We’re thinking about enrolling our kids in a daycare and they’ve given us a waiver and consent form to sign. Most of it looks pretty normal–waiver for them to take the kids to the doctor in the event of an emergency, photo consent form, etc. But there’s one clause that seems pretty broad. Loosely translated,
>I release \[the daycare and all of its employees\] from any lawsuits which I may make for any reason due to sickness, injury, or accident suffered by the student while enrolled at \[the daycare\].
Is this a normal clause? Or does it make the daycare, like, not liable even if they’re criminally negligent? Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but it struck me as a little too broad.
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No, they can’t make you waiver liability for care, because they are a business supposed to provide care. Contract makes no sense. lol
Even if you sign it, they will still be liable. They are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the blissful in the event that if something happens, YOU won’t THINK about going back to them for punitive damages because the contract is meant to trick you into thinking you have no legal recourse.
Good gracious, it’s amateur contract hour.
Criminally negligent would be a criminal offense, which they are not excused from simply via a contract.
However, unless it is something like giving your kid the wrong medicine causing a severe allergic reaction, or spilling bleach into the water and serving it out to kids, a lot of things won’t fall in the category of criminally negligent and there might not be a clear definition of what constitutes criminally negligent so in the end, only the court would decide if it really came down to it. Stuff like kid catches a cold from another kid, or kid gets a scrape while playing ball will most likely not be seen as criminally negligent and in those cases, they won’t offer compensation.
Also for the record, if the daycare is found to be criminally negligent, the courts could impose a punitive compensation, or restitution, which is different from a lawsuit. A lawsuit means you try to recoup monetary losses as a result of a civil matter. While both are a form of compensation, the former administratively is a criminal matter and not waived by a civil contract.