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 Alexander “Sandie” Pendleton
of Kohner, Mann & Kailas, S.C.

On July 21, 2011, a Wisconsin Circuit Court granted summary judgment to Trek Bicycle Corporation in a lawsuit arising out of a mountain bike accident. The plaintiff in the case had sustained the permanent loss of the use of his legs due to an accident that occurred on a mountain bike trail system that was established and maintained by Trek.
The basis for the dismissal was the court’s conclusion that Wisconsin’s Recreational Use Statute (the “R.U.S.”) provided immunity to Trek. The …

By Alexander “Sandie” Pendleton
of Kohner, Mann & Kailas, S.C.

On August 12, 2011, the Illinois Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s dismissal of a lawsuit brought against the Salvation Army by a voluntary participant in a Salvation Army rehabilitation program, based on the participant’s having signed a waiver agreement prior to the accident occurring. Although the case does not arise in a recreational event context, the holding in the case is relevant and may be of value to recreational opportunity providers who ask event volunteers to sign …