## Facts

- Bruce E. Gross, a novice, enrolled in William Sweet’s parachute-jumping training school and was required to sign a “Responsibility Release” as a condition of participation.
- The release stated Gross waived “any and all claims” for “personal injuries” arising from learning, practicing, or jumping from an aircraft.
- Gross received about one hour of introductory ground instruction, including several short practice jumps from a table.
- Gross then made his first jump from approximately 2,800 feet and suffered serious injuries upon landing.
- Gross sued Sweet alleging negligence (including inadequate training and unsafe equipment), breach of warranty, gross negligence, and asserted regulatory violations and inadequate warnings.
- Sweet asserted the release as an affirmative defense and obtained summary judgment in the trial court.
- The Appellate Division reversed, reinstated the complaint, struck the release as a defense, and certified whether that ruling was correct as a matter of law.

## Issues

1. Whether the pre-injury “Responsibility Release” clearly and unequivocally exculpated the parachute-school operator from liability for personal injuries caused by the operator’s own negligence, thereby barring the student’s negligence action.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division and answered the certified question in the affirmative.
- The release did not bar Gross’s negligence claim because it did not clearly and unmistakably express an intent to release Sweet from liability for Sweet’s own negligence.
- The release was dismissed as a defense, and the complaint was reinstated.

## Legal Principles

- Contract terms purporting to exempt a party from liability for its own negligence are disfavored and strictly construed against the drafter.
- An exculpatory clause is enforceable to cover negligence only if the intent to do so is stated in clear, unmistakable, and unequivocal language.
- General waivers of “any and all claims” or “personal injuries” may be read as addressing inherent risks of an activity and are insufficient to waive claims based on the defendant’s negligent conduct unless negligence is clearly included.
- In recreational and instructional settings involving a novice participant and a professional instructor, courts may require especially clear language before concluding the participant agreed to release the provider from negligence liability.

## Conclusion

A broadly worded pre-injury release required for participation in a dangerous instructional activity did not, without clear and unmistakable language covering the provider’s own negligence, bar the injured student’s negligence action, so the release could not be used as a defense and the suit was allowed to proceed.


Gross v. Sweet, 400 N.E.2d 306 (N.Y. 1979)