By Kyle Roby, Partner
Have you ever taken your child to a trampoline park or bouncy house facility and had to sign a liability waiver, or check-in on an I-pad, to release all claims in order for them to be able jump? Have you ever asked yourself “What did I just sign… and is it enforceable?” The Kentucky Supreme Court recently answered those questions in Miller v House of Boom. The Court found that pre-injury liability waivers between a for-profit entity and a parent on behalf of a minor child are against Kentucky law and unenforceable.
In this case, a mother took her eleven year-old daughter and a friend to House of Boom, a trampoline park in Louisville, Kentucky. As a part of the registration process, she had to sign a pre-injury liability waiver for her daughter so that in the event that she was injured, House of Boom was not liable. As it turns out, the child was injured on that day and the mother sued House of Boom on the child’s behalf. House of Boom asked the Court to declare the waiver enforceable and declare that the mother waived all rights for her minor child.