Question Details: Recently a group of people wanted to hold a "Fight Night" and had all participants sign waivers acknowledging the risk with the activity and a statement saying that the participant would not sue the owners of the property or host of the activity. I then heard that waivers that are written by a "regular joe" are not binding and do not hold up in court in case of some incident. What is the truth to the matter?
I am a lawyer in CT and practice in this area of the law. A contract is not unenforceable simply becasue it is written by a non-lawyer. People can contract for just about anything that they want as long as it does not violate public policy. Holding a fight night that is not licensed or anything is probably not a legal activity. Thus, having waivers for illegal activities to take place may not hold up in court. however, assuming that the fight night is a legal event taking place on private property and the fighters sign a document acknowleging the risks and so forth, then i would say that it is a valid contract and should be enforceable. However, i would have to see the waiver to make this determination as some waiver do not have proper language in them and are not enforceable.

Are you a lawyer?
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