Owning a company puts a great deal of responsibility on your shoulders. You need to look out for your overall business operations, the well-being of your employees and the well-being of your clients or customers. Because you cannot prevent every accident or mishap, you undoubtedly take advantage of various types of insurance coverage as a safeguard.
Of course, you could also take advantage of other safeguards that could help protect your business from certain legal claims. In particular, you may want to explore the possibility of utilizing a liability release form, especially if your business involves inherent risks that could potentially cause harm to a client or customer.
How does a release form work?
Essentially, a release form acts as a contract between you as the business owner and the person who signs the release. The information you include in the form could indicate that the person assumed the risk of potentially suffering injuries as a result of the services offered by your company. One example of when a release form may be useful is if a company provides horseback riding services. Though riding a horse is relatively safe, there is the chance that injuries could occur in the event of an unforeseeable accident.
By signing the form, the client or customer agrees that he or she will not hold the company liable in such an event. However, if your business is considered to have acted negligently or recklessly and if those actions contributed to the injury-causing accident, it is possible that a legal claim could still come against your company.
Is a release form always enforceable?
Aside from negligence or recklessness, a person could argue other reasons for having the form deemed unenforceable. For instance, if the release contains a considerable amount of complicated legal jargon, the person could later argue that he or she did not fully understand the form when signing. Additionally, it is also important to ensure that the person signing is of adult age. A minor cannot legally sign his or her rights away, and only a parent or guardian should sign for a minor.
To better ensure that your release form contains the right information in an understandable way and that it has its best chance of being enforceable, it is important that the form is created correctly. Rather than finding a generic form online or creating one yourself, you may want to work with a New Jersey attorney experienced in creating contracts.