily on residential trampolines. Whether it’s a Bouncepro from the local Walmart or a premium Springfree model, backyard trampolines carry their own set of hazards, from UV-degraded netting to “attractive nuisance” liability when a neighbor’s child wanders onto your property. In Somerset, where the South Texas sun beats down at 100+ degrees all summer, the polypropylene netting on a backyard trampoline can lose its tensile strength in just a few seasons, becoming a brittle trap for the next jumper.
Why Somerset Families Trust Attorney911
Most personal injury firms handle a trampoline case like a simple slip-and-fall. We don’t. We understand the physics of energy transfer and the biomechanics of a developing child’s spine.
- The Rhabdo Bridge: We are currently litigating a $10 million lawsuit against the University of Houston involving rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney failure. This is the same catastrophic muscle and organ breakdown we see in children who jump for extended periods in Somerset trampoline parks without proper hydration or rest.
- Waiver Defeat Track Record: We know that a signed piece of paper at a San Antonio check-in kiosk is not a wall. Texas courts, including those serving Somerset, have voided waivers for gross negligence, failure of “fair notice,” and lack of signer authority.
- Bilingual Advocacy: With a high concentration of Hispanic families in Somerset, we offer native Spanish representation. Lupe Peña speaks with you directly—no interpreters, no delays.
The Physics of the Catastrophe: Why “One Bounce” Is All It Takes
When a child is injured at a park like The Rush or Altitude, the defense lawyer will inevitably call it a “freak occurrence.” Science says otherwise. The mechanisms that maim children in Bexar County are the predictable outputs of trampoline physics.
The Double-Bounce Multiplier
This is the signature trampoline park injury. ASTM F2970—the safety standard written by the industry itself—requires parks to separate jumpers by age and weight. Why? Because of the physics of energy transfer.
Imagine a 200-pound adult landing on a trampoline bed at the same moment a 60-pound child from Somerset is pushing off. The energy stored in the mat from the adult’s landing is transferred into the child’s launch. This can multiply the child’s launch force by up to 4x. The child isn’t jumping anymore; they are being thrown by a catapult at velocities their skeleton cannot handle. This leads to comminuted femoral shaft fractures and Salter-Harris growth plate injuries.
The Foam Pit Illusion
Foam pits look soft, but they are often the most dangerous attraction in the building. As documented in the landmark case of Ty Thomasson (who died at an Arizona park with a shallow foso de espuma), foam pits that are not maintained to specific depths are death traps.
In Somerset cases, we often find that foam blocks have compacted over time. If a child lands head-first—even from a short height—the head can wedge between blocks. Friction stops the skull, but the body’s momentum continues, causing cervical axial loading. This produces SCIWORA (Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality), where the spinal cord is permanently damaged even if a CT scan looks normal.
The Standard the Industry Ignores
While U.S. parks generally follow the voluntary ASTM F2970 standard, the rest of the developed world has moved to mandatory regulations. EN ISO 23659:2022, the European standard, mandates safety features that many San Antonio-area parks treat as optional. When a park in Somerset tells you they meet “industry standards,” we ask: “Which ones? The voluntary ones your lobby wrote, or the mandatory ones that actually save lives?”
Who Is Responsible? Piercing the Corporate Shield in Somerset
A trampoline injury case in Somerset often involves a complex web of defendants. The local park you visited is likely an undercapitalized LLC designed to shield the national franchisor.
The 5-Layer Defendant Stack
We don’t just sue the local venue. We go upstream:
- The Operator LLC: The entity running the Somerset-area park.
- The Franchisee: The multi-unit owner who may own several Urban Air or Sky Zone locations.
- The Franchisor: Entities like Sky Zone Franchising LLC or UATP Management LLC (Urban Air).
- The Corporate Parent: Sky Zone, Inc. or Unleashed Brands.
- The Private Equity Sponsor: Firms like Palladium Equity Partners or Seidler Equity Partners.
In the Damion Collins v. Urban Air arbitration, a $15.6 million award was returned against the franchisor because of a “systemic failure” to implement safety changes. At Attorney911, we use these precedents to ensure the Somerset families we represent reach the deepest pockets.
Manufacturer and Retailer Liability
For backyard injuries, we look at the product life cycle. If a weld failed on a Jumpking or a net tore on a Skywalker, we pursue the manufacturer under strict product liability. In Texas, this includes the retailer. If you bought a defective trampoline at the Somerset-area Walmart or through Amazon, those Fortune 500 companies may be on the hook under the Bolger v. Amazon doctrine.
The Waiver Myth: Why You Still Have a Case in Somerset
The number one reason parents in Somerset don’t call a lawyer is the waiver. They remember clicking “I Agree” on an iPad and think their rights are gone. In Texas, that is rarely true.
The Gross Negligence Carve-Out
No waiver in Texas can release a defendant from gross negligence. If a Somerset park knew a trampoline mat was torn—like in the Cosmic Jump $11.485M Harris County case—and let kids jump anyway, the waiver is worth nothing. Under the Moriel standard, subjective awareness of an extreme risk coupled with conscious indifference voids the release.
Munoz v. II Jaz: The Child’s Shield
In the 1993 Texas case of Munoz v. II Jaz, the court ruled that a parent cannot sign away a minor child’s independent right to sue for personal injuries. While the Texas Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling in Cerna v. Pearland Urban Air made it easier for parks to force cases into arbitration, the substantive right for the child to seek damages remains protected.
The Signer-Authority Attack
Was it a grandmother or an aunt who took the kids to the park in San Antonio? Under Texas Family Code § 153.073, only a parent or court-appointed conservator has the legal authority to bind a child. If the wrong person signed the iPad, the waiver fails on Day 1.
Bilingual Formation Defeat
If your family’s primary language is Spanish and the park presented an English-only waiver at a rushed kiosk, you may not have formed a valid contract. The Delfingen doctrine in Texas holds that an inability to read the agreement is a defense if the park didn’t provide a translation. Our associate Lupe Peña uses this specific attack vector to protect Somerset’s Spanish-speaking community.
Permanent Consequences: Pediatric Injuries Explained
Children’s bodies are biomechanically distinct. A “broken leg” at a trampoline park is never just a broken leg.
Salter-Harris Growth Plate Fractures
The growth plates (physes) are the weakest parts of a child’s skeleton. A high-impact landing can cause a Salter-Harris fracture. If this isn’t monitored by an expert pediatric orthopedist, it can lead to limb-length discrepancy or angular deformity that doesn’t manifest until your child is a teenager. We build your Somerset case to include a decade of medical monitoring.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and the Developing Brain
A concussion at a Somerset park can have a “cognitive-earning cascade.” Damage to a developing brain affects executive function, academic performance, and future earning capacity. We work with pediatric neuropsychologists to quantify the lifelong cost of a Somerset TBI.
Rhabdomyolysis and Somerset Physicality
Somerset youth are active year-round. But jumping for 90 minutes in a non-AC warehouse can lead to rhabdo. If your child has “cola-colored” urine or rock-hard muscle pain after a jump session, it is a medical emergency. Our experience with the $10 million UH rhabdo case means we know exactly which labs to pull to prove the park’s liability.
Evidence Preservation: The 7-Day Somerset Clock
The most critical mistake Somerset parents make is waiting. The evidence you need to win is disappearing right now.
- Surveillance Overwrite: Most Somerset-area parks use DVR systems that overwrite after 7 to 30 days. If we don’t send a spoliation letter immediately, the video of your child’s injury is gone forever.
- Incident Report “Revisions”: Parks often “update” their internal reports after an attorney gets involved. Metadata forensics are the only way to see the original admission of fault.
- The “Don’t Call 911” Policy: As documented in Southlake, TX, some parks discourage staff from calling 911 to avoid creating a public record of the injury. We subpoena 911 CAD records to prove the delay in your child’s care.
Our firm sends a comprehensive litigation-hold notice within 24 hours of being retained. We demand preservation of everything: time-clock records, training files, foam-pit refill logs, and franchisor audits.
Somerset Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue if I signed the waiver at Urban Air or Sky Zone?
Yes. In Texas, waivers do not cover gross negligence, and per Munoz v. II Jaz, they generally do not bind your child’s legal rights. We attack waivers on conspicuousness, signer authority, and bilingual formation issues.
How much is my child’s trampoline injury case worth?
Catastrophic pediatric cases in Texas have resulted in multi-million dollar recoveries. A Salter-Harris fracture might anchor in the $500K-$2M range, while a permanent cervical spine injury can reach $15M+ due to lifetime care costs. The Harris County Cosmic Jump verdict of $11.485M is the Texas benchmark.
What should I do if the park’s insurance company calls me?
Do not give a recorded statement. This is the “Recorded Statement Trap.” Anything you say will be used to shift blame onto you or your child. Politely tell them you have retained Attorney911 and hang up.
How long do I have to file a lawsuit in Somerset?
In Texas, the statute of limitations is 2 years from the date of the injury. For minors, this is often tolled until they turn 18, but Somerset families should never wait. Evidence dies much faster than the legal deadline.
Does it cost anything to hire your firm?
No. We work on a contingency fee. We advance all costs for Somerset families, including high-priced biomechanical and medical experts. If we don’t recover money for you, you owe us nothing.
Why Time Is Not on Your Side in Somerset
What happened to your child at an Urban Air or a backyard trampoline in Somerset wasn’t just bad luck. It was the predictable output of a system that ignores safety standards to protect the bottom line.
Attorney911 was built for exactly this fight. Ralph Manginello brings the toughness of 25 years in federal and state courts. Lupe Peña brings the insider knowledge of how insurers try to bury these claims. Together, we represent Somerset families with a 50-state authority and a local Texas heart.
Your child’s case is decided by what gets preserved this week. The DVR is overwriting. The attendant is moving to a new job. The “revised” incident report is being drafted.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911 now. Hablamos Español. Let us take the burden of the fight so you can focus on the bedside. The case starts today.
Attorney911 / The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC
Houston · Austin · Beaumont · Serving Somerset and all of Bexar County
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