Madison v. Superior Court

Petitioners Norman Madison (Madison) and YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles (YMCA) (collectively defendants) are defendants in a wrongful death action filed by Sulejman Sulejmanagic and Maida Sulejmanagic (hereinafter Plaintiffs). They are before this court seeking a writ of mandate directing the trial court (1) to vacate its order denying their motion for summary judgment and (2) to enter a new and different order granting that motion. As we conclude that no triable issue of material fact exists with respect to the scope and legal effect of the pre-accident waiver and release given by plaintiffs’ decedent and that by reason of such waiver and release the defendants, as a matter of law, have no liability to plaintiffs, we grant the petition.

Factual and Procedural Background

Plaintiffs’ son, Ken Sulejmanagic (Ken) drowned on November 15, 1986, while participating in a YMCA scuba diving training course. He was 19 years old at the time. Ken enrolled in the course on July 29, 1986, and completed the course except for one missed dive. He therefore had not received his Openwater I Certification. On November 15, 1986, he was participating in a makeup dive, which was also to be…