Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: General Release question

Unless you can find a lawyer familiar with litigation practices in both Rhode Island and California it will be hard to get an authoritative answer.

Most release forms drafted by California attorneys incorporate language from a specific statute which makes the release much easier to enforce if the releasor later tries to sue on the same debt. Strictly speaking it isn't mandatory to include this language in a release, so a Rhode Island document might function as a release here as well. But you may want to have the additional language a California release would usually contain.

A better option would be to have the other party sign a contract agreeing that any lawsuits about the dispute must be heard in a Rhode Island court and decided under Rhode Island law. Not only would such an agreement make your existing release form effective, it would also make suing you much more of a challenge for the other party since he won't be able to do it locally. He is under no obligation to accept such a proposal, but it probably won't hurt to ask. I have no idea whether you can find an existing form to accomplish this for you.

Re: General Release question

Mr. Hoffman's suggestions, as always, are sound. California specific language includes a waiver of Civil Code section 1542. That section provides that you cannot release future damages that are unknown arising from the incident. However, if the parties specifically waive that provision, future unknown damages can be waived.