If you or your child was hurt at a Sky Zone, a lawsuit is often possible even though you signed a waiver at the door. A Sky Zone lawsuit typically turns on three questions: whether the participation agreement you signed is enforceable in your state, whether the park’s conduct was negligent (or grossly negligent) enough to overcome any waiver that is enforceable, and whether you sue the correct franchise entity before your state’s deadline runs out. Several state supreme courts have now ruled that parents cannot sign away a minor child’s right to sue or force the child into arbitration, which has opened courtroom doors that Sky Zone’s paperwork was designed to close.
What Kinds of Injuries Lead to Sky Zone Lawsuits
Trampoline parks produce injuries at a rate the American Academy of Pediatrics has put at roughly 1.14 per 1,000 jumper hours, with about 11% classified as significant.1Penney Lawyers. Sky Zone Trampoline Park Injuries, Lawsuits and Legal Options Court filings from one case involving 26 Sky Zone locations referenced more than 15,000 pages of internal incident reports. In Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, medics responded to trampoline parks 88 times between January 2016 and November 2018, with 22 of those calls going to the Sky Zone in Pineville.2Sky Zone Injuries. Sky Zone Injuries
The injuries behind these lawsuits are serious. A 13-year-old at a California Sky Zone was hit by a larger customer, shattering her knee and breaking her tibia badly enough to require five hours of emergency surgery. A four-year-old at a New Jersey location broke his femur during trampoline dodgeball when a larger child fell on him. A Massachusetts teenager fractured his tibia and fibula when his foot became trapped between a trampoline mat and the metal frame, spending nearly a year in a wheelchair and on crutches; his lawsuit alleged the trampolines were defective and unreasonably dangerous.1Penney Lawyers. Sky Zone Trampoline Park Injuries, Lawsuits and Legal Options
Internal documents produced in litigation suggest the company has known about certain hazards. An employee manual reportedly warned staff to “BE AWARE OF THE PADS,” referring to the protective padding over metal frames where many injuries occur, though that warning was apparently not shared with customers.1Penney Lawyers. Sky Zone Trampoline Park Injuries, Lawsuits and Legal Options
Whether the Waiver You Signed Will Hold Up
Nearly every Sky Zone visitor, or the parent of a child visitor, has to sign a “Participation Agreement” before entering. Those agreements typically include a liability waiver releasing Sky Zone from responsibility for injuries and an arbitration clause pushing disputes out of court and into private arbitration. Whether the paperwork is worth anything to Sky Zone depends heavily on the state where you were injured and on who signed it.
Pennsylvania: A Parent Cannot Force a Child Into Arbitration
In companion cases decided in fall 2025, Santiago v. Philly Trampoline Park, LLC and Shultz v. Sky Zone, LLC, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a parent cannot unilaterally bind a minor child to an arbitration agreement.3Midpage. Shultz, A. v. Sky Zone, LLC, Aplt. Both cases involved children injured at Philadelphia Sky Zone parks after a parent signed the required waiver.4Sweeney Firm. Applying Binding Arbitration to Minors in Pennsylvania
The court reasoned that an accrued cause of action is a vested property right, and a parent acting only as a natural guardian lacks authority to waive a child’s right to have claims resolved in court. Sky Zone argued that arbitration merely changed the forum without affecting the child’s substantive rights. The majority rejected that, ruling that arbitration affects both the forum and the process.3Midpage. Shultz, A. v. Sky Zone, LLC, Aplt. The court also held that one spouse cannot automatically bind the other to arbitration through the marriage itself, because a marital relationship alone does not create an agency relationship.4Sweeney Firm. Applying Binding Arbitration to Minors in Pennsylvania Both families’ lawsuits were allowed to proceed in court.
New Jersey: Only the Child’s Own Parent Can Sign
In Gayles v. Sky Zone Trampoline Park, a 2021 New Jersey Appellate Division decision, a child suffered a fractured leg at a Sky Zone in Morris County after being brought to the park by another child’s parent, who signed the waiver. Sky Zone argued it had reasonably relied on that adult’s apparent authority to sign for the child.5New Jersey Courts. Justin Gayles, et al. vs. Sky Zone Trampoline Park, et al.
The court found no legal precedent for treating a non-parent as having authority to waive a child’s right to sue for personal injury. It also brushed aside Sky Zone’s practicality argument, noting the park could use digital consent forms or email waivers to the actual parent before the visit.5New Jersey Courts. Justin Gayles, et al. vs. Sky Zone Trampoline Park, et al. If a friend, aunt, or neighbor signed the waiver for your child, it likely does not bind you.
Kentucky and Illinois: Parental Waivers Do Not Bind Kids at For-Profit Parks
Kentucky’s Supreme Court addressed the issue directly in Miller v. House of Boom Kentucky, LLC in June 2019, a case involving an 11-year-old who broke her ankle at a Louisville trampoline park. The court held unanimously that parents lack common law authority to sign pre-injury liability waivers on behalf of minor children when the waiver benefits a for-profit business, reasoning that commercial entities are better positioned than children to manage risk through insurance and safety measures.6Cornell Law Institute. In Re: Miller v. House of Boom Kentucky, LLC The ruling was limited to for-profits; the court left open whether nonprofits might be treated differently.7Business Law Today. Kentucky Supreme Court Strikes Waiver Claims Child Profit Business
Illinois reaches a similar result. Under state law, parental liability waivers signed on behalf of minors are generally unenforceable, a principle established in Meyer v. Naperville Manner, Inc.
Adult Injuries Are a Different Story
These rulings protect children. If you were the one jumping and you signed the waiver yourself, it will generally be enforced in most states unless you can show gross negligence or another exception. That distinction matters more than any other single fact in a Sky Zone case.
When Gross Negligence Beats the Waiver
Even in states where waivers are ordinarily upheld, courts refuse to honor them when a park’s conduct rises to gross negligence. In Menchaca v. NTE Houston I, LLC, a case involving a Cosmic Jump trampoline park in Texas, a teenager fell through a torn trampoline onto a concrete floor, suffering a traumatic brain injury, a fractured skull, and seizures. In February 2016, a Harris County jury found the park grossly negligent and awarded $11.485 million, including $6 million in punitive damages.8Sports Litigation Alert. Texas Jury Awards Brain-Injured Teen $11.5 Million in Case Against Trampoline Park The theory travels: known equipment defects, ignored safety rules, or inadequate staffing can push a claim past the waiver.
Suing the Right Sky Zone Entity
Sky Zone operates through a franchise model, with over 240 parks across the U.S. and Canada run by a mix of corporate-owned and independently owned locations.9Palladium Equity Partners. Palladium Announces Closing of $450 Million Continuation Vehicle That structure has ended lawsuits before they reached the merits.
In Moore v. Sky Zone, decided by the Louisiana Court of Appeal in March 2025, Barrynee Moore sued generic “SKYZONE” entities for injuries sustained at a park in Lafayette in July 2022. The actual operator was Drastic Air Lafayette, LLC, a separate franchise company. By the time Moore amended her petition to name the correct defendant, Louisiana’s one-year prescriptive period had expired. The court dismissed the case, holding that the amended petition did not “relate back” because the franchisee had no notice of the suit within the deadline. The court noted that signage at the park identifying it as “independently owned and operated” reinforced the distinction between the brand and the franchisee.10Buchalter. Moore v. Sky Zone: Louisiana Court Enforces Strict Filing Rules in Franchise Entity Misidentification Case
Suing “Sky Zone” by name is often not enough. The specific limited liability company operating the park where the injury occurred needs to be identified in the complaint, and the clock starts running from the date of the incident under your state’s statute of limitations.
Recent Cases Show What Plaintiffs Are Claiming
Two 2026 filings illustrate the theories that are actively being tested.
In June 2026, a mother filed suit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court after her child broke a leg at Sky Zone Boynton Beach, Florida. The complaint in Sutton v. SZ Boynton Beach L.L.C. alleges that on August 31, 2025, another child entered the plaintiff’s trampoline in violation of the park’s one-child-per-trampoline rule, fell on her leg, and caused the fracture. The suit alleges failure to supervise, failure to enforce the park’s own policies, and inadequate staff training, and seeks damages exceeding $50,000.11Boca Post. Sky Zone Boynton Beach Child Trampoline Injury Lawsuit
In March 2026, 78-year-old Maria Alanis Ruiz filed a $3 million lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Oregon. Ruiz says she was picking up her granddaughter at the Sky Zone in Beaverton on March 19, 2024, when a child ran past a “no running” sign and knocked her down, shattering her hip and requiring a total hip replacement. Her attorney called the facility a “zone of chaos” without enough trained staff to enforce its own safety rules.12The Oregonian. Sky Zone Trampoline Park Sued After Oregon Grandma Says Child Ran Into Her, Broke Her Hip Notably, Ruiz was a visitor picking someone up, not a jumper, so no participation agreement applies to her at all.
The common thread across these cases is a failure-to-supervise theory: the park had rules, the rules were not enforced, and a foreseeable collision followed. That framing is designed to reach claims that no waiver, even an enforceable one, was meant to cover.
What to Do If You Were Hurt at Sky Zone
A few concrete steps protect your ability to sue.
- Get medical care and keep every record, from the initial ER visit through follow-up surgeries and physical therapy.
- Ask the park for an incident report and photograph the area where the injury happened, including any padding, tears, or signage.
- Save the participation agreement you signed and note whether the person who signed was the child’s parent, another adult, or the injured person.
- Find the legal name of the entity operating that specific location before you file. Franchise signage and the receipt or waiver can help identify it.
- Check your state’s statute of limitations early. Louisiana’s one-year period is short; other states allow more time, but the clock always starts running at the incident.
- Consider whether the facts support a gross negligence claim (known equipment defects, ignored rules, understaffing) that can survive a waiver.
Trampoline park safety is largely self-regulated. There is no federal law or regulation governing equipment inspections, staffing levels, or mandatory injury reporting at these facilities. The industry generally relies on the ASTM F2970 voluntary standard, which Sky Zone helped draft.2Sky Zone Injuries. Sky Zone Injuries Illinois has adopted ASTM F2970-20 as a binding regulation, effective May 2022, requiring annual third-party inspections, on-site operating manuals, a maximum staff-to-participant ratio of 32 to 1, and managers with current first aid and CPR certifications, while prohibiting performance trampolines for the general public.13Illinois Administrative Code. Ill. Admin. Code Tit. 56, § 6000.353 Most states have no comparable rules, so the practical avenue for accountability after a serious injury is a private lawsuit.