In a recent article from Ohio Lawyer Magazine dated January/February 2012, Steven Voged presented an article on recreational immunity relative to government entities which caused me to consider some of the other activities that such immunity might apply to.

In my efforts I came across some jury instructions which I had written a number of years ago involving a trampoline case.  It had been my position at that time that the use of a trampoline as a recreational activity was such an activity that one should be immune from all but reckless or intentional actions.  In the case I defended, an individual had asked to use the trampoline then while in the course of using it, sustained an injury.  We looked at the case of Marchetti v. Kalish (1990) 53 Ohio St.3d 95, for the proposition that “where individuals engage in recreational or sports activities, they assume the ordinary risks of the activity and cannot recover for any injury unless it can be shown that the other participant’s actions were either “reckless” or “intentional” as defined by Sections 500 and 8A of the Restatement of Tort 2d.” (Marchetti, p. 100.)

In the case of Kelly v. Rosco, (2009) 185 Ohio App.3d 780, a child, while bouncing a trampoline, at a 4^th of July party, was injured breaking her leg.  The court in that case held that the use of the trampoline constituted the primary assumption of risk, and that certain hazards were known to people who used trampolines, and thus, the Court of Appeals upheld the granting of a summary judgment by the trial court.

From the law in the State of Ohio, it is likely that anyone who uses a trampoline, albeit in the neighbor’s yard, their own yard or somewhere else, they will not be able to collect for injuries they sustain as they have assumed certain risks which are known to arise in the use of a trampoline.  While this interpretation of the law does not constitute “recreational immunity” in the truest meaning of the term, it would be wise for the parents of any child or the parent should they be using the trampoline to be aware that they most likely will not be able to collect for injuries they sustain as a result of any mishaps on the trampoline.