Sport Waiver Risk Fitness Law

By
Alexander “Sandie” Pendleton
Thanks to Sandie Pendleton for this up-to-the-minute look at Wisconsin waiver law. This article first appeared at Sandie Pendleton’s sports-law related website www.releaselaw.com.
On February 10, 2011, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals held enforceable a waiver signed by two subsequently-injured participants at an auto race.
The case, Beer v. La Crosse County Agricultural Society, arose out of a race held at the La Crosse County fairgrounds. Both plaintiffs signed a waiver form upon their arrival at the track, so as to be able to participate in a race and/or …

By Doyice Cotten
A 2010 court ruling in Pennsylvania (Taylor v. L.A. Fitness International, 2010 Phila. Ct. Com. Pl. LEXIS 252) illustrated a difference in the effectiveness of waivers depending upon who the relying party is. The plaintiff was injured while under the care of a personal trainer provided by L.A. Fitness. She alleged that the trainer taught her an improper exercise, failed to properly assist or sport her, and that his negligence caused her shoulder injury.
Ms. Taylor had signed a waiver contained in her membership agreement as well as a …

One of the most common reasons that a waiver fails when challenged in court is that it violates the public policy of the state. Often readers are puzzled by the term “public policy” and ask, “Just what is public policy?” This concept is quite broad and is not easily defined or explained.
Black’s Law Dictionary states that public policy is “… that general and well-settled public opinion relating to man’s plain, palpable duty to his fellowmen, having due regard to all circumstances of each particular relation and situation.” One court defined …