Congress Should Outlaw Contract Clauses Waiving Liability for Negligently Exposing People to COVID

Authors

Jeff Sovern, St. John's University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Opinion

Publication Title

ContractsProfBlog

Publication Date

9-7-2020

Abstract

(Excerpt)

Every 1L learns the tort of negligence. But sometimes businesses use contract law to push tort law aside by getting customers to sign contracts waiving liability. Many reasons exist for why states should limit liability waivers and I will mention some below. But there is a special reason for making waivers of liability ineffective when it comes to COVID. Whatever merit there is in enforcing liability waivers in ordinary circumstances simply disappears during a pandemic.

Comments

Originally published at: https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/contractsprof_blog/2020/09/virtual-symposium-jeff-sovern-on-liability-waivers.html