Amusement & Recreation · Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale amusement & recreation injury lawyer.

A ride jolts the wrong way. A water slide drops you onto a hard seam. A trampoline park lets two kids bounce into the same pit. A day built for fun ends in the emergency room — and almost always because someone who ran the place skipped a safety step.

As a Fort Lauderdale amusement park injury lawyer, Robert DiStefano has spent more than 40 years holding Florida businesses accountable when their attractions hurt the families who trusted them. He takes these cases himself, on contingency — no fee unless we recover for you.

  • 40+ yearsFlorida personal injury
  • $100M+ recoveredfor Florida accident victims
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Hurt at a ride, water park, or trampoline park

A Fort Lauderdale amusement park injury lawyer for when the fun turns dangerous

You paid for a fun day. You did not sign up to be hurt by a ride that wasn’t inspected, a slide that wasn’t maintained, or a trampoline pit with no one watching. When a recreational business cuts corners on safety, real people get hurt — broken bones, neck and spine injuries, concussions, and worse, often to children. A Fort Lauderdale amusement park injury lawyer looks at one question first: did the place that ran the attraction do something wrong, or fail to do something the law required, that led to your injury?

These cases cover a lot of ground. We handle ride malfunctions — the lap bar that pops open, the seat that fails, the mechanical breakdown that throws a rider. We handle water-park injuries — slide and wave-pool accidents, drownings and near-drownings, and falls on slick decks. And we handle the fast-growing world of trampoline parks and indoor family entertainment centers, where crowded jump areas, thin padding, and poor supervision send kids to the hospital with broken ankles, legs, and necks.

The other half of the fight is a piece of paper. Almost every park makes you sign a waiver or click "I agree" before you ride or jump. Operators often present that waiver as though it ends your case. It often does not — especially when the business was grossly negligent or broke a safety rule. Don’t assume the waiver shut the door; the call is free, and we will give you a candid assessment of where you stand.

The Florida law behind a recreation-injury case

The rules that decide whether the park has to pay

Amusement and recreation claims sit on a few specific Florida rules — a state ride-inspection law, the duty every business owes its guests, the limits on what a signed waiver can do, and the deadlines that can end a case before it starts. Here are the ones that matter most.

Fla. Stat. Ch. 616 — ride inspection

Florida’s amusement-ride safety law

Permanent amusement rides and traveling rides in Florida must be inspected and permitted under a state safety program run by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Operators have to carry insurance, report serious accidents, and keep rides maintained to the manufacturer’s standards. When a ride was overdue for inspection, run with a known defect, or never reported after an earlier breakdown, that violation can be powerful evidence the operator was negligent. (Florida’s largest theme parks fall under a separate self-inspection arrangement, but the duty to run a safe ride still applies.)

Common-law duty by visitor status

What the park owed you

Florida still sorts visitors by category. A paying guest at a water park, trampoline park, or family entertainment center is an invitee — owed the highest duty of care. The business must keep the attraction reasonably safe, inspect for dangers a guest can’t see, fix or guard against hazards, and give real warnings. Children get extra protection, because the law does not expect a child to spot a danger an adult might. An unmaintained slide or an overcrowded jump court is exactly the kind of hazard a park is required to find and fix.

Liability waivers & gross negligence

A signed waiver is not the end

Florida courts will enforce a waiver only when it is clear and specific — and even a perfect waiver generally cannot release a business from gross negligence, reckless conduct, or intentional harm. A waiver also cannot quietly sign away a child’s right to sue for the park’s own negligence; a parent’s signature does not erase the child’s claim. So the questions become: was the form valid, what exactly did it cover, and was the park’s conduct bad enough that no waiver can save it? Those are case-by-case fights worth having.

Fla. Stat. § 768.81 amended 2023

The 51% fault bar

Parks love to argue the injury was your fault — you jumped wrong, you ignored a height rule, you let go of the bar. Under Florida’s modified comparative negligence rule, if a jury finds you more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing. Below that line, your recovery is reduced by your share of blame. Expect the insurer to push your fault as high as it can, and expect us to push back with the inspection records and the video.

Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4)(a) amended 2023

Two years to file

The 2023 reform (House Bill 837) cut the deadline for most injury claims, including amusement and recreation injuries, from four years to two years from the date you were hurt. Miss it and the court can throw out even a strong case. Because ride-maintenance logs, inspection records, and security video disappear fast, waiting is the most expensive mistake you can make.

This page provides general information about Florida law and is not legal advice. Statutes and case law change; your specific case requires a consultation.

Where these injuries happen in Broward

The places Broward families go to have fun

A recreation-injury case is local. How a park inspects its rides, maintains its slides, and supervises its jump courts all shape your claim. Here is where we see Broward families get hurt.

Water parks & aquatic attractions

  • Regional water parks — from the big destination parks south toward Miami-Dade to community splash and slide complexes across Broward
  • Slide & wave-pool injuries — hard landings, collisions in run-out lanes, and falls on slick decks and stairs
  • Lifeguard & supervision gaps — when a guarded attraction fails to staff or respond, that failure becomes part of the claim

Trampoline & adventure parks

  • Indoor trampoline parks across Broward — Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines, Coral Springs, and the I-595 and Sawgrass corridors
  • Crowded jump courts — double-bouncing, foam pits with too-thin padding, and kids colliding when too many share a court
  • Broken ankles, legs & necks — the most common trampoline-park injuries, and the ones supervision is supposed to prevent

Fairs, carnivals & entertainment centers

  • The Broward County Fair & traveling carnivals — portable rides assembled and torn down on a schedule, where inspection and setup shortcuts cause real harm
  • Family entertainment centers — go-karts, arcades, laser tag, and indoor play structures with their own hazards
  • Ride malfunctions — restraints that fail, mechanical breakdowns, and operators who skip the safety checklist

Forty years in Broward means we know how these operators run their attractions, which ones keep real inspection and maintenance records, and how fast their cameras loop over the footage you need.

Why DiStefano Law

Robert handles your recreation-injury case himself

At a lot of firms, your case gets handed to a case manager and you barely speak to a lawyer. That is not how we work. Robert DiStefano has practiced Florida personal injury for more than 40 years, and he is the one who reviews how you were hurt, reads the waiver line by line, sends the preservation notice, deals with the insurer, and sets the strategy. Going up against a park’s insurer and its lawyers is not a fair fight unless your lawyer has done it before.

You pay nothing up front. We take amusement and recreation injury cases on contingency — no fee unless we recover for you — and the first case review is free, confidential, and same-day. See related case results →

A waiver is the park’s opening argument, not the final word. The real question is whether the business broke a safety rule — and that is a fight worth having.

01

Tell us what happened

Call or send the form. We answer your questions and give you a candid assessment of whether you have a case — same day, at no cost to you — including whether the waiver actually matters.

02

We race to save the proof

We send written notice that forces the park to preserve its ride-inspection and maintenance logs, accident reports, the signed waiver, and the security video before any of it vanishes.

03

We prove the park caused it

We show the missed inspection, the unmaintained attraction, or the supervision failure, beat back the "your fault" and "you signed it" arguments, and fight for full value in settlement or at trial.

Hurt a different way on a recreational property? We also handle swimming pool and drowning cases and store and retail injury claims, which raise their own evidence and liability questions.

Amusement & recreation questions, answered

What hurt Broward families ask us most

A ride malfunctioned and I was hurt. Does the park have to pay?
Often, yes — but not automatically. The park does not owe you money just because a ride broke down; you generally have to show the operator did something wrong, such as skipping a required inspection, running a ride with a known defect, ignoring the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule, or failing to train and supervise the operator. Florida regulates amusement rides through a state inspection and permitting program, so a missed or overdue inspection, or an unreported earlier breakdown, can be strong evidence of negligence. We pull the inspection and maintenance records and the accident reports to show what the operator did or failed to do.
I signed a waiver before I rode — can I still sue?
Quite possibly. Parks treat a signed waiver like it ends your case, but Florida courts enforce waivers only when they are clear and specific, and even a valid waiver generally cannot release a business from gross negligence, reckless conduct, or intentional harm. So if the park did something truly careless — ran a ride it knew was broken, ignored a safety rule, left a jump court dangerously crowded — the waiver may not protect it. The waiver also cannot quietly sign away a child’s right to sue. Bring us the form; the wording, what it covered, and how badly the park behaved all decide whether it actually bars your claim.
What if I was hurt on a water slide or in a wave pool?
Water-park injuries are common and often serious — hard landings at the bottom of a slide, collisions in run-out lanes, falls on slick decks and stairs, and drownings or near-drownings. The park has a duty to design, maintain, and supervise its attractions reasonably and to staff and respond with adequate lifeguards where it promises them. When a slide is poorly maintained, a wave pool is overcrowded, or a guard isn’t watching, that failure can be the heart of the case. A near-drowning is never a "near miss" — loss of oxygen to the brain can cause lasting injury, and the claim has to account for that long-term harm.
My child was hurt at a trampoline park. What kind of claim is that?
Trampoline and adventure parks send a lot of kids to the hospital with broken ankles, legs, and necks, usually from double-bouncing, hard landings in under-padded foam pits, or collisions when too many people share a court. The park has a duty to supervise the jump areas, enforce its own rules, keep the equipment and padding in safe condition, and not let courts get dangerously crowded. Children are protected more strongly under Florida law because they can’t be expected to spot the danger. A parent or guardian can bring the claim on the child’s behalf, and the waiver a parent signed usually does not erase the child’s own right to recover.
Who inspects amusement rides in Florida?
Most permanent and traveling amusement rides in Florida are inspected and permitted through a state safety program run by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Operators must carry insurance, keep rides maintained to the manufacturer’s standards, and report serious accidents. Florida’s very largest theme parks operate under a separate self-inspection arrangement, but they still have to run a safe ride. The practical point for your case is that these inspection and maintenance records exist — and a missed inspection, a known unrepaired defect, or an unreported earlier breakdown can be powerful proof the operator was negligent. We move fast to demand those records before they go missing.
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What clients say about working with us

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“The best lawyer in South Florida. Thank you DiStefano for all the hard work that you and your team have done to get me amazing results.”

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“I had a wonderful experience with Robert! He fought hard for me and kept me in the loop the whole time. The whole office is just great!”

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“Mr. DiStefano is the best! Kept me up to date with everything, and his paralegal Michelle also kept us informed. Happy with my settlement — I highly recommend him.”

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Talk to a Fort Lauderdale amusement injury lawyer today

Tell us what happened and where. The review is free, and you pay no fee unless we recover for you — but the park’s inspection records and camera footage are already on the clock.

(954) 572-8000
Robert DiStefano, Esq. · Fort Lauderdale