indemnification clause?

[wushuguy]

i am drafting an agreement that a student should sign so that the student is liable for his own actions (can't sue me or others if he hurt himself in class, etc.). Can someone share some examples of how it should look? you can message me privately if you wish. Thanks.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

i am drafting an agreement that a student should sign so that the student is liable for his own actions (can't sue me or others if he hurt himself in class, etc.). Can someone share some examples of how it should look? you can message me privately if you wish. Thanks.

I suggest paying an attorney to draft the agreement. Legalese is complicated, and doing it wrong can have negative consequences. It costs very little to have an attorney draw up such an agreement.

As an example, an 'indemnification clause' is not for the purpose you think it is. Indemnification clauses are used to hold party A harmless for damages to party B done by party C. In other words, the student agrees to hold you harmless for damage done by a splintering bo that hurts them, for example. The vendor of the bo would be liable party, not you.

In addition, anyone may sue (in the USA) anyone else for anything at all. You cannot stop a person from filing a lawsuit against you. If you have a good agreement, you may be able to prevail in court, which is a different thing. You just can't wave a piece of paper around and say "You can't sue me now."

If you are not already a member of a martial arts association, you may wish to look into joining one. Many offer pre-written standard contracts that are attorney-approved for your particular area and martial art style, as well as something else you might well want to look into - liability insurance. Here's one example I found with a google search:

http://www.martialartsteachers.com/

Or you can buy liability insurance without joining an association.

Here are a couple examples I found with a quick google search:

http://www.fdean.com/martial_arts_insurance.html

http://www.westpointinsurance.com/

I don't speak for any of these companies, and I'm not an attorney. But I've been a small business owner, and I know that self-written legal contracts are more-or-less worthless. What looks good to people like us, with plenty of thees and thous and whereas in it, could get you into serious trouble in court if it ever came to that. I recommend either paying a lawyer to draw up your release from liability contract for your students, or get one by joining a MA teaching association; and I strongly recommend buying liability insurance - no contract can stop a person from suing you.

 

[MBuzzy]

Bill is right on here - and even WITH an airtight liability waiver, chances are that you will still end up in court over an incident. No waiver is iron clad and there are always loopholes to be exploited. Nothing you can do about, but be aware....waivers and liability contracts don't always work. Particularly if someone can prove some type of negligence on your part.

 

[jks9199]

The relatively few dollars for an hour or two of an attorney (you want one with experience in the fields of sports or parks & rec law ideally) is well worth the hundreds of thousands it could save you in a lawsuit. You need it to be properly drafted, and to be appropriate for your state, because there are some major differences state to state. If you ask, they may be able to let you use a paralegal's time instead of an attorney's.

And, just so you know, even the best written waiver/warning won't guarantee that you won't get sued. In other words -- you kind of need that liability insurance, too.

 

[mwd0818]

Definitely go with the professional route and the insurance. You wouldn't want to learn jiu-jitsu from a guy who saw a UFC once, and you don't want a legal document to protect you and your assets from a guy who read and signed one once. I'm sure there are a few lawyers on the board, but we are here because we are martial artists in some form, not legal experts.

As a general rule though:

A waiver keeps honest people honest. It acts as a deterrent for lawsuits. (I did sign a waiver, I guess it is my fault I broke my wrist . . . ). However, as mentioned earlier, anyone can sue for anything. The waiver will provide some coverage in court, but there is no waiver for negligence or stupidity. (Not saying you would be either, but just making a general statement!) Liability insurance helps protect you and when the waiver fails and you are held financially responsible for injuries or such, you have a backup.

Also, the one thing not mentioned is that I would definitely seek out a business lawyer to help protect your company. Sole Propietorships, Corporations, LLC, LPs, etc. all offer different levels of protection to you as an individual and to the company if someone does wish to sue. Again, if you are completely negligent, you can't hide behind a corporation, but accidents do happen and the correct business model can help protect you as an individual as well.

Failing that . . . stick to the old wolfpack method...

Someone goes down with an injury, kill them and hide the body. There will be no one to claim you owe them a few thousand dollars to cover the cost of the broken bone. It's a tough business model, but does weed out the weak . . .

 

[jks9199]

One thing a properly worded waiver will do is document that the participant was advised of the dangers of the activity. No waiver will excuse negligence or deliberate acts, either. And the people judging negligence or whether something was deliberate are not likely to be martial artists...

 

[wushuguy]

I see. Thanks for the info. I'm going to search for some standardized agreements.