Club Legal Waiver

Seth Brundle

We were trying to sign one of the kids up to a swimming club last night and were surprised at the waivers to be signed:

Liability Waiver
By registering my child(ren) with the Blah Swimming Club, I agree to participate (or allow my child(ren) and family members to participate) in the Blah Swimming Club, and hereby release Blah Swimming Club, its management committee and coaches from liability for any injury that might occur to myself (or to my child(ren) and family members) while participating in the Blah Swimming Club program, including travel to and from training sessions, swim meets or other scheduled team activities.

[] [Required] I have read and agree to the above statement

Medical Release Waiver
I certify that I am the parent or legal guardian for my child(ren). I hereby give my permission for any supervisor, coach or other team administrator associated with the Blah Swimming Club to seek and give appropriate medical attention for our child(ren) in the event of accident, injury, illness. I will be responsible for any and all costs associated with any necessary medical attention and/or treatment.

I hereby waive, release and forever discharge Blah Swimming Club and associated supervisor, coach or other team administrator from all rights and claims for damages, injury, loss to person or property which may be sustained or occur during participation in Blah Swimming Club activities, whether or not damages or loss is due to negligence. I hereby acknowledge that my children is (are) physically fit and capable of participation in all Swim Team activities.

[] [Required] I have read and agree to the above statement

Can they force (you can't join if you don't agree) people to sign away any recourse even if they are negligent?
Is this the way things are moving now?
I accept that there is a compo culture here but surely this is a bit much?

Claw Hammer

A person can't contract out of liability for personal injury. That club should get a solicitor.

CramCycle

Claw Hammer wrote: »

A person can't contract out of liability for personal injury. That club should get a solicitor.

I would have thought the same, this would cover accidents caused by the child/person themselves but if someone in the club was negligent then they could be held to account regardless of the piece of signed paper otherwise it would give carte blanche to put in no safety measures etc.

ie they could treat your child like Joey because they are absolved of responsibility, they know it won't stand up, they are just covering against self inflicted injuries due to negligence on the injured party.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRed2YNYZoQ

nuac

Mod
I agree with ClawHammer, but leaving open for general discussion

GM228

Claw Hammer is correct, any term which acts as "excluding or limiting the legal liability of a seller or supplier in the event of the death of a consumer or personal injury to the latter resulting from an act or omission" is by law an unfair term and so is void.

Seth Brundle

nuac wrote: »

Mod
I agree with ClawHammer, but leaving open for general discussion

Thanks.
Not actually looking for legal advice (already submitted the form last night) but wanted to educate myself about this kind of clause.

GM228 wrote: »

Claw Hammer is correct, any term which acts as "excluding or limiting the legal liability of a seller or supplier in the event of the death of a consumer or personal injury to the latter resulting from an act or omission" is by law an unfair term and so is void.

So (and again I'm not looking for legal advice here but to understand where the two waivers stand legally), does this mean that the two entire paragraphs are void?

seamus

This is actually pretty common, it's a boilerplate waiver that's used to discourage the ambulance chasers from looking for a payout because little Anto scraped his knee getting out of the pool.

It's not a sign that the club doesn't have a solicitor or insurance. In fact, quite the opposite - the insurance company may have insisted on such a waiver and the solicitor may have recommended it.

You'll very, very rarely see a club try to weasel their way out of liability for a serious incident using one of these waivers. But if they can get some cut fingers and bruised elbows to go away, then great.

That said, the Medical Waiver seems a bit bizarre; I wonder did they download something off the web. Giving them permission to administer medical assistance is standard enough; the costs being explicitly passed on to the parent(s) is not.

Edit: Yes, it looks like something they copied from the web. Probably something they got from an American site:

https://www.google.ie/search?q=%22accident%2C+injury%2C+illness.+I+will+be+responsible+for+any+and+all+costs+associated+with+any+necessary+medical+attention%22

I would probably get in contact with them to alert them to the fact that the waivers are legally worthless and if they want something useful they should contact an Irish solicitor or at least steal T's and C's from an Irish club.

Robbo

seamus wrote: »

I would probably get in contact with them to alert them to the fact that the waivers are legally worthless and if they want something useful they should contact an Irish solicitor or at least steal T's and C's from an Irish club.

Very often the national association for the given sport/activity will have done the legwork here and will have a standard set of Terms and Conditions drafted up by relevant professionals.

GM228

Most people are not aware that such terms are void – a fact many such businesses/organisers rely on as they want do dissuade anyone injured from pursuing claims against them.

Carawaystick

is the medical cost waiver not to avoid the club paying for medical costs associated with injuries arising solely from the childs behaviour, and not any negligence on the club?

RayCun

Carawaystick wrote: »

is the medical cost waiver not to avoid the club paying for medical costs associated with injuries arising solely from the childs behaviour, and not any negligence on the club?

No, it says "whether or not damages or loss is due to negligence"

I'm involved in a sports club (not swimming). The club is registered with the national body, and all of our members are registered with the national body, and insurance for injuries at training is part of that registration.

At the same time, part of getting registered as a club is demonstrating that you have a responsible committee, so if the club is negligent there is someone to pin the blame on .

Carawaystick

RayCun wrote: »

No, it says "whether or not damages or loss is due to negligence"

ah, but we know the negligence bit is boilerplate.