There are certain activities, like skydiving, that you can’t engage in without signing a waiver of liability. If you sign a waiver and are then injured in an accident, do you still have the right to sue, or have you lost it?
Skydiving companies typically make participants sign liability waivers, preventing injured victims from suing for accidents. Even if you signed a waiver, it may be unenforceable, whether because it contained obscure language or you were injured because of gross negligence. Although skydiving poses inherent risks to participants, skydiving companies should mitigate those risks by ensuring staff is properly trained and that safety equipment is effective. Since waivers of liability are not always enforceable, victims injured in skydiving accidents should proceed as if they can file lawsuits. Our lawyers can start preparing your claim immediately and see if your case is viable to ensure you do not miss the deadline to file your lawsuit.
Call our Arkansas personal injury lawyers at (479) 316-0438 to get a confidential and free case review.
Learning if You Can Sue for Skydiving Injuries After Signing a Waiver
When engaging in dangerous activities like skydiving, participants are often required to sign liability waivers should the activity result in injury. This can protect the business providing the skydiving service from liability. However, if you signed a waiver before skydiving and were injured, that does not automatically mean you cannot file a lawsuit for damages.
Review the Language
When assessing your case involving a waiver of liability, our Springdale, AR personal injury lawyers will first examine the specific language within the waiver. Waiver documents must have clear and unambiguous language so those signing them understand what they agree to. Right before skydiving, participants might be anxious, and waiver documents must contain language that participants can clearly understand.
Waivers must also clearly explain the specific release from liability businesses get when participants sign these documents. Our lawyers may decide a waiver is unenforceable and that you should pursue a personal injury claim against the skydiving company because of ambiguous language in the waiver document you signed.
Assess the Level of Negligence
Waivers of liability may not be enforceable when defendants act with gross negligence. While a carefully worded waiver might release a skydiving company from liability for ordinary negligence in some cases, it may not protect them in instances of gross negligence.
Generally speaking, defendants act with gross negligence when they operate without regard for a victim’s safety. Skydiving is an especially dangerous activity, and the businesses that offer these activities should provide the necessary safety equipment and instruction to participants. Failure to check all equipment used in skydiving could be considered gross negligence and could void the waiver of liability the victim signed.
Age of the Victim
Depending on where you live, waivers of liability may not be enforceable when parents sign them on behalf of their children. For example, in Arkansas, courts often reject waivers in these situations. Because skydiving is so dangerous, many services require participants to be legal adults. That said, there are other pseudo-skydiving experiences that minors might engage in more often, like indoor skydiving. If your case involves a minor victim and you signed a liability waiver on their behalf as their parent, we can explain the likelihood of the court enforcing the waiver after assessing your case.
Assessing the Risk Level
When determining if waivers are enforceable, courts may assess the risk level of the activity for which the plaintiff signed the waiver. For example, skydiving is dangerous, and courts sometimes enforce waivers because victims should have understood their risk of injury before skydiving, especially after signing a waiver, provided the waiver was easily understandable.
That said, the skydiving service owes participants a duty of care to act with reasonable care for their safety. This includes ensuring staff is properly trained, safety equipment is in good working condition, and participants are well-informed. So, while there are risks involved in skydiving, risks that participants assume, to some degree, by signing waivers, there is also the assumption that skydiving companies will take the necessary steps to keep participants safe and avoid an accident.
How to Sue for a Skydiving Injury Despite a Waiver
Skydiving injuries are often serious and are sometimes fatal, leaving victims or their survivors with considerable damages. Suing for negligence when victims have signed waivers is often complicated, which is why initiating the process right away is important.
Do not assume you cannot sue a company for your injuries because you signed a waiver before skydiving. Even if the waiver is ultimately enforceable, it is important to exhaust all options for financial recovery, especially when seriously injured. We can help victims request copies of signed waivers from negligent skydiving companies and immediately review them. We can also interview eyewitnesses and victims about the incident to ascertain how staff were negligent or what caused the accident.
Victims who assume a liability waiver automatically prevents them from suing might delay their claims and risk missing the filing deadline. The statute of limitations for personal injury claims varies from state to state but is typically only a few short years. For example, according to Ark. Code. § 16-56-105, Arkansas’s filing deadline for skydiving injury lawsuits is three years.
Though skydiving accidents are rare, the results are often catastrophic when they happen. Parachute failures could lead to death or near-fatal injuries. When victims die in skydiving accidents, their survivors may be able to file claims, provided the waivers of liability victims signed are unenforceable. Some states, including Arkansas, limit plaintiffs in wrongful death lawsuits to victims’ personal representatives. After a fatal skydiving accident, our lawyers can help determine who among the victim’s survivors is an eligible plaintiff and who among them are eligible beneficiaries.
Call Our Attorneys to Discuss Your Skydiving Accident Injuries
Call (479) 316-0438 for a free case analysis from our Crawford County, AR personal injury lawyers.