Trampoline parks have quickly exploded in popularity over the last 20 years, especially along the Wasatch front. These parks give families all across Utah an easy way to burn off energy and have fun year round. But the same features that make these parks fun: soaring jumps, foam pits, dodgeball courts, and wall-to-wall trampolines, also make them one of the more injury prone entertainment venues out there.
If you or your child have been injured at a trampoline park, there is a good chance that you were handed a waiver at the counter before you stepped into the park. This raises the question, does that piece of paper actually stop me from filing a claim against this company? The answer is not so simple, and is much more nuanced than trampoline parks may want you to believe. Our Utah trial attorneys have done the research, and in this article will be diving into the reality of what these waivers actually enforce.
Common Trampoline Park Injuries
Trampoline parks aren’t just oversized backyard trampolines. The majority of these facilities feature professional grade equipment including trampolines that can launch jumpers ten to fifteen feet into the air, well beyond what a typical home trampoline can produce. Combine this with crowded jump floors and elevated platforms and you have created a facility with a fairly predictable pattern of injuries. These include:
- Ankle and lower leg fractures: Awkward landings, especially on angled trampoline “walls” or after a jump off a raised platform, are among the most frequent injuries parks see. Some parks feature jump platforms that are fifteen to twenty feet high, which have been known to cause patrons to break or sprain their ankles.
- Spinal compression and neck injuries: Landing improperly in a foam pit, or attempting flips without proper spotting, can compress the spine or cause more serious cervical injuries.
- Ligament tears and dislocations: Knees and shoulders take a beating from repeated hard landings and awkward twists mid-air.
- Double-jumper collisions: Two people landing near each other on a connected trampoline surface can launch a smaller or lighter jumper unpredictably, often resulting in fractures or worse.
Utah did attempt to address some of these risks legislatively. House Bill 150, passed in 2019, was meant to establish safety standards specific to trampoline parks. In practice, many of its provisions are considered ambiguous, and the law has largely failed to make the parks meaningfully safer. That gap between “regulated” and “actually safe” is exactly where a lot of these injury claims live.
So, Are Liability Waivers Enforceable in Utah?
For the most part, yes. However, there are real limits that many injured patrons don’t realize apply to them.
Under Utah Supreme Court precedent, pre-injury releases for negligence are generally enforceable, courts won’t automatically toss a waiver just because someone got hurt. But that enforceability isn’t unconditional. A challenger can defeat a waiver by showing it violates public policy, falls within a recognized public interest exception, or is unclear or ambiguous, standards the court laid out in Rutherford v. Talisker Canyons Finance Co. (2019). Utah courts have also been clear on a separate, harder line: a waiver is void outright if it attempts to excuse conduct that rises to the level of willful, gross, or wanton negligence, per Russ v. Woodside Homes, Inc.
The distinction matters enormously for trampoline park cases. If a park simply failed to notice a torn pad or a jumper landed wrong through nobody’s fault, a signed waiver will likely bar an “ordinary negligence” claim. But if the park knowingly ran a court with damaged padding, ignored repeated safety complaints, understaffed monitors or a packed floor, or let a known hazard go unaddressed, that can cross into gross negligence. No waiver, however well drafted, can protect against that.
There’s also a language requirement that trips up a surprising number of waivers. Utah courts have held that a release must communicate its intent to waive negligence claims clearly and unequivocally. Vague or buried legalese won’t cut it, and a waiver of negligence can not be implied from general boilerplate language. Trampoline park waivers signed quickly on a tablet at a check in are frequently overboard or unclear, which gives a skilled Utah trial attorney room to challenge them.
The Minor Waiver Problem
This is the issue that surprises Utah parents the most, and its one of the biggest opportunities in trampoline park cases, since so many patrons are kids.
Utah’s appellate courts have repeatedly held that a parent cannot sign away a minor child’s own right to sue for negligence. The Utah Supreme Court reaffirmed this in Rutherford, building on its earlier decisions in Heart v. Peart (2001) holding that it would violate public policy to allow a parent to release a minor’s prospective negligence claim.
These are narrow, legislatively created exceptions. Utah has passed specific statutes allowing enforceable waivers for equestrian activities and skiing, for example. But those carve outs are activity specific, and trampoline parks are not currently among them. That means the standard rule likely applies: if your child was injured at a Utah trampoline park after you signed the check-in waiver, that signature very likely did not extinguish your child’s own claim, regardless of what the waiver’s fine print says.
What This Means If You’ve Been Injured
A signed waiver is often the first thing a trampoline park’s insurer points to when a claim comes in, and it’s often enough to discourage people from pursuing a case at all. But as outlined above, a waiver:
- Doesn’t protect a park from gross or willful negligence
- Can be challenged if the language is unclear, hidden, or overly broad
- Generally can’t waive a minor’s own right to sue, even if a parent signed it
- Doesn’t excuse a park from maintaining basic safety standards for staffing, equipment maintenance, and monitoring
If you or your child was injured at a trampoline park in Utah, the waiver that you signed at the door is not the end of the conversation. There are potentially multiple paths to receive compensation for your injuries, it just depends on the facts. If you or someone you know has been injured at a trampoline park then reach out to the Utah trial experts at LifeLaw Trial Lawyers.
Our team of experienced trial attorneys have years of experience fighting through complex legal issues. We offer free consultations and are ready to hear your story, and the facts about your case. Let us help you get the compensation that you deserve. Contact us today to get your free consultation and to figure out your next steps on your road to recovery.