If you’re a parent, you already know about bounce houses, those inflatable, balloon-like “houses” that are seen at birthday parties, school events, church functions, and other social gatherings where small children play. Bounce houses are brightly-colored and come in several sizes. Parents should know that many children are injured playing in bounce houses; they do not have a good safety record. If your child is injured playing in an inflatable bounce house, speak at once with an experienced personal injury attorney.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission reported a dramatic increase in children’s injuries in bounce houses between 2002 and 2005 with more than 4,900 injuries and 4 tragic deaths. Adults should never be allowed to “play” in a bounce house with small children. In 2007, a three-year-old child died when two adults fell on the child in a bounce house in Castle Rock, Washington. Responding to the fatality, Dr. Bernard Dannenberg of the Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford told San Francisco’s KGO News, “An adult person that is running around in one of these houses will bounce all the lighter children around, and this is a component I would not add.”
Inflatable bounce house units may not always be maintained properly, and they may not always be retired after excessive use. The injuries that children can sustain playing in a bounce house include traumatic head, neck, and spinal cord injuries as well as bruises, cuts, scrapes, sprains, and broken bones. Of course, if your child is injured, your first priority is obtaining medical treatment. Your second priority should be obtaining legal help from a good personal injury lawyer. Bounce house manufacturers and the companies that rent bounce houses can be held accountable for injuries caused by defective product design, improper or neglected maintenance, and other factors. If your child is injured playing with recreational equipment in a bounce house, at a playground, or anywhere else in California, act quickly; obtain the counsel and legal services of an experienced California personal injury attorney.