Anthony Seitz Paralyzed at Minnesota Trampoline Park; AirMaxx Pays $3 Million
AirMaxx Trampoline Park in St. Cloud, Minnesota agreed to pay $3 million to settle claims brought by Anthony Seitz, a Brainerd man left permanently paralyzed after striking the bottom of a foam pit at the facility in August 2015.
What happened
On August 28, 2015, Anthony Seitz, a 39-year-old from Brainerd, Minnesota, was at AirMaxx Trampoline Park in St. Cloud with his 11-year-old son. While jumping on one of the trampolines and launching himself into a foam pit, Seitz struck the pit floor. The impact broke his neck and caused a severe spinal injury. Physicians told him he would never walk again.
Seitz and his family retained L. Chris Stewart and Eugene Felton of the Atlanta-based firm Stewart, Seay & Felton, working alongside local Minnesota counsel. The lawsuit, filed in Stearns County District Court in December 2015, accused AirMaxx of gross negligence. The complaint alleged the park failed to provide adequate safeguards and supervision, did not meet safety standards set by the International Association of Trampoline Parks, and had prior knowledge that guests had struck the foam pit floor before Seitz was injured.
AirMaxx moved to dismiss the case, in part on the basis that Seitz had signed a liability waiver before entering the facility. The legal team for Seitz argued that a waiver cannot shield a business from liability for gross negligence and that the park's internal knowledge of prior incidents made it aware of an unreasonable hazard it had not corrected.
The parties entered mediation while the defense motion to dismiss was pending. During those proceedings, AirMaxx agreed to pay $3 million to resolve all claims. Stewart described the amount as one of the largest settlements of its kind in Minnesota for a trampoline park injury. No admission of liability was part of the agreement.
The case drew attention to a gap in trampoline park oversight: at the time, neither state nor federal regulators exercised ongoing safety jurisdiction over facilities of this type. The foam pit depth and density that caused Seitz's injury were governed only by voluntary industry guidelines, which AirMaxx's own counsel acknowledged the park said it followed.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Fox 9 Minneapolis: L. Chris Stewart named as plaintiff attorney in AirMaxx trampoline lawsuit (March 2016)·Archived copy
- 2.Bemidji Pioneer: Stewart, Seay & Felton named as counsel; case details and injury described
- 3.CBS News Minnesota: $3 million settlement confirmed; AirMaxx pays Brainerd man paralyzed in foam pit (2017)·Archived copy
- 4.KROC News (Rochester, MN): $3 million settlement; defense attorney quotes on mediation outcome·Archived copy
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