A Houston-area teenager has been granted almost $11.5 million in a lawsuit filed after he suffered a traumatic brain injury at a trampoline park in 2013.
The boy, identified by WFAA’s sister station KHOU as Max, was injured on a trampoline slide at Cosmic Jump, an indoor trampoline park in northwest Harris County.
Somewhere near the base of this slide, as Max’s body weight came down, a tear or a rip allowed him to fall through, Charlie Gustin, the family’s attorney, told KHOU in 2014.
Gustin said Max fell around five feet and hit his head on the concrete floor below. He was rushed to the medical center with a traumatic head injury and his brain was bleeding.
Friday’s verdict came from a Harris County jury after a two-week trial.
“Jurors found Cosmic Jump grossly negligent and rendered the largest jury verdict ever against a commercial trampoline park in the United States,” according to a release from the Houston law firm that won the case.
The accident turned Max’s family’s life upside down, his mother, Traci, told KHOU.
Max has to undergo physical and speech therapy, a major change for this teen who was once an honors student.
The verdict came from a Harris County jury after a two-week trial.
“Jurors found Cosmic Jump grossly negligent and rendered the largest jury verdict ever against a commercial trampoline park in the United States,” according to a release from the Houston law firm that won the case.
Nearly $5.5 million of the $11.485 million verdict comes in compensatory damages, the release said. The other $6 million is in punitive damages against the trampoline park “to deter similar conduct in the future.
“This jury clearly wanted their voices to carry far beyond the courthouse,” said Tom Crosley, the teen’s lead attorney. “They wanted to put these trampoline parks on notice that safety must be their number one priority. While we recognize that trampolines have certain inherent dangers, falling through a hole in one of the trampoline beds should not be one of them."
