## Facts

- House of Boom Kentucky, LLC operated a for-profit trampoline and acrobatic stunt park in Louisville, Kentucky.
- To purchase tickets online, a customer had to check a box indicating agreement to a written liability waiver.
- The waiver purported to release House of Boom and related parties from claims, including negligence claims, for injuries to the purchaser and the purchaser’s minor children/wards arising from activities at the facility.
- Kathy Miller checked the box and brought her 11-year-old daughter, E.M., to the facility.
- E.M. broke her ankle while using the attractions.
- Miller, as next friend of E.M., sued House of Boom for negligence in federal district court.
- House of Boom moved to dismiss, asserting the parental pre-injury waiver barred E.M.’s claim.
- The federal court certified to the Kentucky Supreme Court whether such a parental pre-injury waiver is enforceable under Kentucky law.

## Issues

1. Whether, under Kentucky law, a parent may execute a pre-injury liability waiver that releases a minor child’s future tort claims against a for-profit commercial recreational enterprise.

## Decision

- The Kentucky Supreme Court answered the certified question by holding the parental pre-injury liability waiver was unenforceable to bar the minor’s negligence claim.
- The court concluded a parent lacks authority, absent statutory authorization or special circumstances, to contract away a child’s future personal-injury claim in favor of a for-profit business.

## Legal Principles

- A minor’s cause of action belongs to the minor; parents generally lack authority to compromise, settle, or extinguish the child’s tort claim without legal authorization or court-supervised procedures.
- A pre-injury release that purports to waive a minor’s future negligence claims functions like an impermissible settlement or disposition of the child’s claim.
- Parental decision-making rights regarding a child’s care and upbringing do not include a general power to waive the child’s independent tort rights for the benefit of a private commercial entity.
- Public policy protecting minors’ rights and access to remedies outweighs generalized arguments that enforcement would reduce costs or expand recreational opportunities; any exception for particular activities is for the legislature to create.
- On the facts presented, Kentucky law provides no basis to enforce an electronic, parent-executed, pre-injury waiver releasing a minor’s negligence claims against a for-profit trampoline park.

## Conclusion

Kentucky law does not permit a parent, without statutory authority or special circumstances, to bind a minor child to a pre-injury liability waiver that releases the child’s future negligence claims against a for-profit recreational business, so such waivers are unenforceable to bar the child’s claim.


Miller as Next Friend of E.M. v. House of Boom Ky., LLC, 575 S.W.3d 656 (Ky. 2019)