Florida Ruling States Parents Cannot Sign Waivers For
Children
A
decision this week by the Florida Supreme Court could pose trouble
for programs that introduce young people to their first airplane
flight. The Associated Press reports the state court ruled 4-1 that
parents cannot waive liability for their children who participate
in motor sports or other activities that carry a higher degree of
risk.
The ruling came as a result of the death of a 14-year-old boy at
an Okeechobee County motor sports park in 2003. A lower court ruled
the facility was not liable for the boy's death, since his father
had signed a liability waiver. That decision was later overturned
on appeal, and that appeal was upheld Thursday by the state supreme
court.
The AP notes the ruling could pose difficulties for businesses
including go-kart tracks, bungee jumping, parasailing and horseback
riding.
"Florida's children and parents need not worry, after today's
decision, that careless commercial operators may be immunized from
their carelessness by the presence of an exculpatory clause in a
ticket for admission," Justice Harry Lee Anstead wrote in his
opinion on the decision.
Anstead took pains to note the court's decision specifically
targets enterprises that make money from offering such services.
"...[O]ur holding is narrowly directed at those commercial
operators who wrongfully and negligently cause injury," he
wrote.
However, a single line from Chief Justice Peggy Quince has
potential implications for such not-for-profit efforts as the EAA's
Young Eagles program, in which pilots donate their time, money and
aircraft to give children their first trip around the pattern. In a
footnote to the main ruling, Quince wrote the decision "should not
be read as limiting our reasoning only to ... commercial
activity."
The lone dissenting opinion was provided by Justice Charles
Wells, who wrote the matter should be decided by legislative action
and regulation, not by judicial decree. It's "fundamentally unfair
now to declare a new public policy and then apply it to the
defendants in this case," Wells wrote.
In addition to impacting free airplane rides, the ruling could
also put a halt to school-sponsored and charitable activities, and
Boys and Girls Scouts of America campouts. Those organizations are
not likely to be able to afford the potential liability from the
risk of injury or death -- however small -- of the
participants.
Stay tuned.