Bounce houses in Virginia look like fun when they are shaped like castles and ships, but accidents involving the inflatables have resulted in serious injuries and death all over the United States.
- In June 2010, a breezy afternoon in Long Island, NY sent three bounce houses aloft, seriously injuring a woman and hurting 12 others. Thirteen people ended up at the hospital, with bumps and bruises. One woman, age 36, of Oceanside, New York (NY), suffered head and spinal injuries when the slide landed on her.
- In 2009, an 11-year-old boy suffered bruises after a gust of wind tossed a slide about 70 yards at a church festival near Cincinnati, Ohio (OH).
- A Pennsylvania (PA) man was killed in June 2010 after an inflatable slide collapsed and pinned him.
- A boy, age 5, was killed in March 2010 when he fell off an inflatable and landed on a concrete floor in Wichita, Kansas (KS).
- Children were blown in a bounce house across three lanes of traffic near Tucson, Rizona (AZ), in April 2011.
It is not the bounce houses that cause injuries, but the way they are set up and supervised, according to The Associated Press. Not all amusement operators are trained on securing inflatables. Some only have insurance, and most follow no guidelines.
A Consumer Product Safety Commission report released in 2005 linked the popularity of inflatables with an increasing number of injuries at emergency rooms from 1997 to 2004. The agency identified an estimated 1,300 injuries in 1997 and 4,900 in 2004. The National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials noted the rides were not suppose to float away if they were properly installed with stakes securely anchored in the ground.
Suffering serious injuries from a VA accident is a life-altering change that may require the assistance of Virginia personal injury attorneys against the responsible parties to get justice for losses.
To learn more about how VA personal injury lawyers can help in a serious injuries recovery, and what to do if you or a loved one is hurt in an accident, check out our Frequently Asked Questions devoted to the subject.
LC
About the Editors: The Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm, which has offices in Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC), edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as pro bono services.
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
One Comment
Stephanie
I agree that the bounce Houses that go to people's home's or activities need to be set up better. They are suppose to use heavy stakes and/or concrete buckets to hold them down. That is the negligence of the people dropping off the bouncers and setting them up.
However, I do Not agree that Indoor Bounce Playgrounds are at fault for accidents. They have Rules posted and people watching kids. Though some parents (especially women) taking their kids to these places are their with other friends and they gossip and let their children run with no boundaries. women do not like others telling their kids to stop or you will leave and if you tell them the rules they get offensive and cause a scene. So lets banned all indoor kid places like Bouncy places because Rules can not be followed by a parent who has no boundaries for their child and gossip is more important then supervision of their own kids.So after we ban all indoor play places lets ban all outdoor play places like the public park because we don't set boundaries for our children and we are busy otherwise to supervise. Lets get off the duff and play with our kids and they will not be getting them selves in harms way!
Comments for this article are closed.