## Facts

- Kera LLC operated “Bounce Party,” an indoor facility with inflatable recreational equipment in Kentwood, Michigan.
- Trent Woodman, age five, attended a birthday party at the facility arranged by his mother.
- Kera provided party invitations containing a preinjury “release/waiver” for a parent or guardian to sign on the child’s behalf.
- Trent’s father signed the waiver, listing Trent as the participant and purporting to release Kera from liability for injuries arising from participation.
- During the party, Trent jumped from the top of an inflatable slide contrary to posted rules and oral instructions and suffered a broken leg.
- Trent, through his mother, sued Kera for negligence, gross negligence, and violation of the Michigan Consumer Protection Act based on alleged safety-related misrepresentations.

## Issues

1. Whether Michigan common law permits a parent to execute a binding preinjury liability waiver releasing a minor child’s future tort claims for personal injury.
2. If not, whether the Michigan Supreme Court should modify the common law to allow enforcement of such parental preinjury waivers.

## Decision

- The Michigan Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ conclusion that the parental preinjury waiver was unenforceable.
- The Court declined to alter Michigan common law to permit parental preinjury releases of a child’s future personal-injury tort claims.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings; the waiver could not be used to bar the child’s negligence claim, and the remaining claims were left for litigation on the merits.

## Legal Principles

- Under Michigan common law, minors generally lack contractual capacity; contracts entered into by minors are voidable at the minor’s option.
- A parent, solely by virtue of the parental relationship, lacks authority to bind a minor child to a preinjury contract releasing the child’s future personal-injury tort claims.
- A minor’s cause of action is treated as a distinct property right that cannot be compromised without court approval or compliance with statutory procedures governing minors’ claims.
- Statutory schemes requiring judicial oversight for settlements involving minors reflect a policy of protecting minors’ property interests; enforcing parental preinjury waivers would conflict with that policy.
- Creating an enforceable category of parental preinjury recreational waivers is a policy choice for the Legislature, not a judicial modification of common law.

## Conclusion

Michigan common law does not allow a parent to sign an enforceable preinjury liability waiver that extinguishes a minor child’s future tort claim for personal injuries, and any change authorizing such waivers must come from legislative action rather than judicial revision.


Woodman v. Kera LLC, 486 Mich. 228, 785 N.W.2d 1 (Mich. 2010)