Audley v. Melton

The plaintiff, Shannon Audley, appeals from a grant of summary judgment by the Superior Court (Morrill, J.), arguing that two exculpatory contracts she signed did not release the defendant from liability for his own negligence. We reverse.

The plaintiff, a professional model, was bitten on the head by an adult male lion with which she had been posing during a photography shoot at the studio of the defendant, Bill Melton. The plaintiff filed a *417negligence action alleging, inter alia, that the defendant failed to take any precautionary action despite noticing that the plaintiff’s hair was…