Thread: do i need a legal disclaimer??

Tweet

hello everyone,

I am building my first haunt on a friends property and am concerned about needing a legal disclaimer being that we are charging for entry. does anyone have any tips or ideas please help.. thanks

I'm not sure about legal disclaimer but there might be some sales tax issues. If I were you I'd not charge a cover but ask for donations that way you can do what ever you want. Things get real tricky when you start charging people. You can get into all sorts of trouble with the law.

Your Friend needs to check his insurance policy. Once money comes into it, the rules change

Eastern State Penitentiary's 'Terror Behind The Walls' haunt requires those who attend to sign a waiver (here: http://www.easternstate.org/download/pdf/waiver.pdf), but that's more because it's an otherwise abandoned and crumbling ruin. (In other words, they'd rather forestall the hassle of getting hit with any number of trip-and-fall lawsuits, by making visitors aware of the potential hazards upfront.)

Have your friend check with his insurance agent about liability insurance. If this isn't covered by his regular policy, it's often relatively inexpensive to get one time event liability coverage and it's really worth the effort and cost. a legal disclaimer and/or a waiver doesn't necessarily protect you from a lawsuit. Sometimes it just reduces the amount of damages that can be assessed if you lose. Insurance can take a lot of that hassle off the table, but check with a lawyer for how your state handles this stuff.

I would check this out carefully due to the charge of money.

We had a tragic accident here in my little town about 12 years ago. It was TOT night and kids were out in force. A local child knocked into a JOL that held a candle and it ignited the costume and the child died. It was so horrible. I immediately quite using any candles outside after that. It was NOT at a haunt, just door to door TOTing and this tragic accident happened.

I knew the extended family of the child. I remember wondering at the time if the homeowner was legally liable for the accident.

In haunts, it is so easy for someone to get scared and run and fall or trip or.......

Have insurance. It is critical, unless your friend wants some 'victim' real or faking it to hold the deed to his house next year.

One of my best friends was about to close on his first house when he hit a car that stopped in the middle of an intersection in front of him for no apparent reason. Even though they were only travelling at about 5mph, all of the people in the car he hit were 'hurt' and they sued him. His parents had to end up buying the house instead of him so that he wouldn't lose the house in the lawsuit. Eventually, the 'injured' people couldn't keep their stories straight, and my friend was exonerated, but it just goes to show you, there are people who will take advantage of you out there. Have INSURANCE. Protect yourself. Premiums are cheap, settlements are NOT.