A young girl thought she would have a fun afternoon when she attended her friend’s birthday party last March at a family entertainment center in North Texas. However, the day turned out to be anything but celebratory.
The girl jumped onto an inflatable jump pad, but the pad had lost a lot of air. When she landed on the pad, instead of bouncing back up as intended, she fell to the bottom of the pad. She heard a popping noise and was left unable to move and in excruciating pain.
It turns out the pad was so severely deflated, she could not be removed without assistance. And without staff monitoring the area, the girl’s mother had to search for a staff member to call emergency medical services for help. Paramedics even had to slide down onto the inflatable pit to treat the girl due to the dangerous and inaccessible nature of the scene.
The girl was later diagnosed with two spiral fractures to her right leg.
Once the girl had been treated, her parents contacted our North Texas child injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm. We fought to hold the family entertainment venue accountable for its multiple safety failures that led to their daughter’s broken bones and for its lack of emergency preparedness. Our team secured a life-changing result for the girl and her family, helping them move forward.
What Safety Measures Were Lacking at the North Texas Family Entertainment Center?
Any venue that invites families onto its premises is responsible for keeping guests safe. Safety includes keeping equipment well-maintained at all times. Staff at this North Texas facility should have conducted regular walks around the center to monitor its equipment, checking for safety hazards such as loose screws, worn netting, and underinflated jump pads. In this case, that clearly did not happen. The inflatable jump pad was severely underinflated and did not have warning signs posted or tape put up to block off the equipment at the time of the birthday party.
In addition, the venue should have had proper monitoring in place. This is a vital step to ensure a safe venue, especially one with multiple children on the premises. Staff members should be responsible for inspecting equipment, limiting the number of children in a space at any given time, and ensuring children are playing in their age-appropriate areas. They should also act quickly in an emergency.
Sadly, this did not happen in this case. The girl’s mother spent precious time trying to find a staff member to call for help instead of tending to her daughter.
The venue setup also plays an important role in guest safety. All play areas should be easily accessible for adults and emergency medical services to reach in case children are injured or there’s a need for quick intervention in the event a child is incapacitated. Again, the North Texas family entertainment center in this case failed the girl and her mother when the space with the inflatable jump pad was inaccessible, forcing emergency responders to climb through play equipment and slide down into the inflatable pit to access the injured girl. They also had to treat her in the space because of the center’s lack of safety preparedness.
The young girl’s broken bone injury was easily preventable had the family entertainment center taken the proper precautions to keep her and other guests safe.
How Did The Button Law Firm Help the Girl and Her Family in This Case?
Because of the family entertainment center’s negligence, the young girl suffered a painful injury that required a long journey to full recovery.
At the scene of the incident, her pain was so excruciating, fentanyl had to be administered by emergency responders. They then rushed her to a local emergency room, where imaging confirmed that she had a serious break in the main bone of her lower right leg. Her leg was splinted and she was given crutches and instructions to not bear weight on her injured leg.
At a follow-up appointment with a children’s orthopedic specialist, the girl was diagnosed with a more complex injury to her tibia bone than initially thought. She was placed in a cast extending from her thigh to her foot, which confined her to a wheelchair for longer than a month.
When her cast was removed, she needed a walking boot and had to slowly reintroduce bearing weight on her injured leg, restricting her activity for the next two months.
The injury and her long road to recovery greatly impacted the girl’s life. Prior to breaking her leg at the family entertainment center, she was active and participated in several sports events. As you can imagine, the broken leg set her back and, disappointingly, forced her to miss a dance performance and a taekwondo belt test that she had prepared for over several months.
She also suffered silently, upset by having to miss out on a milestone birthday trip that was planned over the summer. Her bedroom had to be relocated to the first floor of her family’s home for several months since she was unable to use the stairs. At school, she became frustrated because she needed a buddy to help her navigate the hallways.
Our compassionate team understood the challenges that the girl and her family faced because the family entertainment center acted negligently and did not operate the facility safely. We fought to secure a life-changing result for the girl and her family that compensated them for her medical expenses, loss of enjoyment of life, and physical impairment. With our help, the family was able to get closure and move forward.
Let The Button Law Firm Help Your Family After a Child’s Injury
If your child was severely injured at a family-friendly venue anywhere in Texas, contact our experienced child injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm. With offices in Dallas, Houston, and Midland, we are ready to listen, fight for your family, and help your family move forward. Our lawyers at The Button Law Firm are recognized on the prestigious Texas Super Lawyers list, and we can help guide you after a traumatizing incident involving your child. We work on contingency, meaning we don’t charge you or collect any upfront fees to get started on your case. Call us at 214-699-4409, email us at intake@buttonlawfirm.com, or fill out a contact form for a free case evaluation.
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