Nevada Supreme Court Rules on Waiver in a Gym Membership Agreement

By Doyice Cotten

Nathan Waldschmidt was injured while using the Edge Fitness facilities and filed suit challenging the waiver he had signed previously. He claimed the waiver was ambiguous.  In 2018 the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that the waiver signed by the plaintiff was enforceable (Waldschmidt v. Edge Fitness, LLC, 2018). [Neither details of the incident nor the complete waiver was reported.]

The Nevada Supreme Court upheld the summary judgment of the lower court stating that the waiver located in the gym membership contract was unambiguous.   

The #1 Thing to Check in Your Waiver!

By Doyice Cotten

Contrary to some opinions, All Waivers Are Not Born Equal. Waivers range in length from one sentence to several pages. Some are written specifically for one particular business while others are generic and intended to be used in many situations. Some are written in legalese; others written in plain language. And some provide more types of protection than others.

While waivers may vary in length, specificity, and verbiage, one of the most important determinants of whether the waiver will protect the activity provider is one or two sentences comprising what is called the exculpatory language.

Do Waivers Protect when the Injured Party has a Disability?

By Doyice Cotten

Sometimes activity providers are reluctant to offer activities to participants with disabilities because they fear possible injury and have doubt as to whether their liability waiver would be enforceable against a person with a disability. The following is a case that is more than 20 years old, but that accurately illustrates that there is no “special waiver law” for the disabled.

Franklin Potter, a skilled and experienced handicapped skier, was injured in the National Handicapped Downhill Championships race.

Waiver in a Maritime Case due to Boat Collision fails: It did not Specify whose negligence was Protected

By Doyice Cotten

Steven Gilliam and Calvin Sanders chartered a boat from New Pelican Charters, LLC and both plaintiffs suffered back injuries when, seeing that the boat was about to collide with another fishing boat, tried to quickly move to a safer part of the boat. The collision occurred, in part, because the steering mechanism was faulty.

They filed a maritime law claim alleging negligence in that the boat was not seaworthy (New Pelican Charters v.

Personal Trainer and Health Club in Illinois Survive a Claim of performing a Chiropractic Procedure

By Doyice Cotten

Gabriella Sosa-Gaines filed a negligence action against Capital Fitness and her personal trainer, Don Myles claiming injuries caused when the trainer pressed down in the area of her spine to relieve her discomfort during a training session (Sosa-Gaines v. Capital Fitness, Inc., 2019). She alleged the action was  a negligent “chiropractive type of adjustment maneuver.”

She had previously signed a membership agreement and a personal training agreement, each of which contained a waiver of liability. 

Two-Year-Old Loses Toe on a Slide

 

By Doyice Cotten

In 2018, two-year-old girl lost her little toe while sliding down a sliding board into a splash pad at Buzzards Bay Park in Bourne, MA. At the time she went down the slide, there was a vertical crack about a foot long in the slide. The toe caught in the crack and was sliced off.  [A splash pad  is a recreation area, often in a public park, for water play that has little or no standing water.]

The girl,

Universities Requiring Football Players to Sign “Waiver-Type” Documents

By Doyice Cotten

A number of schools are requiring football players (and sometimes their parents) to sign an agreement relating to COVID-19. Some agreements are primarily a warning of the risk, but others seem intended to waive the liability of the university should the player contract the disease.

Ohio State University

ESPN announced that Ohio State University players and their parents were asked to sign a “Buckeye Pledge” by which they acknowledged the risk of COVID-19 and agreed to testing,

Possible Over-Reaction to COVID-19 by County Recreation Department in Water Park Closure

The COVID-19 pandemic has made all of us aware of the danger of this disease and the need to take reasonable precautions. We all recognize that there is still risk. A recent letter to the editor of a local newspaper questioned the closing of the popular local water park for the entire summer. We all know the joy and benefits of wholesome recreation at such parks, and we all know that there is added risk due to COVID-19. In effective risk management,

High Ropes Course Waiver Protects Provider and Builder Under Colorado Law

By Doyice Cotten

In  June, 2018, Jodi Sheldon was seriously injured while participating in a high ropes course at the Golden Bell Ranch. She sued Golden Bell Retreat, Cross Bearing Adventures (“CBA”), the company which constructed the course and trained employees, and it’s owner Kent McIlhany. alleging negligence (Sheldon v. Golden Bell Retreat, 2020). All three defendants claimed Ms. Sheldon’s claims are barred by a waiver and indemnification agreement signed by Sheldon.

The Waiver

The waiver read,

Creating Your Risk Management Plan

Jim Moss is a practicing attorney specializing in outdoor recreation law; he has the informative website Recreation Law , on which this article was originally published.

Risk Management Plans always sound good; but, they often turn out to be a lot of work! On top of that, many plans turn out to be so cumbersome that they do not work in actual practice. Jim offers suggestions as to how to create a risk management plan that actually works in real life;