Thunder ang lightning

Originally posted by blueboy

Originally posted by blueboy

Originally posted by JimC

My take on the RRS4 thing is that is stands absolutely, but my opinion is legally worthless, as, I suspect, is that of other posters. 

Negotiating and interpreting contracts is part of my day job.

RRS4 is a contract term. When you race you contract with the organising authority and agreeing to abide by RRS is part of the contract. That's been established in court (when one large expensive yacht hit another).

In UK law contract terms that attempt to exclude negligence are unenforceable. So if a club's conduct in running a race were found to be negligent, RRS4 is void. 

Negligence, roughly speaking, is falling below a reasonable standard of care. What's reasonable? That's for a court to decide. What's reasonable for ocean racers isn't reasonable for Optimists. What's certain is that RRS4 doesn't absolve clubs of the need to exercise reasonable care in running racing. That's why RORC postponed a Fastnet start for 24 hours.

Sorry if that's unwelcome news. But if a club isn't demonstrably performing risk assessment before running racing, someone is going to have an uncomfortable time if they ever need to defend their conduct in court.  

I normally work in anti-corruption and professional standards roles when anyone can persuade me to sit behind a desk so I'm no contract expert, but Blueboy has nailed it.

While it may seem unfair that contracts cannot exclude negligence, the alternative is worse. Imagine if your council, gas supplier, bus company, airline and other large companies could present you with a contract that had an exclusion clause in small print, when they knew that you had no alternative but to sign it and therefore waive your rights for compensation even if they were negligent.  One only has to roll back to the Victorian era and see what large corporations may do if negligence can be excluded by contract.

Anyway, here's a pic of what I thought the thread was going to be about;

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Edited by Chris 249 - 14 Jun 16 at 12:47pm