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Holzer v. Dakota Speedway5/17/2000
As Sanner's affidavit points out, the important ramifications of signing the waiver were not discussed or even mentioned to those participants waiting in line to enter. Instead, they were all handed the roster-like form, told to print and sign their name, and then required to pay a fee. In this situation, the last thing on the mind of these entrants was understanding their legal rights. Rather, they were focused on getting into the pit area to prepare for the race. Surely, when faced with the choice of blindly signing the roster-form and proceeding on into the pit area, or not signing and jeopardizing the qualification of his team to race, a participant would opt for the former.
[ ] Moreover, the format of the waiver form clearly served to de-emphasize its important legal effect. Indeed, it could be more likened to a petition or a roster (forms that do not require an individual to pause and appreciate the consequences of signing such a document) than a legally binding release of liability. With its small print, single-spaced paragraphs, and blank lines for numerous signatures at the bottom, a reader could easily confuse the form with a document of insignificant legal ramifications, especially when it was presented without explanation. It would have been a more meaningful and appropriate process had each person been given an individual release and waiver.
[ ] That none of the participants appreciated the significance of what they were signing is evident from the waiver form itself. Where it directed participants to list their "duties," everyone, including Holzer, merely listed numbers, which presumably referred to the number of the car on whose team they worked. Such a vague response supports the contention that either the form was confusing or the signers were hurried into signing it, or both.
[ ] Any spectator at this type of event has certainly seen the parade of vehicles pulling race cars on trailers waiting to enter the pit area prior to the race. The format of the waiver form, together with the circumstances under which participants such as Holzer were required to sign, create a question about how knowing or voluntary such a release of liability could have been. Like the line of spectators waiting to get into the race in Eder v. Lake Geneva Raceway, Inc., 523 NW2d 429 (WisCtApp 1994), there was no meaningful opportunity for Holzer to read the agreement before signing. "We cannot believe [Speedway] intended that entrants would hold up the progression of cars into the racetrack in order to read the release." Id. at 432. In this situation, Holzer's signature would not have been entirely voluntary; at least a fact question for a jury is present.
[ ] Further compounding the hurried, pressure-filled situation facing Holzer was the fact that he might not have had the ability to read or comprehend the waiver form. The record contains an affidavit from Paul Holzer to this effect, stating that "Vernon was a very poor student. ... His reading comprehension was very low." The form, which contains an abundance of legal terms, was seemingly a boilerplate document drafted by lawyers. See, e.g., Eder, 523 NW2d at 433 n6; Haines v. Saint Charles Speedway, Inc., 874 F2d 572, 574 (8thCir 1989) (providing examples of similar waiver forms). To a person with limited reading function, the form could have just as well been one of Plato's dialogues, with legalese such as "indemnity," "in consideration of," "covenants not to sue," and "hold harmless" in bold capital letters. Holzer's poor reading ability, combined with the large crowd of participants waiting to gain access to the pit area behind him, surely could have created a situation where he signed the waiver form just to keep the flow o
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