Urban Air Lawsuits: Go-Kart Death, Settlements, and Waivers

Urban Air lawsuits have piled up at franchise locations across the country, ranging from go-kart crashes and zipline falls to harness failures and trampoline injuries, with the most serious being the December 2025 death of six-year-old Emma Riddle at a Port St. Lucie, Florida, park. The cases share a pattern: families allege inadequate supervision, unenforced age and height limits, and equipment failures, while Urban Air routinely responds by pointing to the liability waiver and arbitration clause every customer signs at the door. At least one franchisee has been pushed into Chapter 11 by the accumulating claims.

The Port St. Lucie Go-Kart Death

On December 6, 2025, Emma Riddle was killed in a go-kart crash at the Urban Air Adventure Park in Port St. Lucie while attending her sister’s birthday party. She was placed in the driver’s seat of a double-seat electric go-kart with her mother riding as passenger. The kart struck a track barrier shortly after the race began, and Emma died that night at HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital from blunt force injuries to the torso.¹ Police classified the death as accidental.²

An investigation by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services found that the manufacturer required go-kart drivers to be at least 18 years old and at least 60 inches tall. Emma was six and stood 49 inches. Neither she nor her mother wore seat belts, and video footage showed the ride operator did not verify that restraints were fastened. The kart reached roughly 10.8 miles per hour, exceeding the 10 mph maximum, and signage at the attraction did not list the age requirement.²¹

Attorneys John Morgan and Thomas Hasty of Morgan & Morgan called the incident a “preventable tragedy” caused by “blatant negligence and safety failures,” and alleged that several go-karts experienced mechanical failures around the time of the crash, including inoperable seat belts on the kart involved.³

The $300,000 State Settlement

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services filed a six-count administrative complaint against NIFE Holdings, LLC, the Missouri City, Texas company that operates the Port St. Lucie franchise.²⁴¹

Whether the franchise can afford to pay is a real question. Court records show the Port St. Lucie location owes roughly $270,000 in back rent to its shopping center landlord and about $83,000 in unpaid taxes to the St. Lucie County Tax Collector. Go-karts have not operated at the facility since the crash.⁵⁶

The Riddle Family’s Wrongful Death Claim

As of March 2026, the Riddle family had not yet formally filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Attorney Thomas Hasty said the next steps were to open Emma’s estate in probate court and then sue on behalf of the estate and her parents. Hasty said the family expects a fight over the arbitration clause in the waiver Emma’s mother signed before entering the park.⁷ By June 2026, Hasty was also seeking to examine the go-kart itself, which was being held at the Port St. Lucie Police Station.⁵

Earlier Injury Suits at the Same Florida Park

The Riddle case was not the first injury litigation at the Port St. Lucie location. Court records show six go-kart crash lawsuits filed against Urban Air locations in the three years before the fatal crash. Five settled and one remained active in early 2026. The suits generally alleged that Urban Air failed to maintain equipment, failed to provide safe instructions, and failed to monitor the track, with three cases involving claims of permanent disability and significant scarring requiring hospitalization.⁵

Attorney Khalil Farah, who represented four clients in go-kart settlements with Urban Air, described a pattern of older children rear-ending or slamming into other drivers, saying, “Anytime you operate something like a go-kart or bumper cars … you can’t just put people in the seats and just tell them to go.”⁵

Two more lawsuits were filed against the Port St. Lucie park in March 2026. One plaintiff alleged a broken ankle after falling into a shallow ball pit; another family alleged their son was injured by another patron diving at him in the dodgeball area.⁶

Earlier claims at the same facility involved other attractions. A January 2025 lawsuit alleged that a park employee improperly secured a child’s rock-climbing harness, causing the harness to cut into the child’s stomach and inflict serious lacerations, and cited negligent hiring and failure to teach safety rules. In May 2025, another suit alleged a child was thrown to the ground on the “Wipeout” attraction because the park allowed multiple users on the ride simultaneously and failed to enforce safety procedures.³

Zipline and Harness Cases in Other States

Similar allegations have surfaced at Urban Air locations elsewhere. In September 2019, a 10-year-old boy fell more than 20 feet from a zipline called the “Sky Ride” at the Lakeland, Florida, park, suffering broken bones, a collapsed lung, and a brain injury that required surgery and a five-day hospital stay. His mother, Kimberly Barnes, sued through Morgan & Morgan in November 2019, alleging that three employees who were supposedly trained on safety procedures failed to check or secure the child’s harness at safety checkpoints. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services found no equipment deficiencies and attributed the fall to operator error.⁸

In June 2019, a nine-year-old boy fell from a zipline ride at the Urban Air location in Reno, Nevada, breaking his heel and running up more than $15,000 in medical bills. A lawsuit filed in Washoe County District Court alleged management and employees failed to properly secure the child. Urban Air countered that the boy did not follow safety instructions, claiming he pushed other guests out of the way and jumped, and that safety is a “shared responsibility.”⁹

A March 2026 lawsuit filed in Denver District Court alleged that seven-year-old Avery fell 20 feet from an attraction called the “Leap of Faith” on July 5, 2022, at the Denver location, breaking her spine and her arm. The complaint alleged the park was understaffed, that employees failed to follow the facility’s own operations manual requiring staff to physically check harnesses, that the child was not connected to her harness at the time of the fall, and that the facility failed to report the injury to the Colorado Division of Oil and Public Safety as required.¹⁰

The family rejected a mediation offer that, according to attorney Tim Garvey, was less than the cost of the child’s medical bills. Urban Air’s waiver routes disputes into private arbitration and waives the right to a jury trial, but Garvey argues that gross negligence cannot be waived under Colorado law and is pursuing a public jury trial. The complaint also alleges Urban Air has faced more than a dozen similar lawsuits nationwide involving harness failures and falls.¹¹

A Franchisee Pushed Into Bankruptcy

Litigation costs have taken down at least one franchisee. Urban Air Park North, which operated two San Antonio locations, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Western District of Texas on November 18, 2024 (Case No. 5:24-bk-52316), listing assets of no more than $50,000 against liabilities of $1 million to $10 million. The filing automatically halted several pending negligence lawsuits, including one from February 2024 seeking more than $1 million after an inflatable attraction reportedly deflated on a child.¹²

A Bexar County judge approved the company’s request to terminate its leases in April 2025, and both San Antonio locations closed. The franchisee had been sued eight times since 2020 and had paid nearly $70,000 in settlements before shuttering, including a $50,000 settlement approved in August 2025 to resolve a 2020 lawsuit over a child’s injury. Other Urban Air franchisees continue to operate separate locations in the San Antonio area.¹³

Waivers, Arbitration, and the Cerna Ruling

A recurring fight in Urban Air litigation is the enforceability of the liability waivers and arbitration clauses that customers sign before entering. Urban Air’s standard agreement includes a broad arbitration provision and a waiver of liability. Families frequently argue those waivers should not apply, especially when children are involved or when the conduct alleged amounts to gross negligence.

The most significant appellate ruling on the question came in May 2025, when the Texas Supreme Court decided Cerna v. Pearland Urban Air, LLC (No. 24-0273). Abigail Cerna signed a release and arbitration agreement on behalf of her child at a Pearland, Texas, location in August 2020. When the child was injured during a return visit in November 2020 without a new waiver being signed, Cerna argued the original agreement did not cover the later visit. The trial court agreed and denied Urban Air’s motion to compel arbitration, but the appellate court reversed, and the Texas Supreme Court affirmed. Because the agreement contained a delegation clause sending questions of scope to an arbitrator, the court held it lacked authority to decide the issue and sent the case back with instructions to compel arbitration.¹⁴

Enforceability varies by state. Colorado attorneys in the Denver harness case argue gross negligence cannot be waived under state law.¹⁰ Florida attorneys in the Riddle case expect Urban Air to invoke arbitration and are prepared to fight it.⁷ The Texas ruling strengthens Urban Air’s position in that state but does not bind courts elsewhere. Courts in several states, including Illinois and Maine, have held that parents generally cannot waive a minor child’s right to bring a personal injury claim.

Who Actually Gets Sued: Franchisor or Franchisee

Urban Air Adventure Park is franchised by UATP Management, LLC, a Texas limited liability company formed in May 2013 and headquartered in Bedford, Texas.¹⁵ Individual locations are owned and operated by separate franchisee entities. The Port St. Lucie park is operated by NIFE Holdings, LLC, registered in Missouri City, Texas.¹⁶ The San Antonio parks were operated by Urban Air Park North, owned by Michele Hoskins.¹³

That structure means lawsuits and financial liabilities often fall on the local operator rather than the parent company, though some suits have also named UATP Management. Urban Air corporate has issued standardized speed settings and operating procedures for go-karts across franchise locations, but the Florida state investigation found the Port St. Lucie facility’s practices contradicted both manufacturer requirements and Urban Air’s own documentation.¹⁶ An Urban Air spokesperson said the company’s “policies, procedures and equipment are designed to keep children and families safe, and the well-being of the children and families we serve is always our top priority.”⁵

1
CBS News 12. $300,000 Settlement Under Review Over 6-Year-Old’s Go-Kart Death at Urban Air Port St. Lucie
2
ABC News. State Alleges Multiple Violations at Urban Air Facility After Fatal Go-Kart Crash
3
WPBF. Florida Lawsuits Suggest Safety Issues at Urban Air Adventure Park Before Deadly Go-Kart Crash
4
WPTV. Urban Air in Port St. Lucie Agrees to Pay $300K After Investigation Into Crash That Killed 6-Year-Old
5
WPTV. Urban Air Faces Lawsuits and Debt After 6-Year-Old’s Death in Port St. Lucie Go-Kart Crash
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WFLX. 2 New Lawsuits Filed Against Urban Air Adventure Park in Port St. Lucie Over Injury Claims
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WPBF. Florida Family’s Attorney Details Next Steps After Trampoline Park Death
8
ABC News. Mother of 10-Year-Old Who Fell From Zip Line Files Lawsuit
9
Reno Gazette Journal. Urban Air Adventure Park Reno Lawsuit: Boy Fell From Zipline Ride
10
NewsNation. Urban Air Adventure Park Child Broke Spine Lawsuit
11
Yahoo News. Family Files Lawsuit After Child Fell at Urban Air Adventure Park
12
San Antonio Express-News. Urban Air Park North Bankruptcy
13
MySanAntonio.com. Urban Air Closure San Antonio
14
FindLaw. Cerna v. Pearland Urban Air, LLC
15
FranchiIMP. Urban Air Franchise Information
16
CBS News 12. Accident Investigation Urban Air Port St. Lucie