Learning More About Your Accident

While trampolines can be quite a fun recreational activity, they can also lead to some serious injuries. Over a 9 year period ending in 2011, there were over 1 million injuries caused by trampolines, with 30% of those incidents involving broken bones. What can you do if you find yourself as a part of this statistic? Start by understanding your rights as an injury victim.

Causes For Injury

You can never be too careful when using a trampoline because injuries can happen in many ways. You can come in contact with someone else while jumping, land improperly while performing a stunt, fall off the trampoline or land on the frame or springs of the trampoline itself.

Any one of these things can happen in a single jump if you are not careful.

Reasons For Negligence

There are some situations where an owner of the trampoline would be liable for your injury. The general rule is that the owner must have acted negligent in some way that caused your injury to occur.

The owner of the trampoline is responsible for taking care of the equipment being used. Neglecting to maintain the trampoline could find the owner liable for an injury if the trampoline broke in a way that could have been prevented. For example, there may be rusty springs due to the trampoline being left outside, and the springs snapped while the trampoline was in use.

Not Taking Proper Safety Precautions

The owner may have allowed unsafe playing conditions that led to an injury. Some common safety precautions include:

• Prohibiting multiple people to use their trampoline simultaneously
• Prohibiting stunts
• Using safety pads that cover the frame, springs, and hooks
• Placing their trampoline far away from trees and structures
• Using an enclosure around the trampoline to prevent falls
• Always supervising the trampoline while it is in use

If the owner was not doing some of these things to prevent an injury, you may have a viable personal injury case.

Reasons For Causation

Even if the owner was following all safety precautions, they may still be liable for your injury due to causation. This is when a trampoline becomes an attractive nuisance to people in the community and tempts someone to trespass on their property to play on the trampoline.

Causation is much harder to prove in a personal injury lawsuit but may be possible. For example, if a homeowner left a trampoline set up in their front yard unsupervised, causation may be an option if you used the trampoline and became injured. If the trampoline was secured inside a fenced off backyard, it will be difficult to prove causation because the person trespassing must decide to enter the backyard.

If you are not sure if the owner of a trampoline is liable for your injury, a personal injury lawyer can review your case and let you know if it's worth taking to court.