Are Online Waivers Legal in Wyoming?

This guide is for Wyoming owners of dude ranches, outfitters, ski areas, climbing gyms, river trips, rodeo events, fitness centers and other activity businesses. Wyoming courts have enforced releases for skydiving, ski racing and a training facility, and the Recreation Safety Act adds a separate layer of protection for inherent risks. We cover whether an online waiver counts as signed, how the Wyoming Supreme Court treats releases, how the Recreation Safety Act and Ski Safety Act fit in, what is known about parents signing for children, and what else a signed agreement does for you.

This guide is general information about Wyoming 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 Wyoming at a Glance

Are Electronic Signatures Legal in Wyoming?

Yes. Wyoming adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act in Title 40, Chapter 21 of its statutes. W.S. 40-21-107 says a record or signature "may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form," and a contract may not be denied effect "solely because an electronic record was used in its formation." The federal ESIGN Act (15 U.S.C. 7001) says the same for interstate transactions. A waiver signed on a phone, computer or tablet counts as signed.

Are Liability Waivers Enforceable in Wyoming?

Generally, yes, for recreation. In Schutkowski v. Carey, 725 P.2d 1057 (Wyo. 1986), a skydiving student was hurt on her first jump after signing a release. The court said "specific agreements absolving participants and proprietors from negligence liability during hazardous recreational activities are enforceable, subject to willful misconduct limitations," and adopted a four-part test from Colorado:

1. whether a duty to the public exists;
2. the nature of the service performed;
3. whether the contract was fairly entered into; and
4. whether the intention of the parties is expressed in clear and unambiguous language.

On the first two factors, the court in Milligan ex rel. Milligan v. Big Valley Corp., 754 P.2d 1063 (Wyo. 1988), borrowed California's Tunkl definition of a public-interest service and said "a private recreational business does not qualify as a service demanding a special duty to the public, nor are its services of a special, highly necessary or essential nature." Milligan enforced a release for a ski race that was part of a resort's "Ironman Decathlon." Boehm v. Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, 748 P.2d 704 (Wyo. 1987), enforced a release in a mock gunfight club's membership application.

The test has reached beyond outdoor sports. In Massengill v. S.M.A.R.T. Sports Medicine Clinic, P.C., 996 P.2d 1132 (Wyo. 2000), the court enforced a release a man signed to use a sports medicine clinic's training facility. The court noted he took the agreement home and returned it three days later, so nothing suggested he was "unfairly pressured into signing," and found the intent "expressed in clear and unambiguous language." The court reads releases using ordinary contract principles, looking at the document as a whole.

Federal courts applying Wyoming law have followed the same approach. In Cunningham v. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Corp., No. 16-8016 (10th Cir. Dec. 20, 2016), an unpublished decision, a skier who rented equipment and signed a rental agreement releasing claims "INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE" was badly hurt in a collision with a trail sign. The court held the release valid and unambiguous under Wyoming law and affirmed judgment for the resort.

Willful and Wanton Misconduct

"Where willful and wanton misconduct is shown, an otherwise valid release is unenforceable," the court said in Milligan. It described willful and wanton misconduct as an intentional act or failure to act "in reckless disregard of the consequences" when a reasonable person would know harm was highly probable. In Milligan the evidence didn't reach that level, so the release barred the claim.

Waivers for Minors in Wyoming

We did not find a Wyoming Supreme Court decision on whether a parent can release a child's future negligence claims, so the question is unsettled; a Holland & Hart overview of Wyoming release law also notes the lack of a Wyoming case. In a federal case about a six-year-old injured on a resort trail ride, Sapone v. Grand Targhee, Inc., 308 F.3d 1096 (10th Cir. 2002), the resort argued in the trial court that the mother's signed release barred the claim, but it dropped that argument on appeal, so the court never decided it.

What Wyoming law does say is that the Recreation Safety Act's assumption-of-risk rule applies "irrespective of the age of the person assuming the risk" (W.S. 1-1-123(d)). So a child, like an adult, assumes the inherent risks of a sport or recreational activity, whether or not anyone signed a release.

Wyoming Activity Laws

• Recreation Safety Act (W.S. 1-1-121 to 1-1-123). Anyone who takes part in a "sport or recreational opportunity" assumes its inherent risks, "whether those risks are known or unknown," and a provider "is not required to eliminate, alter or control the inherent risks." Claims for a provider's negligence that is not an inherent risk are preserved. The list of covered activities includes rodeo, dude ranching, climbing, river floating, hunting, horseback riding and other equine activity, snowmobiling, agritourism and outdoor education programs. The act does not cover equipment design or manufacture claims.
• Ski Safety Act (W.S. 1-1-123.1 to 1-1-123.5). Skiing at a ski area is governed by its own act, not the Recreation Safety Act. Operators must post trail difficulty signs and print a warning on all lift tickets and season passes, with a matching sign of at least six square feet near ticket sales, stating that "a skier assumes the inherent risks of skiing." A violation of the act is evidence of negligence.

More Than a Release

A signed agreement does other work for Wyoming businesses:

• A record of the inherent risks. The Recreation Safety Act puts a sport's inherent risks on the participant, at any age. A form that describes those risks for your activity, with each one acknowledged, is evidence of what each guest was told. How much it matters depends on the facts.
• Evidence of a fair signing. Massengill weighed that the customer took the form home before signing. A record of when and how each guest signed is evidence of the signing process.
• Information for families. Even where a parent's release of a child's claims is untested, the parent's form records consent to participate, health conditions and emergency contacts.
• Rules, medical information and consent. Guests agree to your rules, and you collect health details, consent to emergency treatment and photo consent before the trip.

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:

• Clear intent. Schutkowski and Massengill looked for the parties' intent "expressed in clear and unambiguous language," read as a whole.
• A fair process. Massengill pointed to time to read and no pressure to sign.
• The setting. Milligan treated private recreation as outside the public-duty concern.
• Inherent risks. How the agreement's risk descriptions line up with the Recreation Safety Act's idea of inherent risk for your activity.
• The record. Who signed, when, and which version of the text they agreed to.

How WaiverFile Helps Wyoming 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. 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 risks, rules and paragraphs you choose, so each one has its own acknowledgment.
• Time to read. Guests sign ahead from their own phone or computer by email, text, QR code or your website, without a line behind them, or on a tablet on-site. The Venue app works offline at remote ranches and trailheads.
• 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.
• 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.
• Experience and medical questions. Required questions capture riding experience, health conditions and emergency contacts. HIPAA features add extra protection for health information.
• Built into booking. Every guest on a trip can sign as part of booking, with each guest's status shown at check-in.
• Records you can produce. Search any waiver in seconds, send guests an email copy, or download signed waivers in bulk as a ZIP file for any date range.

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

Sources and Further Reading

• Wyoming Statutes Title 40 (Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, W.S. 40-21-101 to 40-21-107 and following), PDF
• Federal ESIGN Act, 15 U.S.C. 7001
• Wyoming Statutes Title 1 (Recreation Safety Act, W.S. 1-1-121 to 1-1-123; Ski Safety Act, W.S. 1-1-123.1 to 1-1-123.5), PDF
• Schutkowski v. Carey, 725 P.2d 1057 (Wyo. 1986)
• Milligan ex rel. Milligan v. Big Valley Corp., 754 P.2d 1063 (Wyo. 1988)
• Boehm v. Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, 748 P.2d 704 (Wyo. 1987)
• Massengill v. S.M.A.R.T. Sports Medicine Clinic, P.C., 996 P.2d 1132 (Wyo. 2000)
• Cunningham v. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Corp., No. 16-8016 (10th Cir. Dec. 20, 2016) (unpublished)
• Sapone v. Grand Targhee, Inc., 308 F.3d 1096 (10th Cir. 2002)
• Holland & Hart, overview of releases and indemnity agreements under Wyoming law

Published November 4, 2026