With such forgiving, sunny, and mild weather throughout the year, Southwest Florida can be a great place to raise children or bring children along for a vacation experience in the middle of winter. It’s one of the reasons why the presence of children in Florida is so ubiquitous. Major attractions have been built around the state, and it’s not a surprise that families flock to both the many permanent facilities and the temporary grounds erected at different times of the year in different locations to keep youngsters entertained.

Unfortunately, while fairgrounds and amusement parks are usually thought of as places of refuge, safety, and family entrainment, as with any venture, without proper management and safety precautions, things can take a turn for the tragic. But in a facility designed to cater to children, the tragedy becomes even greater when the young are involved.

Deaths Involved In A Bouncy Castle

One recent, tragic example of children dying from amusements grounds recently occurred in Australia. On December 16, in Tasmania, Australia, children of a school in Davenport were celebrating the end of the school year with a special treat. A “bouncy castle,” that is, a large, soft, inflatable structure resembling a castle, was installed for the children to use. Bouncy castles, of course, are similar to trampolines in that the idea is to jump up and down in them, and even side to side, thanks to the encapsulating nature of the castle.

Unfortunately, in this case, insufficient safety precautions and a freak wind event turned a fun afternoon into a day of tragedy and loss. A strong gust of wind blew directly into the opening of the bouncy castle, and the anchoring of the castle was not strong enough to resist the strength of the wind. The bouncy castle was carried up into the air with the children still inside.

At a height of over 30 feet, the bouncing castle, tumbling in the air, eventually ejected some of the children, who fell from that height and made an unprotected impact with the ground. Four 5th and 6th-grade children died as a direct result of the fall, while a fifth died in the hospital due to injuries. Several other children inside the bouncy castle were injured during the freak accident.

Premises Liability

While this tragedy took place in Australia, it still carries an important lesson that applies here to the rest of the world. Premises liability means that someone must take responsibility for an accident of this nature. Premises liability is a legal concept that states the property owner must ensure that all reasonable precautions are taken to ensure visitors are safe while on that property. This does not mean that a property owner is responsible for every injury on a property. However, it does mean that injuries that were preventable and only occurred because a property owner was careless are considered acts of premises liability.

A random, completely unforeseen accident, such as someone having a heart attack on the property, would not be the responsibility of the property owners. However, if there was a windowless stairwell that people could safely navigate with lights, and a broken light bulb was not replaced, causing people to fall and sustain an injury, that would be an injury that the property owners are legally responsible for. The damage was entirely due to the failure of the property owners to address an issue concerning their property that carried a risk of injury.

This applies to every type of property, whether residential, commercial, industrial, retail, or tourist in nature. The requirements vary, depending on the type of property, such as homeowners ensuring aggressive dogs are properly contained or construction sites providing protective gear for workers, but the general responsibility—making things safe where you can—remains the same.

Amusement Facilities

In the case of the Australian tragedy, it is clear insufficient precautions were taken, leading to the loss of life of school children. Who is responsible for the injuries and deaths will have to be determined by an Australian court. The bouncy castle was a temporary structure brought onto a property, but the activity itself was conducted by adult volunteers, not paid staff.

This is slightly different from a fair or amusement park situation, where businesses conduct operations with employees on the payroll. In these situations, a malfunction in an attraction resulting in an injury to children would be laid at the feet of the negligent staff, and subsequently, the company that owned and operated the facility. Florida laws are very strict when assigning fault in a preventable injury scenario.

If you or someone you know in Southwest Florida has been injured at an amusement center, whether it’s a permanent site or a temporary one, get help. Talk to an experienced premises liability attorney to find out how you should move forward to ensure the responsible parties are held to account for what they’ve done.