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Law Review Editorials

All kinds of dangers lurk worldwide for American travelers

(Jan 21, 2008) -- Aron Sobel had four days to see Turkey before coming home to graduate from medical school. The 25-year-old from Potomac, Md., had a guidebook listing sights to see and things to do but no advice on the dangers of traveling by bus. On May 3, 1995, a speeding Turkish bus crashed in a ravine, killing Sobel and 22 others. Since then his mother, Rochelle Sobel, has forged a network of bereaved relatives who lobby the State Department to warn American travelers about international risks of the road. Read Full Story...

Attacking Industry Standards

(May 15, 2007) -- One of the most annoying issues faced by many defense attorneys are expert witnesses who highlight an alleged industry standard-that does not exist. This article will focus on some key steps to verify if alleged standards exists in the sport, recreational, and athletic fields. The article is based on serving as an expert in numerous cases and listening to or reading testimony from alleged experts who claim that a standard exists and are proud to highlight which organization produced the alleged standard. They possibly thought that if it is published, it is a standard. The problem with such an approach is that numerous alleged standards in the industry are inaccurate or not followed. Read Full Story...

Editorial: It does not release…is that a problem?

(Sep 11, 2006) -- For years we have been skiing on telemark bindings that were not releasable by design. However, most of us knew that we could kick out of a telebinding if we had too. In other words, even non-releasable bindings had a non-designed release function many of us have come to rely on and assume is an inherent feature in many non-releasable bindings. Now, that is possibly changing with the introduction of new bindings that are truly not releasable. Meaning you can no longer kick out of them even if your life depends on it. Is that something the manufactures should worry about? Yes! Read Full Story...

Rating releases: Our Law Review editor tears apart a release he signed recently

(Sep 11, 2006) -- I love releases. Seems a little strange, OK, really really strange, but studying various releases is more than just idle curiosity. As such I enjoy reading releases I sign throughout the year. What really thrills me is when I see a major corporation or business using a release and it is poor one, which will likely confirm in your minds my need for serious therapy! So be it. With the aforementioned in mind, let’s look at a release I signed last summer to participate in an on water demo of new boats for a large corporation that puts on trade shows for the outdoor industry. Read Full Story...

Counterfeiting, black market, grey market and what to do

(Sep 5, 2006) -- Manufactured products, including those in the outdoor industry, are generally taken advantage of in two ways: black markets and grey markets. There is an important distinction between these categories. Black markets refer to illegal goods, namely counterfeited products, or those not authorized by the manufacturer. Black market goods are typically made by a factory specializing in the manufacture of knock-offs or by authorized factories that intentionally make an unauthorized overrun. The former can be easier to spot since the products are often eye-balled by the counterfeiter in an attempt to make a replica. For instance, a particularly widespread The North Face counterfeit jacket had a label with the words “waterproof and breathable,” which was not printed on the official product. The latter black market is more difficult to identify because it comes from the same production run specs, raw material sources, and crafters as the original. Read Full Story...

Do Health Clubs have a Duty to protect the Manufacturer’s of Health Club Equipment?

(Sep 1, 2006) -- Most gyms and health clubs use releases to prevent litigation for injuries their guests may receive. The effectiveness of releases used by a number of gyms and health clubs has been reviewed in previous SNEWS® Law Review articles. However, in reviewing club and gym releases in the last year, many still do not include the manufacturer of the equipment the club is using in the release. Some states still allow a release to protect manufacturers from product liability claims. Consequently, it is easy for a well written release to include the necessary language to protect the manufacture from suits. Read Full Story...

Editorial: Accreditation, certification and promises about the law

(Feb 20, 2006) -- The fitness industry is all abuzz about accreditation and certification – a hot topic for many years that is again sizzling. This buzz has regained enormous momentum when the non-profit club association IHRSA recommended that everyone be accredited. The promises being made as to what this will do for your club or fitness facility are quite broad and, in some cases, fall into the legal realm. Read Full Story...

Legal Issues in Wilderness First Aid

(Dec 19, 2005) -- Protocols can, by their very existence, create more liability While one can understand the desire to create protocols for wilderness first aid situations as a means of creating standards that guide actions during very stressful events, doing so can quite possibly, and in fact very likely, create legal liability, not eliminate it, for the rescuer. Read Full Story...

Protecting Your Assets -- More than tangible items

(Jan 22, 2005) -- Have you properly protected your assets? When you bring up this question most people think sprinkler systems, fire-proof cabinets, and insurance. Many times we forget about intellectual property. Mailing lists, sales ideas, marketing programs, and the like. You must also protect confidential information about your customers, especially their credit information. Read Full Story...

Thinking before acting -- its a beautiful thing

(Nov 12, 2004) -- Welcome to the first issue of the Law Review for the outdoor and fitness industries. I'm Jim Moss and will be serving as your editor for the duration of this flight together. I can promise you that inside the pages of this issue, and every subsequent issue of the Law Review, our goal will be to deliver legal information in a way you've not likely experienced before -- it will be readable, understandable, and applicable. Read Full Story...

Release me from release language that just plain clueless

(Aug 4, 2004) -- Sometimes, it pays to hire a good attorney, and not just try to invent some boilerplate release on your own. Cutting and pasting legal language from existing releases just doesn't cut it either. Each release needs to be carefully thought through and must be applicable to the situation and specific risks encountered. It helps to have a clue too. Here are some specific lines from recent releases that should sound alarm bells in law offices around the country: Read Full Story...