Jill, a skilled and successful motocross motorcycle racer, started riding and ra

Question

Jill, a skilled and successful motocross motorcycle racer, started riding and racing motorcycles on a motocross track at age 14. Routinely, motocross tracks require riders to sign exculpatory releases before allowing people to ride or race on the track. If the participant is a minor, tracks require the participant's parents to sign the waiver document.

When Jill was 17, but about to turn 18, she entered the Texas Championship Race at Cologne Raceway MX Park, in Goliad County, Texas. During the race, a barrier made and used by the track operators became detached from its mounting and fell into the middle of the course, just as the lead group of racers rounded a corner, causing a huge wreck in which Jill was badly injured.

A year later, Jill's insurance company, which had paid for the treatment of her injuries and thereby became entitled to assert her claims against those who may have caused those injuries, sued Cologne Raceway MX Park for negligence.

The track could not locate a waiver signed by Jill or her parents on the day of the race, but argued that she must have signed one in order to enter, and even if she had not, she was aware of the bargain made to "ride at your own risk" and her actions indicated she intended to be bound by those normally applicable terms.

Discuss:

1-Did Jill have contractual capacity to enter into a contract containing an exculpatory clause? Explain.

2-Assuming she did agree to the exculpatory clause, did she later disaffirm or ratify it? How so?

3-Now assume that Jill was 18 at the time of the race and that she had signed the waiver containing the exculpatory clause. How would this have affected her ability to disaffirm or ratify the agreement?

Explanation / Answer

1-Did Jill have contractual capacity to enter into a contract containing an exculpatory clause? Explain.

Yes, because A minor can enter into any contract an adult can, provided that that contract is not one prohibited by law for minors (such as the sale of alcoholic beverages). A contract entered into by a minor is voidable at the option of that minor. To avoid a contract, a minor need only manifest an intention not to be bound by it. The minor avoids the contract by disaffirming it. In Beaver’s case, even if she did enter into a contract with an exculpatory clause, she could avoid the contract later by disaffirming it.

2-Assuming she did agree to the exculpatory clause, did she later disaffirm or ratify it? How so?

She disaffirmed it by filing a suit against the race organizers. A minor may disaffirm a contract at any time by expressing an intent in words or conduct not to be bound. Filing a suit would certainly indicate an intent not to be bound. If Beaver had reached the age of eighteen a reasonable time before attempting to disaffirm, however, she could be held to have impliedly ratified the contract.

3-Now assume that Jill was 18 at the time of the race and that she had signed the waiver containing the exculpatory clause. How would this have affected her ability to disaffirm or ratify the agreement?

Jill’s misrepresentation of age would not usually affect her right to disaffirm the contract. In some jurisdictions, the minor would not even be liable for the tort of fraudulent misrepresentation, because such a judgment might force the minor to perform the contract. In other jurisdictions, a minor who has misrepresented his or her age can be bound by a contract under certain circumstances, such as when the contract has been executed, and the minor cannot return the consideration received.

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