Can You Sue a Colorado Workers’ Compensation Insurer for Acting in Bad Faith?

When a Colorado business opens their premises to the public, they have certain common law duties to keep the property in reasonably safe condition. If a customer is injured due to the owner’s failure to live up to this duty, they can be held civilly liable for that customer’s medical bills, lost income, and other damages. That said, many Colorado businesses try to avoid such liability by requiring their customers to agree to terms that contain what are known as “exculpatory” clauses.

Appeals Court Allows Slip-and-Fall Case Against Gym to Proceed

Essentially, an exculpatory clause is a release from liability. By agreeing to enter the business’ premises, you assume the risk of any injuries that might occur. In other words, if you do get hurt due to the owner’s negligence, you cannot sue them and collect any compensation.

As a Colorado Court of Appeals panel observed in a recent case, exculpatory clauses “have long been disfavored” in Colorado. But they are enforceable, albeit under certain conditions that are strictly scrutinized by judges. One of those conditions is that the exculpatory clause must “clearly and unambiguously reflect the parties’ intent to extinguish liability.”

The case before the Court of Appeals, Shive v. 24 Hour Fitness USA, LLC, offered a good example of how courts look at this condition. In this case, the plaintiff joined the defendant’s athletic club. This required the plaintiff to sign a membership agreement containing a lengthy exculpatory clause. One day after working out, the plaintiff exited the club, slipped and fell on a patch of ice on the sidewalk, and sustained a serious knee injury.

The plaintiff then sued the defendant for negligence in maintaining the property. The defendant moved to dismiss the lawsuit at summary judgment based on the exculpatory clause in the membership agreement. While the trial court granted this motion, the Court of Appeals reversed. It held the exculpatory clause did not “clearly and unambiguously bar” the plaintiff’s personal injury lawsuit.

The clause itself waived the defendant’s liability for the use of its “facilities” by the plaintiff. That clearly covered the club’s recreational facilities, such as its gym equipment and swimming pools. But it did not “clearly and unambiguously” cover the sidewalk outside the club where the plaintiff’s accident occurred. After all, the appeals court reasoned the sidewalk was open to any member of the public, unlike the restricted-access areas inside the club. As such, the Court said the exculpatory clause only covered those “recreational spaces” and not the defendant’s property as a whole.

Contact a Grand Junction Personal Injury Lawyer

Cases like this one show that just because a business owner claims you signed away your right to sue them, that does not mean such claims will hold up in court. This is why it is essential to work with an experienced Grand Junction injury lawyer. Contact Killian, Davis & Richter, P.C., today at 970-241-0707. We serve clients throughout Colorado and Wyoming. We have a long-established practice on Colorado’s Western Slope including Grand Junction, Rifle, Delta and Montrose.

Source:

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