Two boys, ages 6 and 5, and a girl, age 10, sustained fall accident injuries this week when an inflatable bounce house became detached from its plastic anchor stakes and went soaring into the air. The girl fell out soon after the Little Tikes playhouse lifted off the ground, sustaining minor injuries. The boys did not tumble out until the 38-pound toy had reached a height of about fifteen feet.
One boy, who landed on a parked car before striking his head on the pavement, is still in a medically induced coma. The younger boy, sustained broken arms, a broken jaw, and other injuries.
This is not the only inflatable house to go soaring. In 2011, reports USA Today, four kids were hurt when a bounce house was carried away by the wind and landed on a roof. Also that year, a bounce house transported its child occupants across three traffic lanes.
Depending on what caused this latest bounce house accident, the children and their family may have reason to pursue a personal injury case against one or more parties. Possible plaintiffs could include the Little Tikes, the seller, the distributor, the owner of the inflatable house, whoever was responsible for supervising the children, and others.
According to CNN, National Electronic Injury Surveillance System data indicate that between 1995 and 2010, there was a 1500% rise in bouncer-related injuries. And bounce houses are not the only inflatable toys to case serious injuries.
USA Today reports that in 2011 alone, 10 inflatables were linked to injury accidents caused by the toys collapsing because of too much weight or toppling from the winds. One woman sustained spinal injuries and head injuries when an inflatable toy landed on her. Another adult died in 2010 after he was pinned by an inflatable slide. Also that year, a 5-year-old boy died when he fell off an inflatable toy and struck concrete.
In 2012, a judge upheld a $20M Andover, MA wrongful death case against Toys ‘R’ US. The victim, a 29-year-old woman, became a quadriplegic after she got hurt while going down an inflatable Banzai Falls in-ground slide.
In Massachusetts, please contact our Boston personal injury lawyers if a bounce house or another inflatable toy caused serious injury to your son or daughter.
Boys thrown from upstate NY ‘bounce house’ remain hospitalized, Daily News, May 16, 2014
2 boys injured after ‘bounce house’ flies 20 feet into air, USA Today, May 14, 2014
‘Bounce house’ injuries skyrocketing, CNN, May 14, 2014
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