AAU Competition and Organization

[xcakid]

Some folks have students sign a waiver when they join and think that is enough...

Not at all. Legally, you cannot sign away your right to sue for things like negligence and safety concerns. If you could, every amusement park in the US would have you sign a waiver when you walked in the gate.

Sometimes...

This was tested at a skidiving place I went to in CA. The waiver held up in court actually. If I recall correctly the suit was a guy sprained his ankle during a tandem jump. He claimed the instructor was negligent and that the LZ was not properly maintained. He lost.

Point is, depends on how good your lawyer is in drafting the waiver and defending it.

Skydiving is a harzardous sport and so is martial arts. Not saying that you should not have insurance. I ran a school in the early 90's and there was no way I was gonna do it without insurance. You just need to cover yourself in all directions. Waivers can be enough. But in those cases where they have the better lawyer, an insurance policy is definitely good to have.

Let me add that, I have seen some schools waiver that is about 3 sentences long and some that is a whole page. Hmm... wonder which would hold up in court.

[GLW]

Ah...but the key word is "negligent"

If you have informed the person or risks, they have knowingly accepted the risks, and then you have done due diligence to negate as much of the risk as humanly possible....and you can show that you have done this, the first hurdle for the person bringing the lawsuit is to demonstrate negligence. The second hurdle is to then prove that they were not aware of the dangers and suffered due to the negligence.

Granted, that is a very simplistic description...but it boils down to the other guy :

(1) having a better lawyer
(2) his lawyer being able to demonstrate negligence
(3) his lawyer being able to say that their client was not informed.

In the end, even if you win, you lose. You have a lawsuit to deal with - and the only ones who come out on top are the two lawyers.

With any form of insurance, if you are following the rules and not being negligent, then when the suit comes up, the insurance company is on the line with you.

Personally, I hate having to have insurance. I have never had more than a sprained ankle or cut lip in any class I teach. But, where I teach requires me to have a policy...so I pay the money and have the policy.

[Skip J.]

......With any form of insurance, if you are following the rules and not being negligent, then when the suit comes up, the insurance company is on the line with you.

Personally, I hate having to have insurance. I have never had more than a sprained ankle or cut lip in any class I teach. But, where I teach requires me to have a policy...so I pay the money and have the policy.

And they have excellent lawyers .......