Jury sides with resort after jumping injury

A Franklin County jury has ruled that a resort offering use of an inflatable trampoline-like device was not responsible for serious injuries suffered by a patron.

“It was simply an accident,” said Brendon Sanders of Brown & James, which represented defendant Lost Valley Lake Resort Club of Owensville. “He lost his balance and slipped as he was getting off. He testified that he did not know why he slipped.”

Plaintiff Corey Vitt suffered a compression fracture in his back after tumbling off the piece of equipment referred to in the suit as a “jumping pillow,” according to his petition. The suit alleged that the resort failed to provide proper ground cover to guard against falls as well as an area for safe dismount from the recreational air cushion.

Sanders said that, in fact, the manufacturer testified that the ground cover was appropriate.

“He indicated that not only was the sand level fine but also that the spot where the plaintiff fell was not a spot where you would have sand under any circumstance,” Sanders said.

Sanders described the equipment as forming a half pillow shape with sides tapering down to the ground where the sand is placed.

The plaintiff’s girlfriend and another acquaintance witnessed the accident and the incident was recorded, Sanders said.

“There is video of his actual fall so there was no mystery as to how it occurred,” he said.

He noted that there was no contention that the jumping pillow caused his tumble. Rather, the dispute was over the provision of safety precautions where he landed.

“It was a negligence claim, not a product liability claim,” he said.

A count of product liability against the manufacturer of the device was originally included in the petition, but Sanders said the maker of the jumping pillow was released from the case before trial.

The plaintiff and the resort manager testified in the matter and friends and family of the plaintiff offered testimony relating to damages, Sanders said.

“It was just an accident that no one was at fault for,” he said. “The jury returned a no-fault verdict.”

Tiffannie Kennedy of the Kennedy Law Firm and Joseph Backer of the Backer Law Firm represented the plaintiff in the matter. Backer referred comment to Kennedy who did not return a message.