Legal Question in Personal Injury in Pennsylvania

Hi, My name is Andrea and I am a Pennsylvania Licensed, practicing Attorney. Thank you for your question.

The age of "majority" in Pennsylvania for purposes of waiving one's rights is eighteen(18). Since your son could not legally waive his right to sue, the waiver he signed had no effect on his rights to sue the amusement park. However, if you decided to file a lawsuit on behalf of your son for personal injuries he sustained, then the amusement park could raise a defense, or at least, a partial defense, of "contributory negligence" on the part of your son, if your son had done any act which contributed to causing the accident and/or contributed to causing the injuries he sustained and the amount of any personal injury award would be reduced by the percentage representing the amount of your son's contributory negligence.

Please permit me to give you an extreme example of contributory negligence for illustration purposes only. Assume a sixteen or seventeen year old boy and his friends went to an amusement park without adult supervision and rode the rides located in the park. The teenagers also bought a ticket to ride the roller coaster and the Park had all ticket holders, including the teenagers, sign a release of liability. Assume also that once the roller coaster began to pick up speed, one of the teenagers removed his seat belt and stood up. As a result, he lost his balance and fell to the ground, sustaining injuries to his body. The teenager's mother filed a lawsuit on behalf of her teenage son for injuries he sustained on the Theme Park's roller coaster ride. The Park asserted the teenager's negligence in the way he rode the roller coaster as causing his injuries, or at least in contributing to the causation of his injuries. If the Court found that the injuries sustained by the teenager were the result of the teenager's acts in removing his seat belt and riding the roller coaster in a standing position, then the Court could dismiss the lawsuit entirely. If the Court found that this was not the total cause of his injuries, but at least contributed to his sustaining his injuries, then the Court would reduce any award to the teenager by the percentage of the teenager's contributory negligence in causing his injuries.

I hope my Answer gave you a clearer picture of your son's rights.

Kindest Regards,

ANDREA