Are Online Waivers Legal in Oklahoma?

If you run a skydiving center, racetrack, riding stable, trampoline park or gym in Oklahoma, you have probably asked whether your waiver would hold up. This guide covers electronic signatures, how Oklahoma courts treat liability waivers, what changes for children, the other work a signed agreement does, and the activity laws worth knowing.

This guide is general information about Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma at a Glance

Are Electronic Signatures Legal in Oklahoma?

Yes. Oklahoma adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act in 2000, codified at Title 12A, Sections 15-101 and following. Section 15-107 says a record or signature may not be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form, and that if a law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies it. The federal ESIGN Act (15 U.S.C. 7001) does the same for interstate commerce.

Are Liability Waivers Enforceable in Oklahoma?

Often, yes. The leading case is Schmidt v. United States, 1996 OK 29, 912 P.2d 871, in which the Oklahoma Supreme Court answered questions from a federal court about a release signed at a riding stable at Fort Sill. The court said exculpatory clauses are generally enforceable but "distasteful to the law," and it set three requirements:

1. Clear intent. The language must clearly and unambiguously show an intent to relieve that party from liability for the kind of harm involved, including harm that happens in the future.
2. No vast difference in bargaining power. Courts look at how important the service is to the signer's physical or economic wellbeing, and how much free choice the signer had to go elsewhere.
3. Not against public policy. Enforcement must not harm public health, morals or confidence in the courts, or undermine people's security in their personal safety.

Oklahoma's intermediate appellate court has applied this test to recreation several times. In Manning v. Brannon, 1998 OK CIV APP 17, 956 P.2d 156, a skydiving release was enforced after the student watched a video explaining it and signed or initialed it in fourteen places. In Combs v. West Siloam Speedway Corp., 2017 OK CIV APP 64, 406 P.3d 1064, a release signed to enter a racetrack infield barred negligence claims; it referred to the releasees' negligence three times, and the court noted the plaintiff could have watched from the stands instead. A release can still fail if it is vague: in Burd v. KL Shangri-La Owners, 2003 OK CIV APP 31, 67 P.3d 927, a general season waiver releasing "any facility" did not protect a resort the player had not known she would visit, because the waiver did not identify the party or the risks.

Gross Negligence and Intentional Harm

Schmidt says a release will never relieve a party of liability for intentional, willful or fraudulent acts or for gross, wanton negligence, and 15 O.S. 212 makes contracts exempting anyone from responsibility for fraud, willful injury or violation of law against public policy. In Combs, the release barred the ordinary negligence claims but not claims of gross negligence or recklessness.

Waivers for Minors in Oklahoma

In Wethington v. Swainson, 155 F. Supp. 3d 1173 (W.D. Okla. 2015), a 16-year-old was hurt on a skydiving jump after she and both parents signed the release. The mother's own claims, for her losses from her child's injury, were barred by the release she signed. The court found the release otherwise clear and valid, but it noted that a minor's contract can be disaffirmed under 15 O.S. 19 and that Oklahoma requires court approval to settle a child's claim, and it predicted the Oklahoma Supreme Court would hold that a parent cannot release a child's future negligence claim. The daughter's claim went forward.

A federal prediction does not bind Oklahoma state courts, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court has not decided the question. For now, the clearest protection a parent's signature gives is against the parent's own claims.

More Than a Release

A signed Oklahoma agreement does other work too:

• Agritourism immunity. The agritourism act's protection depends on the statutory warning appearing on posted signs and in every written contract for services, instruction or equipment rental.
• Livestock activities. Under 76 O.S. 50.3, one exception to the livestock immunity applies when a sponsor fails to make a reasonable effort to judge a participant's ability "based upon the participant's representations." A participant in a livestock show, sale or rodeo is presumed competent if a signed entry form is required. Honest experience answers on a signed form are evidence of what the participant told you.
• The parent's own claims. In Wethington, the mother's signed release barred her own claims.
• Rules, medical information and consent. The form records the risks you explained, the rules each guest accepted, health conditions, emergency contacts and parent consent. How much a signed record matters in a dispute depends on the facts.

Oklahoma Activity Laws

• Agritourism (2 O.S. 5-14 to 5-17a). The act limits liability for the inherent risks of agritourism for registered agritourism professionals. Section 5-17 requires signs with a set warning, in black letters at least one inch high, at the entrance and the activity site, and the same warning in clearly readable print in every written contract for services, instruction or equipment rental. Without the warning, the immunity is lost. The act does not cover your own negligence or a known danger you failed to disclose.
• Livestock activities (76 O.S. 50.1 et seq.). "Livestock" includes horses and other equines as well as cattle, goats and other animals, and the act covers activities such as riding, shows, rodeos and agritourism with livestock. Sponsors and livestock professionals acting in good faith and following livestock industry standards are not liable for injuries resulting from the inherent risks of livestock activities, with exceptions including willful or wanton disregard for safety, intentional injury, faulty tack they provided, failing to assess ability as described above, and known dangerous conditions not made known to the participant. The act does not limit liability for activities that result in a participant's death.

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 and statutes above, these are points worth raising when preparing an Oklahoma agreement:

• The court in Burd faulted a release for not clearly identifying who was being released or the risks involved.
• The releases upheld in Manning and Combs referred to negligence expressly and described the activity's dangers.
• Courts weighed whether the activity was optional recreation and whether the customer could have gone elsewhere or taken part differently.
• In Manning, the student watched a video explaining the release and signed or initialed it in fourteen places.
• Under 15 O.S. 212.1, a posted disclaimer of negligence is void, so the signed agreement is what carries the release.
• For agritourism, the statutory warning in the required format belongs in every written contract.

How WaiverFile Helps Oklahoma 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:

• 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.
• 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.
• Families on one form. A parent or guardian signs for themselves and adds each child by name and date of birth, and minors are flagged at check-in.
• Sign anywhere. Guests sign ahead by email, text, QR code or your website, or on a tablet at the door, and the Venue app works offline. Waivers are built into online booking, so you see each guest's status 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.

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

Sources and Further Reading

• 12A O.S. 15-107 (Oklahoma Uniform Electronic Transactions Act)
• 15 U.S.C. 7001 (federal ESIGN Act)
• Schmidt v. United States, 1996 OK 29, 912 P.2d 871 (Okla. 1996)
• Manning v. Brannon, 1998 OK CIV APP 17, 956 P.2d 156
• Combs v. West Siloam Speedway Corp., 2017 OK CIV APP 64, 406 P.3d 1064
• Burd v. KL Shangri-La Owners, L.P., 2003 OK CIV APP 31, 67 P.3d 927
• Wethington v. Swainson, 155 F. Supp. 3d 1173 (W.D. Okla. 2015) (minors)
• 15 O.S. 212 (contracts against public policy)
• 15 O.S. 212.1 (notices exempting a business from negligence void)
• 2 O.S. 5-17 (agritourism warning signs and contracts)
• National Agricultural Law Center, Oklahoma agritourism statutes (2 O.S. 5-14 to 5-17a)
• 76 O.S. 50.3 (Oklahoma Livestock Activities Liability Limitation Act, scope of liability)

Published November 4, 2026