Lafayette Sports & Recreation Injury Lawyer

U.S. emergency rooms treated an estimated 118,179 injuries involving trampolines in 2024, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. About 83% were children under 15.

A soccer game at Moore Park and an hour at a trampoline park on Ambassador Caffery Parkway can end in the same emergency room. Under Louisiana law they are different claims. Either can support a sports injury claim when someone other than you helped cause it.

Brandt & Sherman has more than 50 years of combined experience. We start with who runs the place. The waiver clicked at check-in comes second.

Who runs the place sets the rules

The same broken ankle is a different claim at a public park, a business, a school and a volunteer league. We sort that out first. Each runs under different Louisiana rules, and a broken helmet or machine can point to the company that made it under product liability law. Falls at other kinds of property follow Louisiana's general premises liability rules. Hotel pools and resort injuries are on our hotel injury page.

The waiver you signed at check-in

Louisiana Civil Code article 2004 makes null any clause that, in advance, excludes or limits one party's liability for causing physical injury to the other. That covers a waiver's release clause. Signed before you were hurt, it cannot on its own excuse a gym or trampoline park for injuring you.

The waiver still counts. Its risk acknowledgment can be offered to argue you share the fault, and any share of fault assigned to you reduces what you recover (Civil Code art. 2323). How much that share costs you depends on when the claim arose. Other clauses, such as arbitration, are judged on their own terms.

Sky Zone Lafayette's waiver had an arbitration clause. Sky Zone is an indoor trampoline park on Ambassador Caffery Parkway. According to the Louisiana Supreme Court, it had patrons complete a "Participant Agreement, Release and Assumption of Risk" before entering, by checking three boxes and signing digitally on a computer at check-in. In 2016 that court held the arbitration clause in the park's electronic waiver unenforceable.

The court called it adhesionary. That is its word for a standard form the stronger side writes and the weaker side can only accept or reject. It also pointed to what it called a punitive provision. The form said any patron who filed suit would owe the park $5,000 within 60 days, with 12% annual interest if unpaid (Duhon v. Activelaf, LLC, La. 2016).

That ruling was narrow. It covered that clause in that waiver, did not rest on article 2004 and did not decide who was at fault. Keep the version you signed.

Public parks and sports complexes

Public parks get special protection. Louisiana's recreational-use statute generally shields the state and local governments from liability for injuries caused by the condition of a public park they own, lease or manage (R.S. 9:2795). There are three exceptions: defective playground equipment or stands, intentional or grossly negligent acts by an employee of the public entity, and a willful or malicious failure to warn of a dangerous condition.

Whether the statute applies starts with who owns the ground. The Youngsville Sports Complex describes itself as a 116-acre public facility at Chemin Metairie Parkway and Savoy Road, with soccer and baseball fields and two playgrounds. Lafayette Consolidated Government's Moore Park on Laser Lane covers 130 acres, with a 24-field soccer complex and a children's playground. Both are public. Both list playgrounds, and defective playground equipment is one of the statute's exceptions.

A defect is not enough by itself. A claim over a defective thing against a public entity also needs proof that it knew or should have known about that particular defect before the injury and had a reasonable chance to fix it but did not (R.S. 9:2800).

Government cases run differently. A suit against a city, parish, school board or other political subdivision is tried by a judge unless the government has waived that by general ordinance or resolution (R.S. 13:5105). Total damages for one person's injury against the state or a political subdivision are capped at $500,000, not counting property damage, medical care and related benefits, and lost earnings (R.S. 13:5106).

Put together, a park injury claim against a city or parish is harder to bring than the same claim against a business. It can still be done.

Spectators and the open-and-obvious problem

A spectator hurt by a facility condition has to show it posed an unreasonable risk of harm. Courts weigh how useful the thing was against the harm it risked and the cost of preventing it. How obvious the condition was counts heavily.

Obvious conditions cut hard against spectators. At Lloyd G. Porter Stadium, the Iberia Parish School Board stadium that served as New Iberia High School's home field, the visitors' side in 2004 was a metal-frame bleacher with no front rails or aisles. The first two seat boards sat about 18 inches apart. A grandmother there to watch her grandson fell at that 18-inch step. The court of appeal awarded her $530,745.79. In 2011 the Louisiana Supreme Court reinstated the trial court's judgment dismissing her suit, finding she was aware of an open and obvious risk (Pryor v. Iberia Parish School Board, La. 2011).

Youth leagues, school teams and head injuries

Coaches carry the first duty. Louisiana's youth concussion law requires a coach in organized youth games and practices to immediately remove a youth athlete who shows or reports concussion signs and is reasonably suspected of a concussion. Unless the signs are readily explained by something else, the coach must notify a parent, and the athlete cannot return until a healthcare provider trained in concussion evaluation gives written clearance (R.S. 40:1089.4).

The law's training and paperwork duties reach schools, private clubs, public recreation facilities and leagues that sponsor youth athletic activities. Coaches, paid or volunteer, take an annual concussion course, and athlete and parent sign an information sheet (R.S. 40:1089.3). The law says its removal and return-to-play section does not create liability for a school, private club, public recreation facility or league that has complied with it. Compliance leaves a paper trail. If a coach put a child back in without written clearance, ask for those records first.

From 2010 to 2016, an average of 283,000 children under 18 went to U.S. emergency departments each year for sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries, the CDC reported. Contact sports accounted for about 45%. For concussions and other brain injuries themselves, see our brain and spinal cord injury page.

A volunteer coach, manager, athletic trainer or sports official who has completed the required safety training or an approved youth injury mitigation course, or had the training waived by the league, can be sued for what they did in that role, at games, practices and related team activities such as conditioning and team meetings, only for gross negligence (R.S. 9:2798). Ordinary carelessness is not enough. A small stipend does not change that, and the protection never extends to a local school system.

Gyms, trampoline parks and climbing walls

Louisiana's recreational-use statute does not cover owners of commercial recreational developments or facilities for injuries at those facilities (R.S. 9:2795(B)(1)). So a for-profit trampoline park or gym generally cannot rely on it. A public park can.

Those claims still have to be proven. Gym claims can fail on duty alone. In 2015 a Louisiana appeals court upheld a ruling, made without a trial, for the owner of an Anytime Fitness gym in Pineville after the bar of a Smith squat machine fell and seriously injured a member who had not secured the weights. The court held the gym had no duty to warn him, because he was a sophisticated user of the machine. One judge dissented (Nearhood v. Anytime Fitness Kingsville, LLC, No. 15-308, La. App. Nov. 4, 2015).

Artificial climbing walls, zip lines, go-karts and water slides count as amusement rides under Louisiana law. With a few exemptions, each needs a current state fire marshal registration and a third-party safety inspection at least once a year (R.S. 40:1484.3, 40:1484.5, as amended by Act 447 of 2026). Ask for both after an injury. Louisiana law also asks a rider to report an injury to the owner in writing before leaving, but skipping that report does not cost you the right to sue (R.S. 40:1485.3).

Deadlines, children and the 2026 fault rule

Two years is the default. For claims arising after July 1, 2024, you generally have two years from the injury to file a lawsuit (Civil Code art. 3493.1, Act 423 of 2024).

That deadline runs against children too. Louisiana calls a filing deadline prescription. It runs against minors unless a law makes an exception (Civil Code art. 3468), so a child hurt in a league game generally has two years from the injury, not until turning 18. One exception covers product liability claims involving permanent disability, such as a defective helmet that leaves a child permanently disabled. There, prescription does not run against the child (art. 3493.1). Our catastrophic injury page covers claims for permanent injuries. Our child injury page covers other claims for injured children.

If a sports injury was fatal, the family has one year from the death or two years from the injury to file (Civil Code art. 2315.2, as amended by Act 176 of 2025). Whichever is longer applies. Our wrongful death page covers who can sue.

For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a person found 51% or more at fault recovers nothing, and a smaller share of fault cuts the award by that percentage (Civil Code art. 2323, as amended by Act 15 of 2025, effective January 1, 2026). For causes of action that arose before January 1, 2026, fault only reduces the award. Expect the fight to be about fault. The other side will point to the waiver, the posted rules and how you played.

What to do now

• See a doctor the same day. Keep every follow-up visit. After a hit to the head, do not wait for symptoms to settle.
• Report the injury before you leave and get a copy or report number. The Youngsville Sports Complex's posted rules ask visitors to report incidents and accidents to staff, park police, security or the emergency reporting stations at the concession buildings.
• Photograph the equipment, stands, surface and signs before anything is repaired, and keep any helmet, bat or other equipment as it was.
• Write down the names of the coach, officials, staff and witnesses.
• Keep the check-in confirmation, the waiver email or a screenshot of the waiver.
• After a head injury in a youth game, ask for the signed concussion information sheet, the coach's course record and the written clearance.
• If you were assaulted at a game or in the parking lot, note whether security staff were there. Our negligent security page covers those claims.

Sports and recreation injury FAQs

Can you sue for a sports injury in Louisiana?

Yes, if someone else's fault helped cause it. Louisiana assigns a share of fault to everyone who caused the injury, including the injured person (Civil Code art. 2323). Who you can sue, and under which rules, depends on who runs the place where you were hurt.

Can I still sue if I signed a waiver?

Signing a waiver does not by itself end a Louisiana injury claim. Civil Code article 2004 makes null any clause that, in advance, excludes or limits a party's liability for causing physical injury. The waiver still counts, though. Its risk acknowledgment can support an argument that you share the fault, and any share of fault assigned to you reduces what you recover (Civil Code art. 2323). How much that share costs you depends on when the claim arose.

Can you sue a trampoline park in Louisiana?

Yes, if the park was at fault. A for-profit trampoline park generally cannot rely on Louisiana's recreational-use statute, which excludes commercial recreational facilities (R.S. 9:2795). In 2016 the Louisiana Supreme Court refused to enforce the arbitration clause in a Lafayette trampoline park's electronic waiver (Duhon v. Activelaf, LLC, La. 2016).

Can I sue the city or parish for an injury at a public park?

Sometimes. Louisiana's recreational-use statute generally shields the government from liability for the condition of a public park. It does not cover defective playground equipment or stands, intentional or grossly negligent acts by an employee of the public entity, or a willful or malicious failure to warn of a danger (R.S. 9:2795). For a defect, you must also show the government knew or should have known of it and had a reasonable chance to fix it (R.S. 9:2800).

Is a volunteer coach liable for my child's sports injury?

Only for gross negligence, if the coach completed the required safety training or an approved youth injury mitigation course, or the league waived the training (R.S. 9:2798). That covers games, practices and related team activities such as conditioning and team meetings. Ordinary carelessness is not enough. That protection never covers a local school system, and the league and facility still have their own duties.

How long do I have to file a sports injury claim for my child?

Generally two years from the injury, for claims arising after July 1, 2024 (Civil Code art. 3493.1). It does not wait until age 18. One exception covers product liability claims involving permanent disability, where prescription does not run against the child (art. 3493.1). If the injury was fatal, the family has one year from the death or two years from the injury, whichever is longer (Civil Code art. 2315.2).

What if I was partly at fault for my sports injury?

For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a person found 51% or more at fault recovers nothing, and a smaller share of fault cuts the award by that percentage (Civil Code art. 2323, as amended by Act 15 of 2025, effective January 1, 2026). For causes of action that arose before January 1, 2026, fault only reduces the award. Intentional harm is different. If someone hurt you on purpose, your claim is not reduced for your own negligence (art. 2323(C)).

Talk to a Lafayette sports injury lawyer

Whoever runs the place where you were hurt will have lawyers reading these statutes for its side. You need one on yours.

Call (337) 800-4000 or contact us online. The consultation is free, and there is no attorney fee unless we win. Clients may be responsible for costs and expenses.