New Hampshire Trampoline Accident Lawyer

New Hampshire Law and Trampoline Injury Claims: A State Snapshot

New Hampshire's own statutes govern an accident that happened here. Three legal theories usually come up in trampoline cases. Premises liability is the responsibility a property owner or operator may have for the condition and safety of a place it controls. Product liability is the responsibility a manufacturer or seller may have when a product, such as a trampoline frame, spring or net, is defective and that defect causes harm. Negligent supervision is a claim that a business or person responsible for watching jumpers failed to use reasonable care in doing so. Which theory fits depends on where the accident happened, who controlled the equipment and how the injury occurred.

Running through all three is New Hampshire's rule on shared blame. Comparative fault means a court weighs the fault of each side and adjusts damages to match. Section 507:7-d of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated provides:

"Contributory fault shall not bar recovery in an action by any plaintiff or plaintiff's legal representative, to recover damages in tort for death, personal injury or property damage, if such fault was not greater than the fault of the defendant, or the defendants in the aggregate if recovery is allowed against more than one defendant, but the damages awarded shall be diminished in proportion to the amount of fault attributed to the plaintiff by general verdict."

The same section places the burden of proving another party's fault, and how much, on the party who alleges it (section 507:7-d). For an injured jumper, that means a defendant who says you were careless has to prove it. It also means the comparison matters: if your share of fault is found greater than the defendant's, or the defendants' together, the statute's protection does not apply. If you are worried that a flip or a rough landing counts against you, the practical question is not whether you did anything risky but how your share compares with everyone else's, and which theory fits your accident shapes who that comparison includes. The site's trampoline accident lawyer guide covers the broader national picture.

How Trampoline Injuries Happen and Who May Be Responsible

A trampoline accident in New Hampshire usually falls into one of three settings: a commercial trampoline park, where many jumpers share connected beds, foam pits and walls, and where staff are present; a backyard trampoline on someone else's property, often a friend's or relative's home; or the equipment itself, such as a frame, spring, pad or net alleged to have failed or been poorly designed.

Who may be responsible follows from the setting. In general terms, the possible defendants are:

• Property owners or operators, whom the law asks to use reasonable care toward visitors on property they control.
• Equipment manufacturers, whom the law asks not to put a defective product into circulation.
• Sellers or distributors, who may also face product-liability claims depending on their role.
• Supervisory staff or the business that employs them, who may face negligent-supervision claims where they were responsible for monitoring jumpers.

If you are looking at a claim against a park or a homeowner, the question is whether four things can be shown: the owner or operator owed you a duty, it breached that duty, the breach caused your injury, and the injury produced damages. If the trampoline itself seems to have failed, the question is instead whether the product had a defect and whether that defect caused the harm. An injury alone does not prove any of these; whether they are met depends on the facts. Because more than one party can be involved, identifying each possible defendant early can affect which rules and deadlines apply.

Many trampoline parks ask jumpers or parents to sign a waiver or release, a document in which a person agrees in advance to give up some claims against the business. Whether a particular release is enforceable in New Hampshire depends on its exact wording and the circumstances of the signing and the injury. For a parent who signed a form at the front desk, that is often one of the first questions a conversation with an attorney can help sort out.

Filing Deadlines Under New Hampshire Law

A statute of limitations is the law's deadline for filing a lawsuit; a case filed after it runs can be dismissed no matter how strong it is. New Hampshire has several, and more than one can touch the same accident.

The general rule is in section 508:4 of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated. Personal actions, except slander or libel, "may be brought only within 3 years of the act or omission complained of." The statute adds a discovery rule: when the injury and its causal link to the act or omission were not discovered and could not reasonably have been discovered at the time, the action must be commenced within 3 years of when the plaintiff discovers, or with reasonable diligence should have discovered, the injury and that causal relationship (section 508:4).

Children are treated differently. Under section 508:8 of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated, "An infant or mentally incompetent person may bring a personal action within 2 years after such disability is removed" (Chapter 508).

A claim that a trampoline itself was defective has its own limits. Section 507-D:2 of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated requires product-liability actions to be commenced within 3 years of when the injury is, or with reasonable diligence should have been, discovered, and also no later than 12 years after the manufacturer of the final product parted with its possession and control or sold it, whichever occurred last. Where the defendant is a lessor, bailor or licensor with a legal duty to inspect, maintain or repair the product, the 12 years run from when it ceases to have use, possession or control or ceases to be under that duty. A claim based on a later duty imposed by a governmental regulatory agency, such as a duty to recall or warn, must be brought no later than 6 years after the defendant first incurred that duty, without shortening the other periods. Indemnity or contribution actions get the same periods plus 90 days. These limits do not apply to actions based on fraudulent misrepresentation, concealment or nondisclosure, to actions on a written contract providing a different period, or to certain warranty actions that do not seek damages for injury to person or property (section 507-D:2).

If a town or other governmental unit owned or ran the place where a trampoline injury happened, section 507-B:7 of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated sets a 3-year period with the same kind of discovery rule, and adds a condition: the clerk of the governmental unit must be notified by registered mail within 60 days after the injury, or after its discovery if it could not reasonably have been discovered at the time, of the date, time and location of the injury. Where the governmental unit alleges lack of notice within that period, it bears the burden of showing it was substantially prejudiced (section 507-B:7). Neighboring states set different rules; the site's Massachusetts trampoline injury page explains that state's separately.

What the Landowner Recreational-Use Rule Means for Your Claim

A backyard accident raises a question parents often do not expect: does it matter that nobody paid to be there? A recreational-use statute is a law that limits a landowner's liability when the owner lets people use land for recreation. New Hampshire's version is section 508:14 of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated.

Under that section, an owner, occupant or lessee of land, including the state or a political subdivision, "who without charge permits any person to use land for recreational purposes or as a spectator of recreational activity, shall not be liable for personal injury or property damage in the absence of intentionally caused injury or damage." The statute also says that a contribution or other voluntary payment not required to use the land is not a charge or fee, and that certain leases to the state, a political subdivision or a nonprofit are not a charge (section 508:14).

The stakes are real. Where the protection applies, the standard shifts from ordinary carelessness to intentionally caused injury, which can change whether a claim against a landowner proceeds at all. That is why the details matter: whether any fee was required, what kind of land and use were involved, and whether a backyard trampoline at a private home counts as permitting use of land for recreational purposes. A commercial park that charges admission stands on different footing from a free invitation to a neighbor's yard. How the statute fits a particular backyard is a fact-driven question, not one this page can answer for a given family.

Evidence That Often Matters in a Trampoline Injury Case

In the weeks after an accident, the papers and photos a family gathers are what later show what happened, who was involved and when the deadlines above began to run. If you were hurt, the records that usually matter include:

• Medical records, which show what the injury is, when it happened and how treatment has gone, tying the accident to both its cause and your losses.
• Photos and video of the trampoline, the area around it and any padding or netting, which can show the condition of the premises or the equipment.
• The trampoline or the part that failed, where a product-liability theory is in play, since a defect claim often turns on the physical item.
• Purchase, rental or admission records, which can identify the manufacturer and seller and show whether a fee was charged, a point that matters under section 508:14.
• Incident reports prepared by a park or property owner, which record what was reported at the time, though they do not by themselves establish what caused an injury.
• Names and contact details of witnesses, including other parents or staff.
• Any release signed at the time, since its exact language is what any enforceability question turns on.

Families often keep these together as they come in, because missing records can be hard to recover later and dates in them can bear on which deadline applies. Sorting out which records connect to which theory, and which deadline, is something a case evaluation with our attorney can cover.

Wrongful Death After a Trampoline Accident in New Hampshire

When a trampoline accident takes a life, the family is left grieving and facing legal questions at the same time. A wrongful death action is a claim brought after a death caused by another's wrongful act or neglect. In New Hampshire, section 556:12 of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated addresses the case where "the administrator of the deceased party is plaintiff," meaning the person appointed to manage the deceased's estate brings the action.

For a family, the statute means the losses are looked at as if the person who died had survived: the mental and physical pain they suffered, the reasonable expenses to the estate, how long they probably would have lived but for the injury, and what they could have earned during their probable working life, along with other elements allowed by law. It also permits two additional categories, each with a dollar limit:

• A surviving spouse may be awarded damages for the loss of comfort, society and companionship, not to exceed $500,000.
• Where the decedent was a parent of a minor child, the child or children may be awarded damages for loss of familial relationship; where the decedent was a minor child, the surviving parent or parents may. Loss of familial relationship includes the loss of comfort, society, affection, guidance and companionship, and these damages may not exceed $300,000 per individual claimant.

Both categories are reduced under the comparative fault rule where the fault of the decedent or the claimant caused the loss in whole or in part. The section's source note lists amendments effective January 1, 1999, and January 1, 2025 (section 556:12). These limits apply to the categories named in that wrongful-death section. Understanding which categories may apply, and who is the right person to bring the action, is often the first step, and one a conversation with an attorney can help clarify.