Don’t you just hate it when you or your kids are about to climb on that horse, jump into that go-kart, scale that rock wall, and the attendant says, “But first, you have to fill out this form…”  You know the form.  The one that says you hereby absolve Joe’s Horse Farm from all liability, including but not limited to intentional murder.  If you are like me, it always makes my skin crawl that the operators of the amusement is happy to take the money but wants nothing to do with their responsibility for making the activity reasonably safe. 

Debell v Wellbridge Club Mgt. Inc., as reported by New York Legal Update.

So why do businesses do it?  To make people believe that they have assumed all risks, regardless of reasonableness, foreseeability and validity.  If people believe that they can’t do anything about it, there’s a good percentage of people who will accept the idea and walk away from an injury caused by the operator’s failure to exercise reasonable care.  Not everybody is going to call for this, but hey, they’ll take whatever they can get.  While it would seem to me that the very use of these releases should be unlawful, since they only serve to persuade the intellectually vulnerable to forgo their rights under the law, there is no such prohibition and the use of preemptive releases remains pervasive.  But if you might have been inclined to believe this tripe before, at least you won’t now.  I’ve done my good deed for the day.