Are Online Waivers Legal in Massachusetts?

Massachusetts is one of the more release-friendly states. Its Supreme Judicial Court has enforced releases of ordinary negligence for voluntary activities for decades, without requiring the word "negligence," and it has enforced a parent's release of a child's claims for a youth sports program. This guide is for Massachusetts gymnastics and dance studios, youth sports, skydiving and adventure outfitters, stables, gyms, race events and rentals. It covers electronic signatures, how Massachusetts courts treat releases, the rule for parents signing for children, and what else a signed agreement does.

This guide is general information about Massachusetts law, with links to the statutes and cases, so you and your attorney can look into anything that applies to your business.

Waiver Law in Massachusetts at a Glance

Are Electronic Signatures Legal in Massachusetts?

Yes. Massachusetts adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act as Chapter 110G of the General Laws. Section 7 provides that a record or signature may not be denied legal effect solely because it is electronic, and that an electronic signature satisfies a law requiring a signature. The federal ESIGN Act (15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq.) applies the same rule to interstate commerce. A release signed on a phone or tablet counts as signed.

Are Liability Waivers Enforceable in Massachusetts?

Generally, yes. In Sharon v. City of Newton, 437 Mass. 99, 769 N.E.2d 738 (2002), the Supreme Judicial Court summarized decades of cases: in the absence of fraud, a person may make a valid contract exempting himself from liability for his own future negligence, and these agreements "represent a practice our courts have long found acceptable."

Two earlier SJC cases show how this applies to recreation:

• Lee v. Allied Sports Associates, Inc., 349 Mass. 544 (1965): a release signed before entering the pit area at an auto race was valid.
• Cormier v. Central Massachusetts Chapter of the National Safety Council, 416 Mass. 286 (1993): a beginner's release for a motorcycle safety class barred her negligence claim. The court said "placing the risk of negligently caused injury on a person as a condition of that person's voluntary choice to engage in a potentially dangerous activity ordinarily contravenes no public policy." The release language was enough "without specifically mentioning" negligence, and the rider was bound because she had the chance to read it, even though she believed it didn't cover negligence.

Courts still read releases carefully. Cormier says doubts about how to interpret a release are resolved in the injured person's favor. In Sharon, the SJC also noted it had not ruled on releases required for compelled activities or essential services such as public education, medical care, housing or utilities.

Gross Negligence and Statutory Duties

In Zavras v. Capeway Rovers Motorcycle Club, Inc., 44 Mass. App. Ct. 17 (1997), the Appeals Court held that a release signed by a dirt bike racer did not exempt the club from liability for gross negligence. The court also noted that Massachusetts courts are cautious about releases that would shield a business from a statutory duty, and where there is an obvious disadvantage in bargaining power. The SJC in Sharon cited Zavras and limited its own holding to ordinary negligence.

Waivers for Minors in Massachusetts

Massachusetts is one of the minority of states where the highest court has enforced a parent's pre-injury release. In Sharon, a father signed a "Parental Consent, Release from Liability and Indemnity Agreement" so his 16-year-old daughter could cheer for her public high school. She broke her arm in practice and sued after turning 18. The SJC held that her father "had the authority to bind his minor child to an exculpatory release that was a proper condition of her voluntary participation in extracurricular sports activities." The court tied this to parents' fundamental liberty interest in raising their children and to the state's policy of encouraging youth athletics, and said the result was not inconsistent with the policy that lets minors void their own contracts.

The limits are worth knowing:

• Sharon involved a public school's voluntary program. The SJC has not separately decided whether the rule extends the same way to for-profit businesses. A Superior Court judge in Quirk v. Walker's Gymnastics & Dance (2003), a private gym case, read Sharon as making parent-signed releases enforceable and then decided the case on the release's wording.
• The holding was limited to ordinary negligence.
• Interpretation still matters. In Quirk, summary judgment was denied because it was unclear whether the gym counted as a "sponsor" covered by the release.

More Than a Release

Massachusetts abolished assumption of risk as a defense in negligence actions when it adopted comparative negligence (G.L. c. 231, 85), but the SJC has kept enforcing signed releases, which are contracts, in cases like Cormier (1993) and Sharon (2002). The signed agreement does other work too:

• Equine warning. The equine statute requires the warning in every written contract for instruction, services or rental of a horse or tack, so a riding agreement that includes it covers that requirement for each rider. The posted signs are required too.
• A record of what the guest was told. A signed list of risks and rules is evidence of what each guest was told and agreed to. How much it matters depends on the facts.
• Parent consent. The Sharon form was a parental consent as well as a release, and it covered the parent's own claims along with the child's.
• Medical information and consent. Health conditions, emergency contacts, consent to treatment and photo consent, collected before the activity.

Massachusetts Activity Laws

Equine activities (G.L. c. 128, 2D). Equine activity sponsors and professionals are not liable for injuries resulting from the inherent risks of equine activities, with exceptions such as faulty tack, failing to assess a rider's ability, known latent dangers, willful or wanton conduct and intentional injury. Equine professionals must post signs with the statutory warning in letters at least one inch high, and every written contract for instruction, services or rental of a horse or tack must contain the warning in clearly readable print: "Under Massachusetts law, an equine professional is not liable for an injury to, or the death of, a participant in equine activities resulting from the inherent risks of equine activities, pursuant to section 2D of chapter 128 of the General Laws."

Points to Raise With Your Attorney

WaiverFile doesn't draft waivers, and the wording of your agreement is a job for you and your attorney. Based on the cases above, these are points worth raising when preparing a Massachusetts agreement:

• Language that clearly covers the claim. Cormier didn't require the word negligence, but it resolves doubts against the business.
• Who is released. The court in Quirk faulted the form for using a term ("sponsor") it never defined.
• A chance to read. In Cormier, the signer was bound because she had the opportunity to read the release.
• Voluntary activity. The cases enforcing releases involved optional activities, not essential services.
• Parent and child. The Sharon release covered the parent's own claims and the child's.

How WaiverFile Helps Massachusetts Businesses

Once your agreement is written, WaiverFile makes it easy for every guest to sign it and keeps a complete, easy-to-find record of each one:

• Time to read before signing. Send the waiver by email, text or QR code, or put it on your website, so guests can read it at home instead of in line. Tablet signing is there for walk-ins, and the Venue app works offline. Waivers are built into online booking, so you see each guest's status at check-in.
• Your agreement, laid out your way. Add the agreement text you and your attorney prepared, and use the editor's formatting options (bold, capitals, font size) to lay it out the way it was written. The wording and format are up to you.
• A checkbox or initials where you want them. Add initial boxes inside the agreement text and required checkboxes for the rules, risks and clauses you choose, so each one has its own acknowledgment.
• A record of what was signed. Each signed form stores the signature, the answers, and the date and time, plus the IP address and device for online signing. Add a photo of each signer or their ID if you like.
• Experience and medical questions. Required questions capture experience, health conditions and emergency contacts before guests arrive. HIPAA features add extra protection for health information.
• Parents and kids together. A parent signs for themselves and adds each child by name and date of birth on one form, and minors are flagged at check-in.
• Records you can produce. Search any waiver in seconds, or download them in bulk as a ZIP file for any date range. Forms can be offered in multiple languages.

Start with one of our free waiver templates, adapt it for Massachusetts with your attorney, and set up a free account to start collecting signatures.

Sources and Further Reading

• G.L. c. 110G, 7 (Massachusetts Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, legal recognition)
• 15 U.S.C. 7001 (federal ESIGN Act)
• Sharon v. City of Newton, 437 Mass. 99, 769 N.E.2d 738 (2002)
• Cormier v. Central Massachusetts Chapter of the National Safety Council, 416 Mass. 286, 620 N.E.2d 784 (1993)
• Zavras v. Capeway Rovers Motorcycle Club, Inc., 44 Mass. App. Ct. 17, 687 N.E.2d 1263 (1997)
• Quirk v. Walker's Gymnastics & Dance, 16 Mass. L. Rptr. 503 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2003)
• G.L. c. 231, 85 (comparative negligence; assumption of risk abolished)
• G.L. c. 128, 2D (equine activities, required warning)

Published November 4, 2026