Waivers

Abstract

Private and public recreational facilities often have facility users or recreational-activity participants sign a waiver or release. This paper is designed to protect the recreational provider from liability for any claims or lawsuits resulting from that activity. Over the years, many people have questioned whether these waivers are “worth the paper that they are written on”. This memo will help to define what a waiver is, how it is used, its enforceability, Minnesota cases, and its relationship to the parks and recreation immunity and other defenses such as assumption of the risk and no negligence.