Are Waivers Still Worth It When Big Lawsuits Happen

The Jiu Jitsu Case People Keep Pointing At

A lot of the current waiver debate is getting fueled by the Jack Greener case. Greener was paralyzed from the neck down during a jiu jitsu training session in 2018. Reporting on the case says a jury awarded about 46.5 million dollars, and later reporting says the total exceeded 56 million dollars after the California Supreme Court declined to review the case in June 2025.

This case gets shared online as a waiver story, and it makes people jump to a simple conclusion, that waivers must be useless. But that is not what it proves.

What it really highlights is something owners already know in their gut, extreme cases stress test every layer of your business, including paperwork, training standards, supervision, and safety culture. In cases where the allegation is that the instructor or facility increased the danger beyond what participants reasonably expect, a signed document may not end the case early.

People take a catastrophic, life altering outcome like that and treat it as a blanket argument that waivers never help, which is like saying you should not lock your doors because windows exist.

What That Case Does and Does Not Mean

It does mean that a waiver is not a magic shield. If the facts look like the business created an unreasonable risk, a signed document might not protect you the way you hoped, and it might not prevent a lawsuit from moving forward.

It does not mean waivers are pointless for normal gyms and academies dealing with normal incidents and normal disputes.

Most owners are not trying to paper over reckless behavior. They are trying to run a safe operation where adults choose to participate in an activity that has real risks, and where the occasional injury, misunderstanding, or conflict does not automatically turn into a drawn out legal mess.

The Broader United States Picture

Waivers are handled state by state, so you will never get one rule that fits everyone. Still, there are themes that show up across the country, and those themes are the reason waivers are still used almost everywhere in the fitness and recreation world.

Ordinary Negligence Is Treated Differently Than Serious Misconduct

In many states, a waiver can limit claims tied to ordinary negligence if it is drafted and presented correctly. Courts are generally far less willing to let a business contract away responsibility for conduct that crosses the line into gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional harm.

A simple way to say it, waivers tend to help most in everyday negligence disputes, and help least in extreme fact patterns.

Clarity, Readability, and the Signing Process Matter

Courts often focus on whether the document clearly tells a normal person what they are giving up. That usually means plain language, obvious headings, readable fonts, and an unmistakable statement that the signer is releasing certain claims.

This is also where many waivers fail in practice. It is not the idea of a waiver that fails, it is vague language, sloppy formatting, rushed signing, missing pages, or poor recordkeeping.

Minors Are a Separate Category

Across the United States, parental signatures for minors can be treated very differently depending on the state and the activity. Some states are more willing to enforce them, some are not, and many states have specific statutes or formatting rules for youth activities.

If you run kids programs, do not guess. Get a local attorney to review your forms and your process.

Why Waivers Still Matter in Common Scenarios

Most claims are not eight figure tragedies. Most are the annoying, common situations that burn time, energy, and money.

That is exactly where waivers can still do a lot of work for you.

1. They Deter Low Effort Claims

A waiver will not stop every lawsuit. It can change the decision making process for the common claims where the numbers are small and the facts are messy. When someone sees they signed a clear assumption of risk and release, plenty of people decide it is not worth escalating.

In the real world, most disputes are not a clean courtroom movie scene where everyone is committed to spending years fighting. Most disputes start as frustration and uncertainty. Someone gets hurt, they are angry, their spouse is angry, they get a medical bill, a friend tells them to call a lawyer, and suddenly you are dealing with a claim that may or may not have legs.

A clear waiver can help shorten that phase. It gives you something concrete to point to, and it signals that your business takes the risks seriously enough to disclose them up front. That can discourage the casual, opportunistic, or emotionally driven claim from turning into a formal demand.

Even when a claim does move forward, having a waiver can change the settlement posture. It can reduce the leverage of a weak claim, which can reduce the size of the ask, and it can speed up resolution because there is an obvious hurdle on the other side.

2. They Communicate Risk Clearly

A waiver is not only defensive paperwork. It is risk communication. It tells the customer, in plain language, this activity has hazards, some are not fully preventable, and participation requires personal responsibility.

That alone reduces misunderstandings, which reduces conflicts.

This matters more than owners think. Many disputes are not purely about injury. They are about expectations. A customer expected a safe, controlled, almost zero risk experience, and they got a reality check instead. A waiver is one of the few moments where you can reset expectations before the first class, before the first roll, before the first heavy set, before the first sparring round.

A good waiver also helps you say something difficult in a professional way, which is, you cannot guarantee a risk free environment, even if you run a clean facility, hire competent staff, and teach responsibly. You can reduce risk, you can coach, you can supervise, you can enforce rules, but you cannot remove risk from activities that are inherently physical and unpredictable.

3. They Support the Right Mindset for Safe Training

In combat sports, the safest rooms are the rooms with the best culture.

A well written waiver can reinforce that culture by reminding members what safe training looks like:

• Tap early
• Do not treat sparring like a fight
• Respect weight and experience mismatches
• Speak up about injuries
• Follow instruction, do not improvise dangerous moves

This is not about blame, it is about putting people in the right frame of mind to train responsibly.

There is also a practical side here. When an incident happens, the story you want the member telling themselves is, I chose to do a hard thing, I understood the risks, I trained with awareness, and I will handle this like an adult. The story you do not want is, this place tricked me, I thought it was safe, and nobody warned me. A waiver is one small part of shaping that story, alongside coaching, signage, orientation, and consistent enforcement of rules.

If Most of Your Customers Are in Indiana

If your customers are mostly Indiana based, have an Indiana attorney review the exact language and the signing process. Indiana courts have enforced liability waivers in many recreational contexts, but the details matter, especially clarity and whether the waiver plainly covers negligence.

Here are a few Indiana cases you can use as discussion starters with counsel, not as do it yourself legal advice:

• Duncan v. Kansas City Southern Railway Co.
• Pfenning v. Lineman
• Hanks v. Powder Ridge Restaurant Corp.

What a Smart Waiver Strategy Looks Like

Think layers, not absolutes.

1. A waiver drafted or reviewed by a lawyer in your state
2. Clear safety rules and staff training
3. Coaching structure that matches student level
4. Equipment inspection and maintenance routines
5. Incident documentation that is factual and consistent
6. Insurance that matches your risk profile

Waivers are one part of a risk program. They are not the whole program.

Practical Checklist for Owners

This is not legal advice, it is practical risk hygiene.

1. Use plain language and make key terms impossible to miss
2. Describe the real risks of your activity, not generic injury language
3. Give the signer a real chance to read it, do not pressure people through it
4. Store signed records in a way you can actually retrieve later
5. Refresh periodically if you change rules, program structure, or equipment
6. Treat waivers as one layer alongside safety rules, coaching standards, incident documentation, and insurance

If your waiver is digital, treat it like important data. Keep it searchable, exportable, and tied to the member record. That does not replace legal quality, but it prevents a brutal operational failure mode, having a waiver you cannot find when you need it.

Broader Legal Background Links

These are general resources people often cite when talking about waiver enforceability across the United States.

• Restatement Second of Contracts, section 195 — Terms exempting liability for harm caused intentionally, recklessly, or in some cases negligently
• California Supreme Court, City of Santa Barbara v Superior Court — Discussion of releases and gross negligence
• MWL 50 state survey chart — Exculpatory agreements and liability waivers overview