An appellate court in Michigan has ruled that insurance purchased by a roller derby skater did not cover an injury she suffered at a roller derby rink.
The Case
Elizabeth Budros went to the Traverse City Roller Derby (“TCRD”) rink to participate in a non-contact pace drill called “fast to fastest.” She purchased Womens' Flat Track Derby Association (“WFTDA”) insurance before skating; it included a waiver of liability.
The TCRD's athletic director, Angela Stricker, showed Ms. Budros around the track. Ms. Stricker later maintained that she pointed out a wall that was too close to the track edge, as well as other potential hazards. Ms. Budros denied that Ms. Stricker had done so.
During the drill, the skater behind Ms. Budros fell, causing other skaters to pile up. When Ms. Budros swerved to avoid hitting the piled-up skaters, she hit the wall while trying to stop. As a result, she broke her arm.
Ms. Budros sued the TCRD and the WFTDA. The trial court granted summary disposition on all claims, reasoning that Ms. Budros' signed waiver had extinguished her claims of ordinary negligence.
Ms. Budros appealed.
The Liability Waiver
The form signed by Ms. Budros was captioned:
2014 Release and Waiver of Liability, Assumption of Risk, and Indemnity Agreement
It provided that Ms. Budros shall:
HEREBY RELEASE, DISCHARGE, AND COVENANT NOT TO SUE the sanctioning organization(s), their administrators, directors, agents, officers, members, volunteers, and employees, other participants, officials, rescue personnel, sponsors, advertisers, owners and lessees of Premises on which the Activity is conducted, (each of the forgoing shall be considered one of the RELEASEES herein) FROM ALL LIABILITY, CLAIMS, DEMANDS, LOSSES, OR DAMAGES ON MY ACCOUNT CAUSED, OR ALLEGED TO BE CAUSED, IN WHOLE OR IN PART BY THE NEGLIGENCE OF THE RELEASEES OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING NEGLIGENT RESCUE OPERATIONS. . . .The Appellate Court's Decision
The appellate court affirmed.
In its decision, the appellate court ruled that the liability waiver in the form signed by Ms. Budros was “effective” to waive her ordinary negligence claims. In the appellate court's opinion, the waiver language in the WFTDA insurance agreement “was clear” and it “extinguished [Ms. Budros'] ordinary negligence claims.”
The appellate court was not persuaded by Ms. Budros' argument that the release was invalid because it was part of an insurance purchase agreement and not a separate document clearly labeled a release.
It also rejected Ms. Budros' contention that the waiver was ambiguous and invalid because it did not name the WFTDA or the TRCD as releasees, reasoning that the waiver was “comprehensive enough to cover both defendants without naming them specifically,” particularly because Ms. Budros had completed the document at the TCRD facility, which was “dedicated to roller derby activity.”
Finally, the appellate court did not agree with Ms. Budros that the defendants had misrepresented the nature of the document by instructing her to purchase insurance without advising her that the insurance purchase agreement contained a waiver. It noted that Ms. Budros had not claimed that the defendants had attempted to deceive her about the agreement's contents, conceal its contents, or prevent her from reading its contents before signing, or that she would not have signed the insurance purchase agreement or would have declined to participate in the drill if she had been aware of the form's contents.
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].