Are Online Waivers Legal in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania has some of the most developed waiver case law in the country, from ski resorts and gyms to a triathlon where the waiver was signed online. This guide covers electronic signatures in Pennsylvania, how courts there treat liability waivers, the other work a signed agreement does, the limits for children (including a 2025 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision on trampoline park agreements), and what courts have looked at in a release.

This guide is general information about Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania at a Glance

Are Electronic Signatures Legal in Pennsylvania?

Yes. Pennsylvania's Electronic Transactions Act (Act 69 of 1999) includes the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. Section 303 (73 P.S. 2260.303) says a record or signature may not be denied legal effect solely because it is electronic, a contract may not be denied effect because an electronic record was used to form it, and an electronic signature satisfies a law requiring a signature. The federal ESIGN Act (15 U.S.C. 7001) adds the same rule for interstate commerce.

Pennsylvania courts have enforced an online waiver in practice. In Valentino v. Philadelphia Triathlon, LLC, 150 A.3d 483 (Pa. Super. 2016) (en banc), every participant had to register online and could not finish registering without executing the waiver. The court found ample support that the athlete signed it, pointing to the online registration records, his payment by a credit card in his name, and an affidavit from the registration vendor explaining how stored waivers were kept.

Are Liability Waivers Enforceable in Pennsylvania?

Generally yes, if the release meets two sets of requirements. In Chepkevich v. Hidden Valley Resort, L.P., 2 A.3d 1174 (Pa. 2010), drawing on Topp Copy Products v. Singletary (Pa. 1993), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said an exculpatory clause is valid if it does not contravene public policy, is between parties dealing with their own private affairs, and each party is a free bargaining agent so the contract is not one of adhesion. Even a valid clause is enforced only if:

1. it is construed strictly, because exculpatory language is not favored;
2. it states the parties' intent with the greatest particularity, beyond doubt by express stipulation;
3. any ambiguity is read against the party seeking immunity; and
4. the party relying on it carries the burden of proving it applies.

In Chepkevich, a skier who fell from a lift had signed a release saying she would not sue the resort if injured "regardless of any negligence on their part," and the court held the release and the Skier's Responsibility Act barred her claim. The court treated releases for voluntary recreation as private matters, not contracts of adhesion. In Toro v. Fitness International LLC, 150 A.3d 968 (Pa. Super. 2016), a gym member's slip-and-fall claim in the locker room was barred by a membership agreement whose waiver sat in a box with a bold, capitalized heading and expressly covered the gym's negligence. The court contrasted Beck-Hummel v. Ski Shawnee (Pa. Super. 2006), where a release printed on a snow tubing ticket raised a question about whether it was conspicuous enough.

Gross Negligence, Recklessness and Intentional Harm

These cannot be waived. In Tayar v. Camelback Ski Corp., 47 A.3d 1190 (Pa. 2012), the court held that "releasing recklessness in a pre-injury release is against public policy." In Feleccia v. Lackawanna College (Pa. Aug. 20, 2019), the court extended that rule to gross negligence, holding a waiver signed by student athletes barred ordinary negligence claims but not claims of gross negligence or recklessness.

More Than a Release

A signed Pennsylvania agreement can do more than release negligence claims:

• Express assumption of risk. In Valentino, the athlete drowned during the swim leg. The Superior Court held that his express assumption of the risk in the online waiver also defeated his widow's wrongful death claim. In 2019 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court split 3-3 (209 A.3d 941), which left that ruling in place without creating a Supreme Court precedent.
• Equine activities. Under 4 P.S. 602, negligence claims by an adult participant in equine activities are barred only where knowing, voluntary assumption of risk is proven, and 4 P.S. 603 limits the immunity to premises with the required signs posted. A signed acknowledgment of the risks is evidence of what the rider was told; how much it matters depends on the facts.
• The parent's own claims. In Simmons, the mother's signed release barred her own claim for her daughter's medical expenses.
• Rules, medical information and consent. The form is where guests accept your rules and you collect health conditions, emergency contacts and parent consent before anyone takes part.

Waivers for Minors in Pennsylvania

In Simmons v. Parkette National Gymnastic Training Center, 670 F. Supp. 140 (E.D. Pa. 1987), a gymnast and her mother both signed a release. The mother's own claim, for medical expenses and losses during her daughter's minority, was barred by the release she signed. Following Apicella v. Valley Forge Military Academy (E.D. Pa. 1985), the court held that under Pennsylvania law a parent has no authority to release a child's claims merely because of the parental relationship, and the child could disaffirm the release she signed herself.

In Santiago v. Philly Trampoline Park, LLC (Pa. Sept. 25, 2025), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court looked at an electronically signed trampoline park agreement containing a release and an arbitration clause. It held that parents cannot bind a minor child to an agreement to arbitrate, because arbitration would strip away the court's protection of a minor's claim, and that a signing parent did not bind the other, non-signing parent just because they were married. The court said the release question itself was outside the scope of that appeal, though it noted the policies protecting minors "may foreshadow" the answer.

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 Pennsylvania agreement:

• The releases upheld in Chepkevich and Toro stated plainly that they covered the business's own negligence.
• A boxed, bold heading helped in Toro; fine print on a ticket raised questions in Beck-Hummel.
• The court in Chepkevich treated a release for voluntary recreation as a private matter, not a contract of adhesion.
• Valentino relied on records showing the athlete completed an online process that required the waiver.
• Santiago held that one spouse's signature did not bind the other, so who signs matters.

How WaiverFile Helps Pennsylvania 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 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.
• Waivers inside booking. Guests sign as part of online booking, and staff see each guest's waiver status at check-in.
• Every adult and child named. A parent or guardian signs for themselves and adds each child by name and date of birth, and minors are flagged at check-in. A second parent can sign their own waiver.
• Medical questions. Required questions capture health conditions and emergency contacts. HIPAA features add extra protection for health information.
• Sign anywhere. Email, text, QR code, your website or an on-site tablet, with offline signing in the Venue app. Email customers a copy of what they signed, or print it.
• 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

• Pennsylvania Electronic Transactions Act, Act 69 of 1999 (Section 303, 73 P.S. 2260.303)
• 15 U.S.C. 7001 (federal ESIGN Act)
• Chepkevich v. Hidden Valley Resort, L.P., 2 A.3d 1174 (Pa. 2010)
• Tayar v. Camelback Ski Corp., 47 A.3d 1190 (Pa. 2012)
• Feleccia v. Lackawanna College, No. 75 MAP 2017 (Pa. Aug. 20, 2019)
• Toro v. Fitness International LLC, 150 A.3d 968 (Pa. Super. 2016)
• Valentino v. Philadelphia Triathlon, LLC, 150 A.3d 483 (Pa. Super. 2016) (en banc)
• Valentino v. Philadelphia Triathlon, LLC, 209 A.3d 941 (Pa. 2019) (affirmed by an evenly divided court)
• Simmons v. Parkette National Gymnastic Training Center, 670 F. Supp. 140 (E.D. Pa. 1987) (minors)
• Santiago v. Philly Trampoline Park, LLC, Nos. 24 and 25 EAP 2023 (Pa. Sept. 25, 2025) (minors and arbitration)
• 4 P.S. 602 (Equine Activity Immunity Act, immunity)
• 4 P.S. 603 (Equine Activity Immunity Act, required signs)

Published November 4, 2026