4 Reasons To Hire A Personal Injury Lawyer To Draft A Liability Waiver

Your company wants to avoid being sued by customers injured on the premises, so you download a very generic liability waiver. If you do end up in court, you'll soon find out that badly written waivers give you no protection at all against lawsuits. Discover the tricky facts that prove you need to hire an expert in personal injury law to write your liability release form.

Minor Complications

Minors can't enter into contracts until they reach the age of 18, nullifying any waivers signed by young participants. Getting their parents to sign too, or asking adults to sign waivers for their kids, won't necessarily work either because most states don't let guardians waive rights for minors. A lawyer can help you create a form that protects your company as much as possible when providing services for children.

State Variations

States vary so greatly in their laws regarding liability that it's nearly impossible to use a waiver written for use in a different part of the country. If your waiver includes phrases that violate state law or one part of it is not enforceable, the entire agreement can end up thrown out once you get to court. This is especially important for organizations and companies that operate in multiple states - using one generic waiver for all of your facilities or events will backfire in a big way when someone gets hurt.

Wording Mishaps

As with all legal agreements, the exact words you use in the contract determine if the agreement is legally binding or not. For example, a waiver stating the person signing it releases the company from liability must include the word forever or you could end up getting sued much later. Forgetting to exclude first aid care leaves your employees responsible for dealing with a major injury until the ambulance arrives.

Working with a personal injury lawyer, like those from Oot & Associates Law Offices, is the best way to make sure every word and phrase you need is in the contract. Other lawyers can handle the drafting of contracts, but only a personal injury expert is intimately acquainted with the specific terminology used in tort law. Hiring a lawyer who helps injured customers sue companies is the best way to prevent the same from happening to you.

Broad Balances

Finally, you need to carefully balance broad generalizations with specific information in the liability waiver. Contracts that are too broad are unenforceable because they don't properly warn the user of the dangers. Overly specific waivers also fail because they fail to include all the activities and accidents that could cause injury.

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