Sport Waiver Risk Fitness Law

By Doyice Cotten
This article was taken from Waivers & Releases of Liability 7th ed. and updated for SportWaiver.com. Click SportWaiver for a limited time special price on the book.
Courts in most states have ruled that to be enforceable, a waiver must clearly and unambiguously express the intent of the client to relieve the provider from liability for its negligence. Ambiguity is defined as doubtfulness, or doubleness of meaning and is said to exist when reasonable persons can find different meanings in the language.
The number one cause of failure of waivers …

This article was taken from Waivers & Releases of Liability 7th ed. and updated for SportWaiver.com. Click SportWaiver for a limited time special price on the book.
By Doyice Cotten
Sometimes one person signs a waiver for himself or herself and for others, but the person injured or killed is the non-signing party.  For instance, many health and fitness clubs utilize a waiver that is located within a membership contract and have the head of the household sign the contract.  In doing so, the club is seeking to immunize itself from …

This article was taken from Waivers & Releases of Liability 7th ed. and updated for SportWaiver.com. Click SportWaiver for a limited time special price on the book.

By Doyice Cotten

It was just a few years ago that most professionals in recreation, sports, and fitness thought that liability waivers were worthless. Now, of course, most understand that waivers can provide liability protection for the service provider in most states.
There are still a lot of erroneous ideas regarding waivers. Articles and books frequently point out weaknesses in waivers and the …

By Doyice Cotten and Mary B. Cotten
On a recent visit to Peru, we noted some situations that would have benefitted from a good risk management program and, happily, a number of instances where good risk management practices were used.
In Lima, or more accurately, its suburb Miraflores, we saw surprising few real hazards. The area was clean and relatively safe. Photos 1 through 3 include some hazards found while walking on one of its busy sidewalks.  The first shows wire surrounding plants within the sidewalk area – a real tripping …

Editor’s Note: We already know that risks abound in sport and recreational activities. There are, however, many defenses available that can serve as protection from liability. A major defense that is sometimes available for providers is immunity. Immunity comes in many forms, but today’s article focuses on immunity that is available for a particular sport – skateboarding. Similar immunity statutes exist in some states for other activities (e.g., snow mobiling, equine activities, sport shooting, outfitters and guides, skating).
This article originally appeared in the Sept., 2009 issue …