Does a Liability Waiver Affect My Personal Injury Case?

Before participating in an adventurous sport (i.e., rock climbing), joining a fitness program (i.e., gym facility), or attending a live event (i.e., concert), a company may ask you to sign a liability waiver. To put it briefly, this legally binding document releases a company from being held financially responsible for your potential injuries and damages after participating in this event. You cannot take this waiver lightly and assume nothing will happen to you during these seemingly normal affairs. That said, please continue reading to learn whether signing a liability waiver will affect your future personal injury case and how one of the experienced Panama City slip & fall attorneys at Manuel & Thompson, PA, can help you get around this potential roadblock.

Does signing a liability waiver affect my personal injury case?

Essentially, agreeing to a liability waiver means that you are signing away your right to pursue a personal injury claim against the owner of the property where your accident took place. However, this may only apply if you got injured and incurred damages due to an assumed and normal risk. For example, if you get serious cuts and bruises from scraping or knocking against a rock climbing wall. Or, letting a dumbbell slip from your grasp and drop on your foot, causing a bone fracture. Lastly, getting dehydrated at a concert event and fainting, causing you to hit your head upon the fall.

However, you must understand that a property owner is only immune from liability if they did not contribute any fault toward your accident. This is to say that you may still have a case if they demonstrated gross negligence or intentional misconduct. If not this, then you may argue that the liability waiver itself was invalid and unenforceable due to its vague language or threat to public interest.

What are some examples of valid cases involving liability waivers?

Using the same examples mentioned in this blog, we will go over circumstances where you may still have a valid claim despite signing a liability waiver. Firstly, say you get injured at a rock climbing facility. Well, the facility owner may have participated in gross negligence by failing to address a known design flaw or manufacturing defect on the climbing harness, helmet, and other accessories they supply to welcomed guests.

Secondly, you may have gotten injured at a gym due to an unforeseeable hazard not covered in your liability waiver. That is, this contract may have waived the gym owner’s liability for injuries incurred from using gym equipment. However, it may not have mentioned other hazardous conditions like a wet floor, loose handrail, or a missing step, that led to your ultimate slip and fall. The same may go if a concert stadium or arena was inadequately prepared to keep massive crowds of people safe during their experience.

As soon as you find yourself in potential legal trouble, you must retain representation and advisement from one of the skilled Panama City personal injury attorneys from Manuel & Thompson, PA. You should not have to put up this fight alone; we are here to help you.