Hawaii Trampoline Accident Lawyer

How Hawaii Law Looks at a Trampoline Injury Like Yours

Three legal theories usually frame a trampoline injury. If you were hurt because the jump floor, padding or surrounding area was not kept reasonably safe, the theory is premises liability, the duty a property owner or operator owes to people on the property. If the concern is how jumpers were watched, for example how many people shared a mat or how court monitors responded to risky play, the claim is negligent supervision. If a trampoline, mat, spring, padding or enclosure had a defect that caused the injury, the claim is product liability.

Each theory comes with its own proof. A negligence claim asks whether someone had a duty, breached it, and caused your injury and losses; a product claim asks whether there was a defect and whether it caused the harm. Whether any of these is met depends on what happened in your incident.

Hawaii adds two rules that shape all of this. The first is comparative fault, the idea that blame can be divided among the people involved, including the injured person. Under section 663-31 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, "Contributory negligence shall not bar recovery" if that negligence "was not greater than the negligence of the person or in the case of more than one person, the aggregate negligence of such persons against whom recovery is sought," but damages "shall be diminished in proportion" to the injured person's share. If you worry that a flip or a crowded mat makes the accident your fault, this rule means partial fault alone does not end a claim. The court notes on that official page also record that Hawaii's courts found the "known or obvious danger defense" inconsistent with the legislative intent behind the statute.

The second is the recreational-use statute, a rule that limits a landowner's duty to people who use land for recreation. Section 520-4 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes applies to an owner of land who "invites or permits without charge any person to use the property for recreational purposes," except as section 520-5 recognizes or provides. Such an owner does not extend any assurance the premises are safe, does not give the person the legal status of an invitee or licensee owed a duty of care, and does not assume liability for injury caused by those persons' acts or omissions, or for injury to people who come onto the land in response to an injured recreational user. The words "without charge" matter: if you paid admission, your situation may be treated very differently from a free invitation, and whether the statute reaches a particular facility depends on the facts. An attorney can help sort out which of these rules a specific accident raises.

Who May Be Responsible for the Trampoline Injury That Hurt You or Your Child

The answer usually turns on who controlled what. At a commercial venue, the trampoline park operator and the owner of the building are the parties a premises liability claim looks at, since they decide layout, maintenance, rules and staffing. Where the question is how jumpers were watched, supervisory staff, a party host or an event organizer may be part of a negligent supervision claim. If a frame bent, a spring gave way, padding shifted or an enclosure net tore, the manufacturer, importer or seller of that equipment may be part of a product liability claim. For a backyard trampoline, the homeowner who set it up and invited others onto it may be the focus.

None of these parties is responsible simply because someone was hurt. An injury, even a serious fracture, spinal injury or head trauma, does not by itself show that anyone breached a duty or that a product was defective.

This matters for you because section 663-31 weighs your share against everyone you sue taken together. When an operator, a manufacturer and a host each had some part in what happened, their shares are considered together, so leaving out a party who had control can change how fault is weighed. A conversation with an attorney can help identify who controlled the space, the staff and the equipment. For more on how these claims are built, see the page on trampoline park injury claims.

Signed a Waiver at the Front Desk? What a Release Does and Does Not Decide

A waiver or release, which trampoline parks often call a participation agreement, is a document a jumper or parent signs before entry that tries to limit or give up the operator's liability for injuries. Many also include terms about where and how a dispute is resolved. Signing one is routine at check-in, and many people only read it closely after something goes wrong.

Whether a release is enforceable in Hawaii is a legal question. It depends on the specific language of the document, what it covers, the circumstances of signing and the applicable Hawaii law. It is not a certainty in either direction. For you, that means a signed release does not answer on its own whether a claim is available, and assuming it does could mean setting aside a question that has not been decided.

A parent's signature on a child's release raises its own distinct questions, because the person who signed is not the person who was hurt. How Hawaii treats that signature depends on the facts and on applicable Hawaii law. Hawaii's infancy rule in section 657-13, discussed below, shows only that the statutes treat a child's own claim with care; it does not decide what a release says. If you kept a copy or can get one from the park, its exact words are what any review turns on. The broader topic of trampoline park waivers is covered on its own page, and an attorney can go through the document line by line with you before you draw a conclusion about it.

Filing Deadlines Under Hawaii Law for Injured Jumpers, Children and Public Facilities

A statute of limitations is the deadline for starting a lawsuit. Hawaii's main rule is in section 657-7 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes: actions for "damage or injury to persons or property shall be instituted within two years after the cause of action accrued, and not after, except as provided in section 657-13." The court notes on that page describe when a claim accrues, including a case where the negligence claim survived because the defendants had not shown the plaintiff had actual or imputed knowledge of their negligence.

For children, section 657-13 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes provides that a person "within the age of eighteen years" when the claim accrued may bring the action "within the respective times limited in this part, after the disability is removed or at any time while the disability exists." The section excepts actions against the sheriff, chief of police or other officers, and its court notes record that it was held not applicable to actions against the State.

Claims against government follow their own rules. Under section 662-4 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, a tort claim against the State "shall be forever barred unless action is begun within two years after the claim accrues," with a separate rule for medical tort claims. Counties are different: under section 46-72 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, before a county is liable for injuries received in its public places or caused by the negligence of a county official or employee, the injured person or someone on their behalf must, "within two years after the injuries accrued," give notice to the official the statute identifies. A court note on that page records a claim found time-barred where the county never received written notice.

Wrongful-death claims have their own period, covered below. Missing any of these deadlines can end a claim regardless of its merits, and which one applies depends on who may be responsible and when the claim accrued. If a public facility or the State may be involved, or the injured person is a child, an attorney can help work out which clock applies.

What Losses an Injured Person May Recover in Hawaii, and the Limits That Apply

If you were injured, the losses the law may allow commonly include medical expenses, lost income and pain and suffering; for a family after a death, they include the damages section 663-3 addresses. Which categories apply, and in what amount, depends on the facts of the injury and the proof offered.

Hawaii limits one category. Under section 663-8.7 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, "Damages recoverable for pain and suffering as defined in section 663-8.5 shall be limited to a maximum award of $375,000; provided that this limitation shall not apply to tort actions enumerated in section 663-10.9(2)." Whether a particular trampoline claim falls within section 663-10.9(2) depends on the kind of tort action involved. If the cap applies, it limits pain-and-suffering damages only; the statute does not cap medical expenses or lost income. In practice, for someone with a lasting spinal or head injury, the cap can mean that the pain-and-suffering part of an award is cut down even when a jury would have valued it higher, while bills and lost wages remain outside the limit.

Fault then adjusts what is left. Under section 663-31, any award would be reduced by your share of fault, and if your share were greater than everyone else's combined, the court would enter judgment for the defendant. The same injury can therefore lead to very different results. No statute predicts how any one case comes out, and an attorney can explain how these two rules may bear on a given claim.

Preserving the Records That Show What Happened on the Trampoline

The medical file is usually the starting point, because it shows what the injury was and how it was treated, from the emergency visit through follow-up care. For trampoline head injuries and spinal injuries, that file often carries particular weight because symptoms can unfold over time.

Photos and video of the mat, springs, padding, enclosure net or foam pit often help show the condition of the equipment. Incident reports from the park or property owner record what staff noted at the time, and the names of other parents, jumpers or employees who saw it can matter when accounts differ.

In a possible product liability claim, the trampoline or the broken component itself, together with the receipt or purchase history, can be central to whether a defect can be shown. Any participation agreement or release that was signed is part of the picture too, and dates matter because Hawaii's deadlines run from when a claim accrues.

The practical risk for you is that much of this does not wait. A park may repair or replace a torn net, footage may be recorded over, a backyard frame may be thrown out, and witnesses' memories fade, all while the deadline keeps running. A consultation can cover what records exist, who holds them and how they fit together.

When a Trampoline Injury Results in Death: What Hawaii's Wrongful-Death Law Means for a Family

This section is for a family after a loss. Wrongful death is a claim brought when a person's death is caused by another's wrongful act, neglect or default. Under section 663-3 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, "the deceased's legal representative, or any of the persons enumerated in subsection (b), may maintain an action against the person causing the death or against the person responsible for the death," and the action is maintained on behalf of those enumerated persons, with the exceptions the statute gives.

The deadline is set by the same section: "Any action brought under this section shall be commenced within two years from the date of death of the injured person, except as otherwise provided." That clock runs from the death, not from the accident, and the court notes on that page apply it that way. The court notes on section 657-13 also record that the infancy rule applies to the period in section 663-3. Where a county may be involved, the notes on section 46-72 record that it governs claims against counties arising from fatal injuries.

The statute also provides that certain amounts recovered, including those tied to the deceased's illness and burial, shall not constitute a part of the estate. The comparative-fault rule in section 663-31 applies in death cases as well, since it covers negligence "resulting in death." If you are trying to understand who in your family may bring the action, you may want to consider discussing it with our attorney, where the conversation can cover the statute's terms and the dates involved.