Can you claim?

TheBastard

Ok read the following statment, is it legal??

"XXXX Ltd accepts no responsibility for injury or death to participants or spectators at its events, competitions leagues and matches, howsoever caused"

If you where playing football in a 6aside league and got injured
can you put a claim against them?

To my knowledge any one could put up this sign and then not need to get Public liability.

Thanks

Our man in Havana

Those signs are worthless. They cannot disclaim liability. Those signs are designed to put off small claims or to intimidate fools who know no better.

Of course if someone was injured a claim could be issued against them.

McCrack

Haddockman is generally correct that the signs are worthless but there is provision under the Occupiers Liability Act 1995 to reduce the duty of care owed to persons visiting your property by way of signs to that owed to trespassers which is a duty not to act recklessly for example a slurry pit with no signage warning of same or a fence around same or an unprotected lake where children might play...

Mr Cawley

Haddockman wrote: »

Those signs are worthless. They cannot disclaim liability. Those signs are designed to put off small claims or to intimidate fools who know no better.

Of course if someone was injured a claim could be issued against them.

He's not a fool because he doesn't know personal injury law:p

MrPudding

I agree with the worthlessness of the signs, but are there not issues around participants in sports and spectators? Does Volenti non fit injuri not apply?

MrP

Our man in Havana

It sure would but it would not protect the venue from their own negligence.

MrPudding

Haddockman wrote: »

It sure would but it would not protect the venue from their own negligence.

Agreed. So I suppose the answer is that the sign is effectively worthless, but that does not necessarily mean an injured party could claim for an injury.

MrP

x in the city

so what about the people who run car parks and have signs saying they dont want nothing to do with anyones car been smashed into...

MrPudding

x in the city wrote: »

so what about the people who run car parks and have signs saying they dont want nothing to do with anyones car been smashed into...

These are trickier. I only really kind of know this stuff from a UK perspective, but Irish law seems quite similar.

If you are a business you cannot exclude liability for personal injury or death. it is possible to exclude liability for other kinds of damage, but the exclusions must be reasonable and the damage to seek to rely on the exclusion for protection for must be of the type excluded. If there is any ambiguity the exclusion will be read to a detriment of the person relying on it.

MrP

stepinnman

Signs or no signs there's nothing to stop anybody making a claim - the issue is whether or not such a claim would succeed. In the case of voluntarily assumed risk or participation in a Sporting event the burden of proving negligence on the part of another participant or on the owner's of the facility would be quiet hard to displace.

It would depend totally on the circumstances of the accident - If you were injured due to a fault in the design of the pitch or glass or some other debris on the pitch than you may succeed against the owners of the facility although that's not to say that they may not have defences open to them such as being able to prove a good system of maintenance etc.

In my experience claims arising from sporting events are hard to maintain, although, as with any P.I. case, it depends on the circumstances of the alleged accident.