Forseeable risk liability waiver supported by Ontario Court

The legal test for negligence — which would absolve an outdoor equipment provider of liability in a personal injury case — is “not perfection but rather to design a product so as to eliminate any unreasonable risk of foreseeable injury,” the Ontario Superior Court ruled in Enslev v. Challenges Unlimited Inc. And although an outdoor swing designer might have foreseen operator error during the use of the product, the consequences of the operator error nevertheless could not have been predicted, the court found. The decision upheld a waiver of liability contained in a signed contract between a Cleveland House (a Muskoka resort) and Challenges Unlimited, an outdoor equipment supplier.