Did You Sign Away Your Injury Claim? How Ohio Courts Enforce Liability Waivers

Published February 27, 2019 · Ohio Appeals Courts

You sign them without thinking: the clipboard at the trampoline park, the tablet at the climbing gym, the form at the spa, the online checkbox before a mud run. Then something goes wrong, a platform gives way or a machine malfunctions, and the business's first answer is, "You signed a waiver."

A decision from the Twelfth District Court of Appeals earlier this month shows how seriously Ohio courts take that answer. It is a hard result for the injured woman in that case. It is also a useful reminder of where waivers stop working, and why you should never assume your case is over just because you signed something.

A free massage and a collapsing chair

The case is Taylor v. Atrium, 2019-Ohio-447, decided February 11, 2019, by the Twelfth District, which hears appeals from Warren, Butler, and Clermont Counties among others.

According to the opinion, Vicki Taylor worked at Atrium Medical Center. During the hospital's "Hospital Appreciation Week," Massage Envy set up massage chairs inside the hospital and offered complimentary massages to staff. Ms. Taylor signed a release, sat down in one of the chairs, and the chair collapsed. She was injured, and she and her husband sued Massage Envy and the hospital for negligence and loss of consortium.

The release she signed said, in part, that she accepted "any risks" associated with the massage or "any use of the company's facilities," and released Massage Envy from all liability for any resulting injury.

What the court decided

The trial court granted summary judgment for both defendants, meaning it ended the case without a trial, and the court of appeals affirmed.

The Taylors' main argument was sensible: a massage waiver is about the massage, not about a chair that falls apart. The court disagreed. It looked up the word "facilities" and found that it includes a "piece of equipment provided for a particular purpose." The chair was equipment Massage Envy used for the purpose of giving massages, so in the court's view the release plainly covered injuries from sitting in it or falling from it. The court added that the only Massage Envy "facility" Ms. Taylor encountered that day was the chair.

Two other points in the opinion matter to anyone who has signed a release:

• You do not have to foresee the exact way you will be hurt. The court acknowledged that a person might not anticipate a massage chair collapsing, but held that a release does not need to predict precisely how an injury will happen.
• The condition of the equipment did not matter. Because the release covered "any use" of the facilities without limiting itself to equipment in good condition, the court held that the chair's condition did not affect whether the release applied.

This is a bad outcome for an injured person, and I will not pretend otherwise. Ms. Taylor was hurt by equipment that should have held her weight, and the waiver she signed to get a free massage at work ended her claim.

The rules that still protect you

The Taylor decision does not mean every waiver is ironclad. The same opinion recites the rules that keep these documents in check, and they are worth knowing.

Waivers are disfavored and read strictly against the business. Ohio law does not like contracts that excuse someone in advance from the consequences of their own carelessness. Courts read them narrowly, against the company that wrote them, and enforce them only when the language is clear and unequivocal about what kind of liability is being released and who is being released. In Taylor the court found the language clear. Many waivers are not.

Vague or overly general language can send the question to a jury. The Taylor opinion itself notes that when a release is ambiguous or too general, what the parties intended becomes a question of fact for a jury. I wrote about a 2010 gym case in which an Ohio appeals court found a fitness center's waiver too vague to enforce. The exact words matter enormously, which is why I always want to read the actual document.

Waivers cover ordinary negligence, not willful or wanton misconduct. Ohio courts have long held that a pre-injury release can excuse a business's ordinary negligence but not conduct that is willful or wanton. Fifty years ago, in a case arising from the old Dayton Speedway, the Second District Court of Appeals enforced a racing release but recognized that limit, relying on an earlier decision holding that such releases do not reach injuries caused by willful or wanton misconduct. Hine v. Dayton Speedway Corp., 20 Ohio App.2d 185 (2d Dist. 1969). A business that knew a piece of equipment was broken and kept using it anyway, or ignored repeated warnings about a dangerous condition, may not be able to hide behind a waiver.

The waiver may not cover everyone the business says it does. A release protects the people and companies it names. If the equipment was made by a manufacturer, maintained by an outside contractor, or the premises were owned by someone else, those parties may not be protected at all. Claims against product manufacturers and property owners are separate from claims against the business that handed you the clipboard.

When a parent signs for a child

Parents sign waivers for their children constantly: birthday parties at trampoline parks, summer camps, travel sports. In Zivich v. Mentor Soccer Club, Inc., 82 Ohio St.3d 367, 1998-Ohio-389, the Supreme Court of Ohio held that parents can bind their minor children to releases in favor of volunteers and sponsors of nonprofit sport activities, for claims based on negligence.

That decision rested heavily on the public value of volunteer-run community sports. It did not decide whether a for-profit business, such as a commercial trampoline park or an entertainment venue, can use a parent's signature to wipe out a child's claim. And by its terms it addressed negligence claims, not more serious misconduct. If your child was hurt after you signed a waiver, do not assume the child's claim is gone.

What this means for you

Read what you sign, especially at gyms, spas, trampoline and adventure parks, race events, and rental shops. If a waiver releases "any risks" from "any use" of the facilities, assume a court may enforce it as written.

But if you have already been hurt, the waiver is the beginning of the analysis, not the end. Whether it actually bars your claim depends on its precise wording, who it names, what caused the injury, how serious the business's conduct was, and whether the injured person is a child. Bring the document, or a photo of it, to a consultation. Many of the facts that defeat a waiver, such as prior complaints about the equipment or a failure to inspect, disappear quickly. Our premises liability practice handles injuries at businesses of every kind, and our post on amusement ride and fair injuries covers a related set of risks. You can read more about the cases we take on our personal injury page.