## Facts

- For the second consecutive year, Theresa Riddle, a Kansas State University cheerleader, attended a cheerleading camp in Memphis, Tennessee, run by Universal Sport Camp (USC), doing business as Universal Cheerleading Association.
- As a condition of participation, Riddle signed a written release stating that she assumed the risk of injury from participating in camp activities.
- During a cheerleading maneuver, Riddle fell approximately 15 feet and injured her face and back.
- USC staff told Riddle she had likely hyperextended her back and did not recommend that she seek medical treatment.
- Despite pain and back spasms, Riddle continued participating in camp activities.
- Three days later, Riddle saw a physician and was diagnosed with a fractured vertebra; she received injections, medication, and physical therapy.
- Riddle sued USC for negligence, alleging that USC’s conduct caused or worsened her injuries.
- The district court applied Tennessee law, upheld the validity of the release, and granted summary judgment to USC, noting that Tennessee is among jurisdictions that do not strictly construe exculpatory contracts against the party relying on them.
- Riddle appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether Kansas choice-of-law rules required applying Tennessee law to the enforceability of the camp’s exculpatory release executed for participation in a Tennessee cheerleading camp.
2. Whether, under the applicable law, the preinjury release barred Riddle’s negligence claim so that summary judgment for USC was proper.

## Decision

- The Kansas Court of Appeals applied Tennessee law to the release and the claims arising from the Tennessee camp.
- The court held the release was enforceable under Tennessee law and operated to bar Riddle’s negligence claim against USC.
- The court affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment for USC.

## Legal Principles

- In a multistate tort dispute, Kansas applies its conflict-of-laws rules to determine which state’s substantive law governs.
- A written exculpatory agreement for a recreational or athletic activity may be enforced when the governing state’s law permits such contracts and the agreement clearly allocates the risk of injury to the participant.
- When an enforceable release covers the negligence claim asserted, summary judgment is appropriate because there is no triable issue on liability.

## Conclusion

Riddle was injured at a Tennessee cheerleading camp after signing a participation release, and the Kansas Court of Appeals held that Tennessee law governed and permitted enforcement of the release, so her negligence claim was barred and summary judgment for Universal Sport Camp was affirmed.


Riddle v. Universal Sport Camp, 786 P.2d 641 (1990)