The Court of Appeals of Michigan has reluctantly ruled that it has no authority to uphold a parent’s pre-event waiver of claims for his 5-year old child’s injuries at his birthday party. Reviewing the changing law among the states, the Court said it is inconsistent to provide that a parent may not unilaterally settle a claim for actual damages but may waive a claim in advance of participating in the activity that causes the injury. ( Woodman v. Kera, LLC, d/b/a Bounce Party, No. 275079, 8/12/08.) A child broke his leg when he fell from a slide at his “bouncy party” birthday party. His father had signed a form waiver of claims before the event, but his mother sued anyway, for negligence,...