What college students need to know about liability waivers for COVID-19

[...]if a university wantonly deceives the student body by hiding or delaying notification about an outbreak, or promises certain safety precautions and fails to take them, a liability waiver will not be of much use to the school against a lawsuit filed by one or more students. 2. [...]a person who...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Conversation : Education 2020-09-02
Main Author: Blanchard, Joy
Format: Newspaper Article
Language:English
Subjects:
College campuses
College Students
Colleges & universities
Courts
COVID-19
Educational Legislation
Higher Education
Injuries
Legal Responsibility
Safety Equipment
State Schools
State Universities
Student Behavior
Students
Universities
Waivers
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Summary:[...]if a university wantonly deceives the student body by hiding or delaying notification about an outbreak, or promises certain safety precautions and fails to take them, a liability waiver will not be of much use to the school against a lawsuit filed by one or more students. 2. [...]a person who files a negligence claim must demonstrate that the other party was the "proximate cause" of the injury, meaning the injury directly resulted from the inaction or improper action of the other party. Though the higher education community has sought immunity from Congress over COVID-19-related lawsuits, the probability that courts would hold a university that has taken good faith, common sense measures liable for a student's illness is unlikely, I believe.