Waiver

A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege.

Regulatory agencies or governments may issue waivers to exempt companies from certain regulations. For example, a United States law restricted the size of banks, but when banks exceeded these sizes, they obtained waivers. In another example, the United States federal government may issue waivers to individual states so that they may provide Medicaid in different ways than the law typically requires.

While a waiver is often in writing, sometimes a person's actions can act as a waiver. An example of a written waiver is a disclaimer, which becomes a waiver when accepted. When the right to hold a person liable through a lawsuit is waived, the waiver may be called an exculpatory clause, liability waiver, legal release, or hold harmless clause.

In some cases, parties may sign a "non-waiver" contract which specifies that no rights are waived, particularly if a person's actions may suggest that rights are being waived. This is particularly common in insurance, as it is less detailed than a reservation of rights letter; the disadvantage is that it requires the signature of the insured.

Chris Bosh

Christopher Wesson Bosh (born March 24, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A high school "Mr. Basketball" in Texas, Bosh left college at Georgia Tech after one season with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball team to enter the 2003 NBA draft. He was selected fourth overall by the Toronto Raptors in a very competitive draft class that included multiple future NBA superstars such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony. While at Toronto, Bosh emerged as one of the young stars in the league; he became a five-time NBA All-Star, was named to the All-NBA second team once, appeared for the US national team (with whom he won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics), and supplanted former fan-favorite Vince Carter as the face and leader of the Raptors franchise.

In the 2006–07 season, Bosh led the Raptors to their first NBA Playoffs berth in five years, and their first ever division title. He left Toronto for the Miami Heat in 2010 as its all-time leader in points, rebounds, blocks, double doubles, free throws made and attempted, and minutes played. Bosh won his first NBA title after Miami defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 4–1 in the 2012 NBA Finals. He won his second title in 2013 as the Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 NBA Finals.

Miami Heat

The Miami Heat is an American professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. They play their home games at the American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami. The team owner is Micky Arison, who also owns cruise-ship giant Carnival Corporation. The team president and de facto general manager is Pat Riley, and the head coach is Erik Spoelstra. The mascot of the team is Burnie, an anthropomorphic fireball.

Formed in 1988 as an expansion franchise, the Heat have won three league championships (in 2006, 2012 and 2013), five conference titles and 11 division titles. From February 3 to March 27, 2013, the Heat won 27 games in a row, the second-longest streak in NBA history (after the 1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers' 33 wins). In 2016, Forbes valued the Heat at $1.3 billion as the tenth most valuable among NBA franchises.

The Heat are not related to the Miami Floridians, an ABA team in the early 1970s, although the Heat have occasionally paid tribute to the older franchise by wearing a replica version of the Floridians' uniforms for the NBA's "Hardwood Classics Nights" during the 2005–06 and 2011–12 seasons.