It’s abundantly clear (to me, at least) that large gatherings such as concerts and sporting events will NOT be suspended until a vaccine is found. Given that, for all the fun that was made of Trump’s liability waivers for his Oklahoma stunt, it’s the only way I can think of to move forward with such events. Hell, there might be requests to sign for employees/performers… and not just from the people in charge, if it gets the money flowing to said employees and performers again. The main disadvantage, of course, is that if someone tried to sue anyway, the waiver may or may not actually hold up in court.
In my never humble opinion, from now until Election Day, every single Trump rally will require a waiver. Most likely, the volunteer staffers will be required to sign waivers, too.
His Secret Service people are reportedly pissed, because they are testing positive now. One reportedly said, “I signed up to take a bullet for the President, not COVID!”
We’ll see how things shake out but for the vast majority of people, the pain of covid-19 is being unable to work until you’re cleared. That stems directly from individual companies’ and government edicts. I am unsure how well lawsuits would go against an entertainment venue when all the damages stem from a separate entities policies rather than actual injuries suffered at the venue.
Your post sounds as insensitive as hell. The President’s deliberate and totally unnecessary actions are harming his own Secret Service agents, and you want to mock the agents?
No that qualifies as both a trick question and a stupid question, since the former wouldn’t be the fault of the President, but the latter in the situation as described above would be.
You must at least try to follow the conversation. The agent was complaining he signed up for bullets not a disease he will almost assuredly be safe from. That was his “reported” complaint. And the President’s venue choices will always include more or less chances of bullets.
Well, I would certainly agree that they should have been issued N95 masks for that duty. But presidents go into bad security situations all the time. A chance of covid infection doesn’t seem high on the list.
Really? Then why were people required to sign waivers at the Trump rally in Tulsa? If lawsuits wouldn’t be successful, Trump’s people wouldn’t have required waivers.
I’m not a lawyer–and neither are you–but when the CDC, the city’s mayor, and public health officials warned against holding a rally while Trump assured the public Oklahoma had “done a great job” with the coronavirus, I doubt a successful defense against lawsuits would have been a slam dunk.
Has COVID-19 been around before? Have local authorities had to try to stop concerts during widespread, highly contagious pandemics as deadly as COVID has turned out to be?
The general legal standards of liability still apply, and they apply whether you think they should or not and regardless of whether you think COVID is innocuous. If there’s a clear and present danger according to local authorities, the sponsors insist on holding the event anyway, and the featured performer has downplayed the danger, you bet courts would find the sponsor and probably the venue and performer liable.
To repeat: the Trump campaign would not have required signed waivers if they weren’t worried about successful lawsuits.
Wrong question. Would you rather risk a tiny chance of being shot to protect the president when he is doing what he needs to do, or would you rather risk a huge chance of catching covid because the president doesn’t give a shit about your safety?
Waivers can discourage people from filing suits.
Defending suits is expensive even if you win
Discouraging valid suits from being filed in the first place can be cost effective.
I am not a lawyer, and don’t know if a suit would succeed with or without the waiver. But even if it wouldn’t succeed, and even if the waiver has no legal bearing, the waiver could save a lot of money.
Yes. In Canada, some insurance companies are being sued for not paying out when clauses would seemingly imply they should. It is abundantly clear that there will be much stricter language on any event, voyage, rental, educational opportunity and in the workplace. However, regardless of the language further cases will still invoke duties of care and similar principles.
