Re: [Paddlewise] Paddling Clubs

>On Mon, 9 Feb 1998, Niels Henriksen wrote:
>>>Please remember that you can always be sued for negligence.
>true.
>
>>>A Waiver can not remove this right.
>
>depends on the state, and the country. i guess this is a good opportunity
>to remind people that this is an international mailing list, and what
>works in one place may not in another...

There is no document that I know that can waive the right to sue for negiilence.
A waiver can state to the indivuidual that there are inherent risks in the 
undertaking and therefore it is the person's responsibility to make sure that 
they understand the risks.

IF  amemeber were to state that they have never paddle before and a team leader
were to reply. " no problem, where we are going it won't cause you a problem.
Then if an accident were to happen (eg. a storm came up quickly and the team leader
was able to get weather information so that he/she could have palnned accordingly. Then
there may be grounds for a neglilence suit.

A club that take resonable measures to reduce risk, while not always perfect, will be
able to demonstate they did what prudent peple do and therefore no ground for suit.

>>>If you are taking members on outings its the 
>>>clubs' or leader's responsibility to know the skills of the group
>>>and to NOT take anyone into a situation that they are not skilled for.
>
>in colorado, and our clubs in particular, this is adamantly NOT TRUE. it
>is the participant's responsibility to know _their_ abilities, and to ask
>the trip coordinator questions about the trip.
>
>>>By having every member take a skill test and rating your paddling
>>>adventures you can help mitigate the risk of suing. This is because you
>>>have taken steps to reduce the risk.
>>>
>>>Niels Henriksen
>>>Ottawa, Canada
>>>
>
>who is going to administer the tests?? when, etc, etc. this has too many
>problems, at least for a club our size [~250 families].

The test do not have to be extremely vigourous. They only have to be resonable.
There may be even some enjoyment in club members achieving higher qualifications
as they progress up the skill levels.
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