Driving an exotic car on a track designed for speed can be an exhilarating experience. However, these high-performance vehicles can be incredibly difficult to handle, even for experienced drivers.
Before taking the track, you were likely made to sign a liability waiver that could prevent you from suing in the event of an accident. Considering the high possibility of an accident occurring in this dangerous environment, a waiver that excuses the operator from your own negligence and potential crashes might hold up in court. However, our attorneys know numerous ways around a waiver to find it unenforceable. You might have been injured by a condition that had nothing to do with the cars or track and did not assume such a risk when signing away your legal rights. Other times, you can sue because the operator’s gross negligence went beyond the scope of what the waiver protected.
For your free case review with our Texas car accident attorneys, contact The Queenan Law Firm, P.C. at (817) 476-1797.
Is a Waiver Enforceable If I Signed One Before Getting Injured at an Exotic Car Driving Track?
Exotic car driving experiences offer people the chance to drive high-performance vehicles in racetrack conditions. The dangers involved in this activity are fairly obvious, as some of these cars can reach speeds of up to 200 m.p.h. As such, it is likely that you signed a liability waiver before being allowed to participate or even enter the track space. If your waiver was clear and unambiguous about what dangers you would be exposed to on the track or while driving, it could present challenges to filing a lawsuit if you are injured.
Liability waivers are valid forms of contract in every state, and courts will usually uphold them unless they violate some public policy or attempt to waive conduct that cannot be excused. For instance, a waiver for a race track experience in Texas would likely be unenforceable if the business was grossly negligent or intentionally caused the accident. However, that will be a question for the court to determine.
A waiver might provide more protection from a lawsuit where the activity was known to be dangerous. In a lawsuit for an accident at a track, the business would claim that you assumed the risk. You were there to drive fast cars, and driving them fast is dangerous. Thus, you knew or should have known the risks involved.
Still, those risks must be listed in your waiver so you have a clear understanding of what dangers you will be facing. If the accident was caused by something outside of the scope of the waiver, you did not necessarily assume that risk.
Ultimately, whether or not a waiver will prevent you from suing is highly dependent on the facts of your case. Our Dallas personal injury attorneys can review the language in your driving experience waiver and determine how to challenge it in court. Regardless of what state you were injured in, waivers must typically meet several requirements to legally bar a victim’s right to sue.
Reasons for Suing an Exotic Car Experience Track for Injuries After an Accident
Exotic car driving tracks can be dangerous environments for nearly anyone there, including drivers, passengers, and spectators. How the accident occurred and what you were doing when it happened will tell our team a great deal about who should be held liable for it. It will also tell us whether the situation was within the scope of your waiver.
For example, if you crashed while driving because you were going faster than you were directed to on a certain part of the track, your waiver would likely hold up unless there was an underlying cause for your accident. The following are common reasons for filing a lawsuit for an exotic car track accident:
Improperly Trained Employees and Lack of Credentials
At a business like an exotic car track, you expect the employees to be properly trained for their jobs. If your accident was caused by the operator having employees who could not instruct patrons on safety or were not qualified to make repairs to the vehicle, a signed waiver would likely be unenforceable.
A waiver would also usually not protect an operator if they allowed someone onto the track who did not have the credentials or license to be on it and subsequently injured you.
Vehicle Malfunctions
It is always possible that the car crashed because of a design flaw with the vehicle. Exotic cars are not engineered like normal vehicles. They often have unique systems and designs. If one of these systems malfunctioned, it could have caused the car to suddenly accelerate or oversteer the car into the wall. Electronic systems could fail mid-ride, causing you to lose stability control while going at high speeds.
Our attorneys can help determine who was responsible for the flawed system that caused the accident. In some cases, this means suing the manufacturer or designer of the exotic car, especially if it is not something the race track operator could not find upon inspection.
However, the flaw might have been something that the track operator could have repaired or discovered had they inspected the vehicle before its use. For example, brake pads not designed for the vehicle you were driving could have been installed by the operator’s crew before your accident. In such cases, negligently failing to inspect or maintain a vehicle would probably not be excused even if you signed a waiver.
Track and Bystander Area Conditions
Other accidents are caused by the operator’s failure to maintain the track. A certain amount of gas and even some debris might be expected on a race track. What conditions are reasonable for the track will depend on what kind of racing experience you are partaking in.
Some tracks are only meant for a single driver and are advertised as pristine. There, drivers would not expect to hit a patch of fuel that should have been cleaned after the last driver finished their laps. If the track allows for multiple drivers to race at one time, the operator should still keep the track reasonably free from debris and other dangerous conditions under the circumstances.
Track operators should also keep bystander areas reasonably free of dangers like oil or gas that might splash over from the track. Most exotic car tracks will have areas designated for drivers, other participants, and spectators. While a liability waiver will typically address the dangers of a slip and fall accident in this environment, that does not mean you will be barred from suing if the condition was the result of gross negligence.
Our Car Accident Attorneys Can Help if You Were Injured at an Exotic Car Experience
Call The Queenan Law Firm, P.C. at (817) 476-1797 to speak with our Amarillo, TX car accident lawyers and get a free evaluation of your case.