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Hojnowski v. Vans Skate Park3/10/2005
ns, Inc.
4. Rights You Do Not Give Up You do not give up the right: (a) To have safe equipment, structures and devices at the Park for Your intended use.
(b) To claim compensation for Your injury from Vans, Inc. if you are hurt because the equipment, structures and devices at the Park are not safe for Your intended use.
(c) To have a neutral arbitrator decide your rights fairly, quickly and completely.
5. Who is Bound By This Document? You are bound by this document. Anyone who has or can obtain Your rights is also bound by this document, such as Your family, relatives, guardians, executors or anyone responsible for You....
6. Other Information Important For You To Know
You have the right to demand money if You believe Vans, Inc. intentionally caused You harm. If parts of this document are determined to be invalid, then that portion will be unenforceable and the remainder of the document will continue in full legal force and effect.... Following the institution of suit, Vans filed for commercial arbitration with the AAA. Plaintiffs then moved to enjoin the arbitration and to invalidate the pre-tort release signed by Andrew's mother. Vans cross-moved for summary judgment. The court granted Vans' motion, dismissing plaintiffs' complaint without prejudice and ordering that the parties submit to arbitration. It made no ruling on the validity of the contract's limitation of liability, finding that the issue was within the jurisdiction of the arbitrator.
We are informed that the parties have selected as arbitrator a person with significant experience in tort law, thereby rendering irrelevant any argument by plaintiffs that the arbitration cannot proceed under the auspices of an organization whose focus is upon commercial matters--an argument that we find in any event to be factually unsupported.
I.
We construe the document executed by Anastasia Hojnowski on behalf of her son Andrew as bipartite, consisting of an agreement to arbitrate and a pre-tort liability waiver. We first address, as a matter entirely separate from the issue of the validity of the liability waiver, whether in the circumstances presented, a parent can enter into an enforceable contract, binding on the parent's minor child, that waives the right to trial by jury of the minor's bodily injury claims and requires submission of"any dispute" to arbitration. We hold that a parent has such power.
Public policy has long favored arbitration. See, e.g., Martindale v. Sandvik, 173 N.J. 76, 84-85 (2002); Garfinkel v. Morristown Obstetrics & Gynecology Associates, 168 N.J. 124, 131 (2001); Barcon Assocs. v. Tri-County Asphalt Corp., 86 N.J. 179, 186 (1981) (discussing long history of arbitration); Jansen v. Salomon Smith Barney, 342 N.J. Super. 254, 257 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 170 N.J. 205 (2001).
The ancient practice of arbitration" n its broad sense, is a substitution, by consent of the parties, of another tribunal for the tribunal provided by the ordinary processes of law. The object of arbitration is the final disposition, in a speedy, inexpensive, expeditions and perhaps less formal manner, of the controversial differences between the parties." [Garfinkel, supra, 168 N.J. at 131 (quoting Carpenter v. Bloomer, 54 N.J. Super. 157, 162 (App. Div. 1959) (quoting Eastern Eng'g Co. v. City of Ocean City, 11 N.J. Misc. 508, 510-00 (Sup. Ct. 1933)).]
We read an agreement relating to arbitration liberally to find arbitrability if that is reasonably possible. Garfinkel, supra, 168 N.J. at 132; Marchak v. Claridge Commons, Inc., 134 N.J. 275, 282 (1993); Jansen, supra, 342 N.J. Super. at 257-58.
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