Are Liability Waivers Worth Anything? What Your Waiver Can and Can't Do

Every member at your gym, every jumper at your park, every parent dropping a kid at camp signs the same thing on the way in: a release saying they won't sue you. It feels like a shield. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's a piece of paper a judge sets aside in the first motion, and you won't know which until someone is hurt and a lawsuit is filed.

Here's what a waiver can realistically do, where it fails, and how it fits with the insurance that actually pays.

What a waiver can do

A liability waiver (also called a release or exculpatory agreement) is a contract in which the participant gives up the right to sue you for future injuries. In many states, a well-drafted waiver can bar claims based on ordinary negligence: the everyday mistakes, like a mat that slid or a spotter who looked away.

Courts generally will not enforce a waiver against gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional conduct. California is the standard example. In *City of Santa Barbara v. Superior Court* (2007), the state supreme court upheld a release as to ordinary negligence at a city camp but held that a release of future gross negligence in sports or recreational programs is generally unenforceable. That matters in practice: an injured plaintiff's lawyer will plead gross negligence specifically to get around the waiver, and whether conduct crosses that line is often a question for a jury.

Drafting decides a lot of cases. Courts look for language that is conspicuous (not buried in fine print), clear about releasing *your* negligence, and specific to the activity being performed. A generic form downloaded for a yoga studio and used at a ninja course is an invitation to litigation.

States that void or limit waivers

Some states take the waiver off the table entirely, or set strict conditions:

• New York. General Obligations Law § 5-326 makes a release void and unenforceable when a pool, gymnasium, or place of amusement or recreation charges a fee for use of its facilities and the release covers the operator's own negligence. Courts have found some purely instructional settings fall outside the statute, but that line is fact-specific.
• Virginia. In *Hiett v. Lake Barcroft Community Association* (1992), the Supreme Court of Virginia held that a pre-injury release of liability for personal injury caused by negligence is void as against public policy. It remains the baseline rule. Some activities, such as equine events, get separate statutory liability protection instead.
• Louisiana. Civil Code article 2004 nullifies any clause that in advance excludes or limits liability for intentional or gross fault, or for causing physical injury to the other party.
• Montana. Since a 2015 amendment, MCA § 27-1-753 allows a written waiver for a sport or recreational activity to cover ordinary negligence and inherent risks, but only if it states the known inherent risks and includes a statutory bold-type statement that the signer may be waiving the right to a jury trial. A waiver that skips those elements is back under the state's general anti-exculpation rule.

If you operate in more than one state, you need more than one waiver.

Kids are the hard part

When a parent signs for a minor, states split sharply:

• Ohio upheld it in *Zivich v. Mentor Soccer Club* (1998), holding parents can bind their minor children to exculpatory agreements in favor of volunteers and sponsors of nonprofit sport activities for negligence claims.
• Kentucky went the other way for commercial operators. In *Miller v. House of Boom* (2019), the state supreme court held that a parent's pre-injury waiver for an 11-year-old at a for-profit trampoline park was unenforceable.
• Florida split the difference by statute. Section 744.301(3) lets a parent waive a child's claims against a commercial activity provider, but only for inherent risks of the activity, and only if the waiver includes the statutory notice in uppercase type at least five points larger than the surrounding text.

For trampoline parks, youth camps, and gymnastics and cheer gyms, where most participants are minors, this is the single biggest variable in whether your waiver holds up.

Who the waiver never covers

A waiver binds the person who signed it, and only for what it says. It does nothing for:

• Spectators, parents in the lobby, and guests who didn't sign.
• Your employees. Staff injuries run through workers' compensation, which is a statutory obligation in most states, and general liability excludes your own employees' injuries.
• Family members' wrongful-death claims, in some states. Massachusetts' highest court held in *Doherty v. Diving Unlimited* (2020) that the family's claim is derivative and a decedent's release can bar it. Other states treat the family's claim as independent. It is not settled everywhere.

The gotcha: a waiver is a defense, not insurance

This is the trap. A waiver doesn't pay anything. It's an argument your lawyer makes after you've been sued. Even when it works, someone has to pay to win that motion, and if the plaintiff pleads gross negligence, the case can survive and head toward trial anyway.

So the waiver and your general liability insurance do different jobs. The policy pays for your defense and covers judgments the waiver doesn't stop. The waiver reduces how often that happens.

Underwriters know this, which is why the two are often tied together:

• Many carriers writing gyms and fitness studios and climbing gyms require signed waivers from every participant as a condition of coverage or a warranty in the policy. If the injured person never signed, you may have a coverage problem on top of the lawsuit.
• Some policies carry an athletic or sports participants exclusion that removes coverage for injuries to people taking part in the activity. A waiver doesn't fill that hole. Read your policy for it.

This is the same idea we cover in hold harmless agreements explained: a contract can shift risk between parties, but it can't replace the policy that funds the defense.

Making your waiver do its job

• Have counsel draft it for each state you operate in. The rules above differ in ways a template can't handle. Talk to your attorney before you rely on any form.
• Match it to the actual activity. Name the activities, the equipment, and the known risks. Update it when you add an attraction.
• Use e-signature and store it. You need to produce the signed waiver for the injured person, tied to the date of the visit, years later.
• Renew it. Re-sign annually or when the form changes, and get a fresh one for each minor.
• Cover one-off events too. A tournament or pop-up needs a waiver written for that event, alongside special event insurance.

Our approach

At Cory Washington & Co., we look at your waiver and your policy together. We check whether your general liability carries a participant exclusion, whether the carrier requires signed waivers as a condition of coverage, and whether your process can actually produce one for every participant. We flag where minors and multi-state locations make your waiver weaker than you think, so your general liability and umbrella limits are set for the claims a waiver won't stop.

Running a gym, park, camp, or event and want a second look at how your waiver and coverage fit together? Request a policy review and we'll walk through it with you.

Frequently Asked

This article is general information for business owners, not insurance or legal advice, and does not bind or alter coverage. Policy terms, eligibility, and pricing vary by carrier and state — confirm specifics with our licensed team before making decisions.