Nobody Walks into traffic in LA... we hope!

June 24, 2007 10:29 AM

Can anyone please provide some standard legal language for a walking tour release form to be used in California?

My husband and I give bus tours in LA, and when we do we're covered by the bus company's insurance. Now we're about to launch a couple of walking tours, to offer something less expensive and time consuming for our audience, and I'm concerned about liability. We won't be going anywhere intrinsically dangerous, but we'll be crossing busy streets downtown and it's always possible someone could get hurt out there.

I'm thinking that I'd like to bring a form to the tours that participants would have to sign before paying and receiving a wristband that would mark them as official attendees. If anyone could point me to such a form--either providing appropriate language in an answer below, or directing me to a Nolo Press book or similar, that would be great.

Also, in the interest of saving trees, is it necessary for every attendee to sign a unique form, or is it enough for one form to have multiple signature lines? How long should signed forms be retained? Anything else we need to know?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

posted by Scram to Law & Government (8 answers total)

Is your business incorporated? If not, you could lose your personal assets in any lawsuit. Get liability insurance. For a walking tour, it shouldn't be terribly expensive.
posted by happyturtle at 11:48 AM on June 24, 2007

A piece of paper isn't going to matter very much if someone decides to sue you for personal injury or death. Even if it were properly drafted so that you could ultimately prevail, which you probably aren't going to get from the free advice of MeFites, it would still cost you big money to defend the case.

Getting liability insurance is a much better idea. If your insurers expect you to get participants to sign a waiver, they will tell you.
posted by grouse at 11:57 AM on June 24, 2007

If you google for "walking tour release form california" you will find a couple of examples. But really you should hire your own lawyer to craft a release specifically for your needs, otherwise what is the point of the form?
posted by falconred at 12:50 PM on June 24, 2007

If you are going to rely on something to indemnify you, you need to have a lawyer design it for you - you don't want some random advice from the internet. If, perchance, you do get sued and your agreement gets thrown out, you want to have recourse to the attorney who drew it up. Clearly you don't have that on this Web site. This is a case where spending a few hundred, or even a few thousand, is well worth it.

IAAL, IANYL. This is not legal advice.
posted by BuddhaBelly at 12:54 PM on June 24, 2007

I've been on many walking tours (and I used to be a guide) and I've *never* signed a release. I can totally see why it would make sense for bus tours (because you're in a vehicle but not covered by the auto insurance, so some delineation of who is liable makes some sense), but are you really sure it's even necessary for a walking tour?
posted by occhiblu at 1:02 PM on June 24, 2007

You need to get your own insurance. If ou get sued they will provide the lawyer to defend you. If you are not incorporated already you need to do that. The lawyer who does this for you can write a release for you.
posted by caddis at 2:24 PM on June 24, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks, all. I do have an LLC, and have sought advice from a lawyer on how best to handle this.
posted by Scram at 7:44 AM on June 26, 2007

NB that California courts often ignore releases even when all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed; the lawyers there hate the idea that anyone might contract out of the opportunity to sue later. So don't put too much weight on the value of having the release, though it certainly can't hurt. IANYL, this is not legal advice, etc.
posted by commander_cool at 11:29 AM on June 27, 2007