Can You Sue After Signing a Liability Waiver in Pennsylvania?
Signing a liability waiver before an activity in Harrisburg, such as going to a gym, trampoline park, or race track, doesn’t automatically prevent you from filing a personal injury claim if you get into an accident.
While waivers can limit certain claims in Pennsylvania, they cannot shield a business or organization from liability resulting from gross negligence or reckless conduct. At Cunningham, Chernicoff & Warshawsky, we’ve represented many individuals who assumed they had signed away their rights, only to find that they had not.
The truth is that waivers typically have limits, and our premises liability lawyers can help determine whether the document actually holds up under the law.
How Injury Claims Work After Signing a Waiver?
If you’re injured after signing a waiver, the business or organization will likely argue that you assumed the risk. Insurers usually rely on the waiver to deny claims outright. However, that doesn’t mean the case is over.
A Harrisburg premises liability attorney can examine the language of the waiver itself. Many are overly broad, poorly worded, or buried in long paragraphs that fail to meet Pennsylvania’s clarity requirements. Courts tend to interpret vague waivers in favor of the injured person, not the business that drafted them.
Likewise, they look at how the injury occurred. For instance, if a zipline park fails to inspect cables or train employees, that may rise to the level of gross negligence, which voids most waivers under PA law.
How Waivers Protect Businesses
Not always. Courts will only enforce waivers that are clear, specific, and voluntarily signed. Even then, they cannot excuse conduct that goes beyond ordinary negligence. For instance, if a Harrisburg gym member signs a waiver and later suffers a spinal injury because equipment was left in a state of disrepair, the waiver likely won’t protect the gym.
Courts have repeatedly ruled that businesses cannot use waivers to escape responsibility for reckless or intentional acts that pose a safety risk. That means even if you signed a waiver, you may still have a valid claim, particularly if your injuries resulted from unsafe practices, poor maintenance, or employee negligence.
Situations Where Waivers May Not Apply
Liability waivers are common in gyms, amusement parks, athletic events, and even childcare centers. However, there are clear situations where they may not apply:
- When the business violated state safety regulations or building codes
- The staff acted recklessly or ignored known dangers
- When the waiver’s language was confusing or misleading
- Minors are involved; parents cannot always waive a child’s rights
In each case, the key question is whether the injury could have been prevented through the exercise of reasonable care. If not, the waiver may not hold up, and you may still be entitled to compensation.
How Our Liability Lawyer Can Help
After an accident, businesses will move quickly to defend themselves. They’ll point to the waiver and insist you have no case.
Your Harrisburg premises liability attorney can review the waiver’s wording line by line, identify where it fails to meet legal standards, and gather evidence that proves negligence. This includes safety inspection reports, maintenance logs, witness statements, and internal communications that demonstrate the company was aware of the risk.
Likewise, they can work with medical experts to document how the injury occurred and whether proper precautions could’ve prevented it. Once they’ve built a clear record of what went wrong, they can challenge the waiver’s enforceability and negotiate with insurers for fair compensation or take your case to court if necessary.
Connect With Our Personal Injury Attorneys
If you were hurt after signing a waiver, don’t assume you’re out of options. Reach Cunningham, Chernicoff & Warshawsky online or at 717-260-3527 to schedule your free appointment. Accountability doesn’t disappear with a signature, and our Harrisburg premises liability lawyers can ensure your rights don’t either.