Have you ever signed one of those releases promising that you won’t sue, so that your kid could take part in an activity? Well, the Florida Supreme Court just ruled that they are not valid for commercial purposes — go-cart races, all-terrain-vehicle courses and that kind of thing. The practical result is that these Florida businesses can now be sued if kids get hurt. They’ll either have to make sure they have good insurance, make sure they don’t have accidents, stop allowing kids or go out of business. Just to be clear: This ruling doesn’t deal with the waivers that parents sign for nonprofit activities such as school and church groups, Boy and Girl Scouts and so forth. But critics are worried that even for those groups, the line between “commercial” and “nonprofit” will be blurred, and will lead to more lawsuits. Is a school field trip to an attraction that charges admission “commercial”? What if the kids get there on charter buses? What if a Scout troop goes to Disney World? “Every county in Florida is going to be affected to some degree,” predicts a lawyer for the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
The case of Kirton vs. Fields was born on May 10, 2003, at a motorsports park in South Florida. A father allowed his 14-year-old son to ride an all-terrain vehicle, which landed on top of him during a jump and killed him. The personal representative of the boy’s estate sued the park. The trial court ruled that the father had willingly signed the waiver and ruled for the racetrack. An appeals court reversed the ruling. The case went to the Supreme Court. The vote in the court’s Dec. 11 ruling was 4-1. The majority found that a child has his or her own lifetime interest, personal and property rights that a parent cannot simply fork over to a business. “It cannot be presumed,” the opinion said, “that a parent who has decided to voluntarily risk a minor child’s physical well-being is acting in the child’s best interest.” The lone dissenter was Justice Charles T. Wells, who said the court was making up a legal standard that ought to be up to the Legislature.
Please click on the link below to read the complete Tampa Bay.com article:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/civil/article944609.ece
The Citron Law Firm, P.A. (www.citronlegal.com) is a civil trial practice law firm that specializes in professional liability and injury cases, commercial and real estate litigation and family law matters. The Citron Law Firm is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at 707 S.E. Third Avenue, Sixth Floor – (954) 712-1686.
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