Signed Liability Release Form: Fill & Download for Free

Many places that provide physical activity as a service, such as trampoline parks, indoor rock climbing gyms, skating rinks, and others actually have some pretty shady fine print if you actually bother to read and the understand the liability release forms you’re signing in order to enjoy the service.Of course, there is text in those agreements that states that you understand that there is an inherent risk to participating, and the service provider is not liable for injury you sustain due to misuse of equipment, attempting maneuvers that are beyond your skill level, or the improper activity of other patrons. Those are reasonable.There is often also additional text that states that you absolve the service provider of liability for injure that you sustain as a result of happenstance, such as a piece of equipment malfunctioning or breaking. This is starting to get hazy, but I suppose there is still a case to be made that equipment does wear out, and catastrophic failure could feasibly be chalked up to very unfortunate timing.But if you look closely enough, you can even find fine print that states that you absolve the service provider of injury that you sustain due to negligence. Indeed, some places are getting you to sign waivers that basically state that they will flip you the bird when you are injured by equipment that is rusted or has other obvious signs of degradation or another customer whose dangerous activity has been known to staff but staff has not asked that person to leave.Here is a waiver for a popular trampoline park called Quantum Leap. The dirty print in question is contained in the sections titled “Release of Liability” and “Indemnification”.

In the 70s and early 80s, I trained Shotokan in Los Angeles. The lead instructors were Hidetaka Nishiyama and Yutaka Yagouchi, very famous instructors in Japan and then legendary after coming to the US.At that time, there were no liability release forms to sign. No on carried liability insurance.Students were not permitted to wear any kind of protection including no mouth guards. Men did not wear groin protection. One of the senior students who would later become a well known instructor in his own right, would routinely do a front round house kick to the groin when sparring. It was equivalent to a light jab. If the kick detected a cup in the groin, he’d repeat the kick harder and repeatedly in trying to break it. The impact of the kick on the cup was unmistakably loud and once anyone heard that, no one dared wear one.Free sparing was full speed and power below the head and half speed to the face. Students routinely had injuries. I myself had to have several visits to the ER for facial sutures, a broken foot, a broken ankle, and a broken hand. Two of my fellow students had their noses severely broken.Decades later, the training was watered down as instructors were forced to buy liability insurance and students were required to sign liability wavers. Watching a current class today is like seeing some kind of choreography exercise. The contact is non existent except with gloves, shin guards, head gear and mouth pieces.This isn’t something that’s just happened in the US. It’s also happened in Japan. In a relatively brief period of time, society changed and so did much of traditional martial arts training. In this sense, “ancient” is measured in decades.

OK.Let’s say I’m seeing you in therapy. Someone calls or texts me claiming to be connected with you somehow.At that point I’m not even admitting I know who you are, let alone that you are my patient.But, as you suggest, it could be someone warning that you are in serious danger or may be significant danger to others. In that case I will listen carefully and take notes, but I’m still not admitting I’ve ever heard of you.Now I have to make a judgment call, based on my assessment of credibility and danger level. I don’t like this part, and I’ll err on the side of safety.Do I:Clip my notes of the call to your chart to share with you next time?Call you (and I almost never call clients) to check and assess possible danger?If the call seems reasonable and credible, and the danger is right now and very serious, I’m not taking any chances. My next call is 911 to request a welfare check or whatever they want to do based on what I’ve told them. I will tell them I’m your therapist, because life or death situations trump privacy every time (and you signed a service agreement to this effect when we started therapy).