Sport Waiver Risk Fitness Law

This article by Alexander “Sandie” Pendleton addresses some of the concerns regarding the validity of online waivers. Mr Pendleton is with Kohner, Mann, and Kailis of Milwaukee.
Do courts enforce waiver agreements that are entered into electronically, for instance, via an online registration process? Or instead, will courts only find an agreement enforceable if the agreement is printed on a real piece of paper and signed in ink in the traditional manner?
The above questions raise a host of issues. . .     Click here to read the entire article.

This article was written by Julie I. Fershtman, Attorney at Law (www.equinelaw.net). She offers expert comment on a timely question regarding liability waivers.
Dear Ms. Fershtman:
My friend gave me some form liability releases and boarding contracts. Will they hold up?
– K.B. (No state specified)
My office receives inquiries like this often. Since many people in the horse industry still buy, sell, board, train, lease, or breed horses with nothing in writing, it is always commendable when people at least recognize the importance of using written contracts. In difficult economic times, however, …

This was written by Charles “Reb” Gregg in September, 2006. Mr. Gregg provides some invaluable information regarding indemnification agreements. Mr. Gregg is a practicing attorney in Houston, Texas specializing in adventure law and may be reached at 800 Bering Drive, Suite 100, Houston, Texas 77057.
An indemnification is an agreement between two parties that addresses the possibility of a claim against one of them by a third party.
The party granting the indemnity (the “indemnitor”) promises the person indemnified (the “indemnitee”) that it, the indemnitor, will protect the indemnitee from a described …

By David L. Herbert
This article by David Herbert was originally published in Fitness Management in June, 2008. It offers timely advice concerning the use of waivers in unsupervised facilities.
A growing number of U.S. fitness centers are allowing “key access” to their facilities when no professional is present to supervise. Such use creates a number of concerns for facility owners, the biggest of which is emergency response. In the event that emergency response to users may not be possible, facility users need to be made aware of the risks. Standard assumption …

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 …