Utah Trampoline Accident Lawyer

Utah's Legal Framework for Trampoline Injuries

Where the accident happened decides which body of law does most of the work, and that in turn shapes which deadline applies and whose conduct is examined.

Premises liability is the law of a property owner's or occupier's responsibility to people who come onto the property. Whether a trampoline park owed a duty to a jumper, or a homeowner to a guest, turns on the facts of the visit. One Utah statute speaks to legal status directly: under section 57-14-202 of the Utah Code, an owner who lets people use land for recreation without charge does not, by doing so, give them "the legal status of an invitee or licensee to whom a duty of care is owed."

Product liability applies when a product's condition is claimed to have caused an injury, under the Utah Product Liability Act. If you believe the trampoline itself failed, the question the law asks is about the moment it was first sold: under section 78B-6-703, a product "may not be considered to have a defect or to be in a defective condition, unless at the time the product was sold by the manufacturer or other initial seller, there was a defect or defective condition in the product which made the product unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer." The same section creates a rebuttable presumption that a product is free from defect where its design and manufacturing methods conformed to government standards for the industry in existence when they were adopted. Whether a defect existed, and whether it caused the injury, are factual questions.

Negligent supervision is a claim that the people responsible for watching participants, such as park staff, failed to use reasonable care in enforcing rules or monitoring jumpers.

Recreational use. Section 57-14-201 of the Utah Code says that, except as section 57-14-204 provides, an owner of land "owes no duty of care to keep the land safe for entry or use by any person entering or using the land for any recreational purpose or to give warning of a dangerous condition." Section 57-14-204 then says nothing in that part limits liability for "willful or malicious failure to guard or warn," for deliberate, willful or malicious injury, or for "an injury suffered where the owner of land charges a person to enter or go on the land or use the land for any recreational purpose." A trampoline park that charges admission falls within that last exception as the statute words it.

What is at stake is whether the owner had a duty at all. For that reason, whether admission was paid, and whether the trampoline is still in its post-accident condition, are often among the first facts people in this position look at, and among the first an attorney can help sort through.

Trampoline Park, Backyard, and Product Scenarios in Utah

A paid session at a commercial park, an afternoon in a neighbor's yard and an injury traced to the trampoline itself each lead to different Utah rules, and so to different deadlines and defendants.

At a commercial trampoline park, the jumper usually paid to enter, so section 57-14-204's charge exception keeps the recreational-use no-duty rule from limiting liability that otherwise exists. Parks often ask jumpers, or parents for children, to sign a participation agreement or release. How such a document affects a claim depends on its wording and who signed it; a release signed by a parent may raise different questions than one signed by an adult jumper.

On a backyard trampoline, the homeowner's responsibility to guests, including visiting children, is a premises-liability question. If the injured person came onto the land for recreation, the recreational-use statute may apply, along with its exceptions for willful or malicious failure to guard or warn and for an owner who charges a person to enter.

When the trampoline, its springs, frame, net or padding is claimed to have failed, the Utah Product Liability Act applies. Section 78B-6-706 requires a civil action under the Act to be brought within two years from the time the person "discovered, or in the exercise of due diligence should have discovered, both the harm and its cause." Section 78B-6-705 adds that an alteration or modification made after sale that "changed the purpose, use, function, design, or intended use" of the product counts as fault under Utah's comparative-negligence statute. If you added or swapped parts on a home trampoline, that history may matter.

A trampoline at a facility run by a city, county, school district or other public body brings in the Governmental Immunity Act of Utah, with its own notice rule, described below.

For someone in this position, the practical stakes are that the wrong label on the setting can mean watching the wrong clock. The questions worth weighing are similar in each case: who owned or ran the place, whether anyone paid to enter, and whether the equipment is still available in the condition it was in that day.

Who May Be Responsible for Your Injury

Often more than one party is involved, and each brings its own rules.

• A park or facility operator may be asked to answer for the condition of the premises and the supervision of jumpers.
• A manufacturer, distributor or seller of the trampoline or its parts may be a defendant under the Utah Product Liability Act. If a product claim is filed, the complaint itself will not name a figure: section 78B-6-704 provides that no dollar amount may be stated in the complaint in a product liability action against a manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer; the complaint asks only for damages "as are reasonable in the premises."
• A homeowner or other private property owner may face a premises-liability claim from a guest or a child visitor.
• A governmental entity or its employee may be a defendant under the Governmental Immunity Act, subject to its notice and filing rules.

Identifying the right party matters because the deadline changes with it: a product claim runs on a two-year clock; a claim against a public body runs through a one-year notice requirement.

Utah also divides responsibility among everyone involved. Comparative fault is the rule for sharing responsibility among the people whose conduct contributed to an injury, including the injured person. Section 78B-5-817 of the Utah Code defines "fault" broadly, including negligence "in all its degrees," assumption of risk, strict liability, products liability, and "misuse, modification, or abuse of a product." The rule in section 78B-5-818 is explained below.

If you are trying to work out who was involved, records that help identify defendants include the business name on a receipt or booking confirmation, the brand and model printed on the trampoline, and any incident report the facility prepared. Bringing these to a conversation with an attorney can help narrow which parties, and which deadlines, are in play.

Filing Deadlines and the Notice Rule That Can Affect Your Claim

A statute of limitations sets how long a person has to file a lawsuit. Several can reach a trampoline injury in Utah, depending on the claim and the defendant.

• Section 78B-2-307 of the Utah Code provides that "an action may be brought within four years" for, among other things, "relief not otherwise provided for by law."
• Section 78B-6-706 of the Utah Product Liability Act requires an action under that Act to be brought within two years from when the person discovered, or with due diligence should have discovered, both the harm and its cause.
• Section 78B-2-304 provides that an action may be brought within two years "for recovery of damages for a death caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another."

For children, section 78B-2-108 of the Utah Code applies to an individual who is under 18 years old, or mentally incompetent without a legal guardian. While the individual is underage or mentally incompetent, "the statute of limitations for a cause of action other than for the recovery of real property may not run."

Claims against a public body follow a separate track. Section 63G-7-402 of the Governmental Immunity Act states that a claim against a governmental entity, or against an employee acting within the scope of employment or under color of authority, "is barred unless notice of claim is filed with the person and according to the requirements of Section 63G-7-401 within one year after the claim arises." Section 63G-7-401 names who receives the notice, including the city or town clerk for a claim against a city or town, the county clerk for a county, the superintendent or business administrator for a school district, and the attorney general for the state. Under section 63G-7-403, a claimant may not file suit until 60 days after the notice is filed and must commence the action within two years after the claim arises. Missing the notice requirement can bar the claim.

This page cannot say how much time any reader has left. If you are unsure whether the facility was publicly run, or whether a product claim is involved, those are useful questions to raise early; which period applies, and when it began, are among the first things a conversation with our attorney can help sort out.

Comparative Fault and What It Means When You Were Partly Involved

Section 78B-5-818 of the Utah Code states the rule in two parts: "(1) The fault of a person seeking recovery may not alone bar recovery by that person. (2) A person seeking recovery may recover from any defendant or group of defendants whose fault, combined with the fault of persons immune from suit and nonparties to whom fault is allocated, exceeds the fault of the person seeking recovery prior to any reallocation of fault made under Subsection 78B-5-819(2)."

In plain words: if a jumper's own choices played a part, such as a flip, a collision with another jumper, or going onto a crowded trampoline, that alone does not end a claim. Recovery is available against a defendant, or group of defendants, whose combined fault, together with that of immune parties and nonparties assigned fault, exceeds the injured person's own. Under section 78B-5-817, "persons immune from suit" include a governmental entity or employee immune under the Governmental Immunity Act.

Parents often worry that a child's rule-breaking will be held against the family. How a child's or parent's conduct is weighed turns on what happened; a child following staff directions may be viewed differently from one ignoring posted rules.

A signed participation agreement or release is part of the same picture. Utah's definition of fault includes assumption of risk, but whether a particular document affects a particular claim depends on what it says and who signed it.

If you are carrying doubts about your own part in what happened, those facts are worth laying out plainly in a conversation, because Utah's rule asks how fault compares, not only whether fault exists.

Records and Information That Often Matter in These Cases

Utah has a rule about early statements that people rarely know about. Under section 78B-5-813 of the Utah Code, a statement taken from an injured person within 15 days of the occurrence, or while the person is confined in a hospital because of it, by someone whose interest is or may become adverse, other than a peace officer, is not admissible in a civil proceeding for those damages unless a written verbatim copy was left with the injured person when it was taken, and the statement was not disavowed in writing within 15 days of the statement or within 15 days after the person's initial hospital discharge, whichever is later. Sections 78B-5-812 through 78B-5-816 contain exceptions. If an insurer or facility representative asked you for a statement soon after the accident, this rule may bear on whether it can be used.

Beyond that rule, the records that usually matter include:

• Medical records documenting the injury and the treatment that followed.
• Photos and video of the trampoline, the facility and the injury, including any surveillance footage the facility recorded.
• Incident or accident reports prepared at the park or facility.
• The trampoline or the failed part, its packaging, and any receipt or order history, where a product is involved.
• The names and contact details of people who saw what happened.
• Any participation agreement, waiver or release signed at the facility.

What is at stake is proof: these records show the equipment's condition, how the injury happened and what it cost, and missing items can leave gaps in a claim. If you would like to talk through the records you have and the Utah rules described here, you can request a case evaluation.

Wrongful Death After a Trampoline Accident in Utah

Wrongful death is a claim for a death caused by someone else's wrongful act or neglect. Section 78B-2-304 of the Utah Code provides that such an action may be brought within two years, so for a family the stake is a claim that can be lost if that period passes.

On damages, one Utah rule reaches fatal injuries directly. A family bringing a claim may ask for interest on costs it has actually paid: in actions for personal injuries caused by negligence or willful intent "whether the injury was fatal or otherwise," the plaintiff may claim interest on special damages actually incurred. A plaintiff seeking damages for personal injury or wrongful death may also claim prejudgment interest in tier 1 cases where a written settlement demand meets the statute's conditions. Other categories of damages turn on Utah's current law and the facts.

The comparative-fault framework in section 78B-5-818 applies. If the death happened at a public facility, the one-year notice requirement in section 63G-7-402 also applies. A death does not by itself prove anyone was at fault; Utah law still asks what each party did and whether it caused the harm.

For a grieving family, legal questions can feel impossible to face, and they can wait for the family's own pace within the periods the statutes state. When the family is ready, it may help to note where the accident happened, whether the site was public, and who holds the equipment and records. Other states treat these questions differently, as the site's pages on Arizona trampoline injury law and Iowa trampoline injury law show; a Utah death is measured by Utah's rules.