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Holzer v. Dakota Speedway5/17/2000
4 NE2d 786, 794 (IllApp 1980) (ruling the form and language of an agreement stating "WAIVER AND RELEASE FROM LIABILITY AND INDEMNITY AGREEMENT," "is so conspicuous that reasonable men could not reach different conclusions on the import and significance of the instrument where a person knowingly and willingly signed the document."). "To permit a party, when sued on a written contract, to admit that he signed it but to deny that it expresses the agreement he made or to allow him to admit that he signed it but did not read it or know its stipulations would absolutely destroy the value of all contracts." LPN Trust, 1996 SD 97, , 552 NW2d at 799 (citing 17A AmJur2d Contracts ยงยง 224-228 (1991)); Huber, 501 NW2d at 55. In Johnson we cited with approval Dombrowski v. City of Omer, 199 MichApp 705, 502 NW2d 707 (1993), which also involved the issue of a signed waiver of liability for participation in a sporting event. Dombrowski held that "one who signs a contract cannot seek to invalidate it on the basis that he or she did not read it ... absent a showing of fraud or mutual mistake." 502 NW2d at 710.
[ ] Having fully considered the circumstances surrounding the execution of the release, we conclude Holzer's argument must fail that genuine issues of material fact exist as to his ability to comprehend the terms of the agreement. In Haines, the court upheld the validity of a release signed by a race car driver after he was injured. The court considered Haines' claim that he possessed only a second or third grade reading ability, and concluded " f Norman Haines is functionally illiterate, it was his duty to procure someone to read or explain the release to him before signing it." Haines, 874 F2d at 575.
[ ] Similarly, in this case, although Holzer was legally competent, and possessed a high school diploma, if Holzer's father typically had to explain writings to him to "insure that he understood what he read," then Holzer should have either requested someone to explain the release to him before signing it, or simply refused to sign. There are three unambiguous releases in the record, two from before the accident and the one in question, all with Holzer's signature.
[ ] There can be no valid legal or factual argument disputing whether he voluntarily and knowingly chose to sign the agreement. While we are sensitive to the circumstances now facing Holzer, he "doubtlessly knew that the sport placed risks on both participants and spectators." Id. He had worked as a volunteer pit crew member on at least two other occasions prior to his accident. Ellingson stated in his affidavit that although Holzer was "relatively a new man in the racing circuit," Holzer had been "looking at buying somebody's [race] car" and "was deeply getting interested in racing."
[ ] Automobile racing is not an individual sport. It involves numerous drivers, support staff, pit crews and is financially supported by the attendance of a substantial number of paying spectators. It is not reasonable, nor realistic to require that management individually test each participant and spectator as to their knowledge of a race car's characteristics during a race and their knowledge of the legal effect of a waiver of liability. "Just as the drivers were not deterred from participating by the danger of being injured in a crash, the pit crew members who chose to station themselves near the track to give signals accepted the obvious risk of being struck by a car." Provence, 414 NE2d at 794.
[ ] Speedway has established there are no genuine issues of material fact concerning the release and we hold that Speedway was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The unambiguous release Holzer signed effectively released Speed
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