QUESTION
Can responsibility for negligence be waived via signed contract?
Asked on Oct 19th, 2015 on Contracts - Tennessee
More details to this question:
I have been asked to sign a waiver for my minor child which in part states that the company that she will be volunteering for will not be responsible for death or injury even if it is caused by the company's own negligence. Will this hold up in a court of law in Tennessee or will the company still be forced to be responsible if there is death or injury caused by there negligence?
1 ANSWER
I don't know the law of Tennessee, but believe that it is likely the same as New York's in this area. In New York, you can contractually bar liability for negligence, but not for gross negligence or recklessness. Unfortunately, while some actions clearly constitute gross negligence (say, driving 45 miles over the speed limit), many times the difference between negligence and gross negligence is in the eye of the beholder (e.g. driving 10 miles over the speed limit.) This means that it is often difficult to predict how a court will rule as far as a given claim being barred by such language in the contract.
Answered on Oct 20th, 2015 at 11:33 AM