Shive v. 24 Hour Fitness USA, LLC.
2025 COA 87. No. 24CA2075. Contracts—Colorado Premises Liability Act—Exculpatory Clauses—Clear and Unambiguous Intent to Extinguish Liability.
November 6, 2025
Shive signed a preprinted membership agreement to use the athletic facilities at 24 Hour Fitness USA, LLC (24 Hour Fitness). The membership agreement has an exculpatory clause releasing liability for injuries at 24 Hour Fitness regardless of whether such injuries are caused by exercise (the exculpatory clause). Shive walked out of a 24 Hour Fitness club building after working out on a winter day. He slipped and fell on ice that had accumulated on the sidewalk near the building’s entrance and suffered a significant knee injury. Shive filed a Premises Liability Act (PLA) claim asserting that 24 Hour Fitness unreasonably failed to exercise reasonable care by not removing the accumulated ice near the building’s entrance. 24 Hour Fitness moved for summary judgment, arguing that the exculpatory clause barred the PLA claim. The district court considered the four-factor test for assessing the validity of exculpatory agreements in Jones v. Dressel, 623 P.2d 370, 376 (Colo. 1981), and concluded that the exculpatory clause clearly released 24 Hour Fitness from liability for all injuries, regardless of whether the injury was related to exercise. The court granted summary judgment in favor of 24 Hour Fitness, dismissing the PLA claim with prejudice.
On appeal, Shive did not contest the first three Jones factors but argued that the court erred by determining that the exculpatory clause was valid under the fourth Jones factor: whether the parties’ intent to extinguish liability was expressed in “clear and unambiguous language.” Shive contended that the references to “facilities” in the exculpatory clause must be limited to the “actual building” in which 24 Hour Fitness members recreate and do not include physical space outside the building. The court of appeals construed the exculpatory clause in light of Doe v. Wellbridge Club Management LLC, 2022 COA 137, ¶ 16; Stone v. Life Time Fitness, Inc., 2016 COA 189M; and Miller v. Crested Butte, LLC, 2024 CO 30, ¶ 45. The exculpatory clause only bars Shive’s PLA claim if it clearly and unambiguously expresses the parties’ intention for liability to be waived for injuries suffered on a sidewalk outside the fitness club’s building. Here, unlike 24 Hour Fitness’s limited-access space where only members can participate in its recreational services, the sidewalk where Shive fell was not restricted to members’ use. So when Shive fell, he was not using 24 Hour Fitness’s “facilities.” Therefore, the exculpatory clause does not clearly and unambiguously bar Shive’s PLA claim under the fourth Jones factor.
The judgment was reversed and the case was remanded for further proceedings.