A liability waiver is a legal document that a person who participates in an activity may sign to acknowledge the

risk In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environm ...

s involved in their participation. By doing so, the company attempts to remove

legal liability In law, liable means "responsible or answerable in law; legally obligated". Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law and can arise from various areas of law, such as contracts, torts, taxes, or fines given by government a ...

from the

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separ ...

person A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

responsible for the activity.

In the United States

In the United States, the enforceability of such a

waiver A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege. Regulatory agencies of state departments or the federal government may issue waivers to exempt companies from certain regulations. For example, a United St ...

depends on

state law State law refers to the law of a federated state, as distinguished from the law of the federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, o ...

, a

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England d ...

, and the language of the waiver. A signed liability waiver is not a blanket exemption from liability for operators of a dangerous activity. Under the law of tort, prior to injury, the specific risk must have been known to and appreciated by the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...

in order for primary assumption of risk to apply. Courts may refuse to enforce a general liability waiver if it fails to inform the signer of the specific risk that caused the injury. Liability waivers include pre-accident releases and

model release A model release, known in similar contexts as a liability waiver, is a legal release typically signed by the subject of a photograph granting permission to publish the photograph in one form or another. The legal rights of the signatories in refer ...

s (for pictures). Reckless or intentional actions can never be disclaimed and liability resulting from a faulty product cannot be waived in the state of California.

References

Legal documents Public liability {{law stub

In the United States

See also

References