Santa Fe Mom Says Overturned Bounce House Trapped Children

SANTA FE, N.M. — A Santa Fe woman is suing Meow Wolf after she says her children were injured when wind overturned the arts and entertainment company’s rented-bounce house.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports attorneys for Anita Vargas didn’t say in court documents how the children were hurt at the 2018 block party but alleged that the children were trapped underneath the bounce house.

The case was filed in state district court this week.

After the episode two years ago, Vargas posted a picture on Facebook of her son, showing his bruised and bloody face. She wrote that he had “lots of scrapes (and) bruises and a broken nose.”

Vargas said in the post that her children “will never be the same from this.”

Amazing Jumps LLC, the Albuquerque business that owned the bounce house, also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The company declined to comment on the pending litigation Monday.

A spokesperson for Meow Wolf also didn’t respond to emails.

At the time, cofounder Vince Kadlubek said the accident was caused by a “dust devil” that came out of nowhere.

Meow Wolf was “deeply sorry for this unexpected situation,” Kadlubek said, adding, “as a token of our condolences to all the families and kids that were impacted by this dust devil, we will be offering lifetime passes to Meow Wolf for those families while we look further into this situation.”

Vargas seeks an unspecified amount of damages plus legal costs.

The Santa Fe venue has attracted more than 1.5 million visitors since opening in 2016. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, it was the backdrop for a bar, gift shop, evening music performances, and other special events.

The venue announced this week it would cut staff through layoffs and furloughs.