Can You Sue a Trampoline Park If You Signed a Waiver?

K.C. Harpring

personal injury Attorney

Key Takeaways

• In Colorado, a signed waiver does not close the door on every injury claim.
• Colorado courts will not enforce waivers that shield operators from grossly negligent conduct.
• A waiver that is unclear, poorly worded, or rushed at check-in may not hold up in court.
• Operators, staff, equipment manufacturers, and property owners may each share fault for an injury.
• Colorado’s statute of limitations restricts how long an injured person has to file a claim.

Every weekend, Denver families fill trampoline parks looking for a few hours of fun. What they do not expect is a serious injury followed by a waiver form that staff insist strips them of all legal rights. If you or a family member was hurt at one of these facilities, a critical question follows: Can you sue a trampoline park in Colorado even after signing a waiver?

Signing a waiver does not mean you give up all your rights. Colorado courts generally uphold well-drafted liability waivers for ordinary negligence, but those waivers have limits. If an operator acted with gross negligence or reckless disregard for your safety, a waiver may not protect them from legal accountability. At Dormer Harpring, our Denver Personal Injury Lawyers help injured Denver residents understand what those waivers.

Causes of Trampoline Park Accidents

Many serious trampoline park accidents trace back to conditions the facility created or failed to correct, not to the ordinary risks of recreational activity. Common causes may include the following:

• Inadequate Supervision: Understaffed facilities or poorly trained attendants fail to enforce weight limits, age restrictions, or single-jumper rules.
• Equipment Failure: Worn padding, defective spring systems, or improperly maintained frames can cause sudden, severe falls.
• Unsafe Facility Design: Insufficient spacing between trampolines or unpadded landing surfaces directly leads to collision injuries.
• Overcrowding: Too many jumpers in one area increases the likelihood of mid-air collisions and falls onto other guests.
• Failure to Warn: When facilities do not clearly communicate hazards or restrictions, guests face risks they cannot anticipate or avoid.

Most of these failures do not happen in isolation. When worn padding or a defective spring system is to blame, the case may also involve a product defect claim against the equipment maker. They reflect a pattern of negligence, and that pattern carries significant weight when determining whether a waiver can protect the operator from accountability.

Types of Injuries at Trampoline Parks

Because participants repeatedly land, collide, and fall from height, the body absorbs forces it was not designed to withstand in rapid succession. Those forces produce a wide range of injuries:

• Fractures: Broken wrists, ankles, and legs are among the most common outcomes, particularly when jumpers land off-center or collide with others.
• Spinal Cord Injuries: Landings on the neck or back can cause partial or complete paralysis with long-term consequences.
• Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): Falls and collisions can result in concussions or more severe brain trauma. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, TBI symptoms range from brief disorientation to permanent cognitive impairment.
• Soft Tissue Damage: Torn ligaments, muscle strains, and joint injuries frequently accompany hard landings or collisions.
• Neck Injuries: Hyperextension and compression injuries affect both children and adults, sometimes with delayed symptom onset.

The severity of these injuries shapes the full scope of a legal claim, from immediate medical costs to long-term rehabilitation and lost earning capacity. Reviewing the trampoline park injury stats and how liability is established gives families a clearer picture of what a case may involve. When a facility’s negligence contributed to harm of this magnitude, the waiver question carries real financial weight.

What If I Signed a Trampoline Park Waiver?

Signing a waiver at a trampoline park does not mean you have given up your right to pursue a claim. These documents exist to protect the business, but Colorado law places real limits on what they can accomplish. A court will generally enforce a waiver when it is clearly written and presented in a way that gives the signer a fair opportunity to read it before agreeing.

Not every waiver withstands legal scrutiny, and the circumstances surrounding how it was presented matter as much as what it says. A form presented hurriedly at check-in, buried within unrelated terms, or drafted to obscure its true scope, may not hold up in court. More importantly, no waiver in Colorado can protect an operator from gross negligence or reckless disregard for the safety of guests on their premises.

If a waiver is a concern, an attorney can look at the document itself, the conditions under which it was signed, and whether it actually holds up under Colorado law.

Can You Sue a Trampoline Park in Colorado Even After Signing a Waiver?

Yes, and a signed waiver carries less weight than most people assume. Colorado law distinguishes between ordinary negligence and gross negligence, and the distinction matters. When an operator’s conduct reflects a reckless disregard for others’ safety, no release form can bar a claim against them.

Whether you can sue a trampoline park after signing a release depends heavily on what caused the injury. If a mat was reported as torn days before your fall and management did nothing about it, this is not an oversight. If a facility routinely understaffed the floor and guests had been hurt before, the pattern tells a story. In both situations, a signed release may not protect the operator, and you may still have a valid claim.

The line between ordinary and gross negligence is not always visible from the outside. It lives in maintenance logs, staffing records, and incident reports. The strength of a waiver ultimately depends on what the evidence reveals.

Are There Factors That Can Impact the Enforceability of a Signed Waiver?

Even when gross negligence is not at issue, several circumstances can weaken or invalidate a waiver under Colorado law:

• Ambiguous or Unclear Language: If the waiver uses vague terms that a reasonable person could interpret differently, a court may decline to enforce it.
• Failure to Disclose Specific Hazards: Waivers referencing only general recreational risks may not cover injuries caused by known defects at that specific facility.
• Minors and Parental Signatures: Colorado law permits parents to sign waivers on behalf of minor children, but those waivers cannot cover gross negligence or reckless conduct and must still meet the same clarity requirements as any adult waiver.
• Procedural Defects: A waiver presented after payment, buried in a stack of documents, or signed under time pressure may face serious challenges.
• Unconscionability: Courts have found waivers unenforceable when the imbalance of power between the operator and the guest renders the agreement effectively involuntary.

What voids a waiver in one situation may not apply in another. The document itself and the conditions under which you signed it both deserve careful review.

Who Is Liable for a Trampoline Park Accident?

Liability rarely rests with a single party. Multiple defendants may share responsibility depending on how the injury occurred:

• Facility Operators: The company running the park owes a duty to maintain safe conditions, train staff, enforce safety rules, and respond to known hazards.
• Individual Staff Members: Employees who failed to enforce rules, intervene in unsafe situations, or report equipment problems may be held personally responsible.
• Equipment Manufacturers: When equipment was defective by design or manufacture, the product’s maker may face a product liability claim independent of the waiver.
• Property Owners: If the facility leases its space, the property owner’s maintenance obligations may create independent liability for certain hazards.

Colorado’s modified comparative fault rule means compensation may still be available even if an injured person is found partially at fault, as long as their share of fault does not exceed 50 percent. Identifying every responsible party is what makes a claim complete.

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Steps for Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit Against Trampoline Parks

Acting quickly after a trampoline park injury protects both your health and your legal options:

1. Seek Immediate Medical Care: Get a full evaluation even if injuries seem minor. Medical records establish the connection between the accident and your harm, and some conditions worsen without treatment.
2. Document the Scene: Photograph the equipment and the area where the injury occurred. Collect witness names and contact information before they leave.
3. Request and Preserve Records: Ask the facility for an incident report and keep your copy of any waiver you signed. Note the date, time, staffing conditions, and any employee statements.
4. Avoid Statements to the Facility’s Insurer: Insurance adjusters may contact you quickly. Anything you say can be used to reduce or deny your claim.
5. Consult a Personal Injury Attorney Promptly: An attorney can review the waiver, assess liability, and protect your ability to recover compensation before Colorado’s two-year filing window closes.

Evidence disappears, memories fade, and facilities may repair the very condition that caused your injury before it can be documented. What you do in the days following the accident often determines what is recoverable.

Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer Today

A signed waiver does not have to be the final word after a trampoline park injury in Denver. At Dormer Harpring, we can review the waiver, the facility’s conduct, and the facts of what happened to determine what claims remain available. If you are asking, “Can you sue a trampoline park after what happened?”, call (303) 747-4404 to schedule a free consultation and discuss your legal options.