McCormack said waivers are a way that sports and recreation facilities can minimize their liability costs without having to take out very expensive insurance coverage. Without such waivers, McCormack said recreation costs would have to be passed on to consumers.

It boils down to assuming risk. McCormack said some people would be surprised to know that they are assuming risk under the law by not signing anything at times. "Some people might be surprised that you are assuming the risk of injury if you go to a baseball game," he said.

While there is some basic assumption of risk, the Utah Supreme Court has established that facilities still must take reasonable care for safety.

McCormack recommends that if a person is not willing to assume some risk in taking part in a potentially dangerous activity, they should think twice about doing it.

Under the current legal rulings, what is considered reasonable care will be left up to jury members. "We really do leave it to the community to decide what's reasonable," McCormack said.

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