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When suing a ski lift operator it can help to be a manual worker without a doctorate in mathematics

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
When Peter Kralik sued the Canadian ski resort of Mount Seymour for permanent shoulder injuries he was awarded Cdn$300,000 in damages. He had tried to clear ice from the chair before trying to sit down, and fell off after departure.

This report from Canadian Underwriter is not quite clear (on my reading) but seems to suggest:

1. The damages were reduced on appeal to Cdn$75,000 when it was discovered that Kralik held a PhD in mathematics and had worked as a computer programmer in Slovakia. His original damages had been based on loss of potential earnings as a painter in Canada.

2. The damages were further reduced (?) by deciding that safety responsibility was a 50/50 split between skier and operator.

Hence the damages were reduced to a half of a half of the original level. Have I got this right?

Cdn£75,000 is approximately £37,000.

Ever been injured getting on, getting off, or falling off a chairlift? Ever decided that the operator was responsible?


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 12-03-08 16:14; edited 2 times in total
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Was there any grapes involved?
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Please direct that question to David Vine.

I was on a chairlift up at the Tignes glacier in the late 1970s and the tip of my monoski caught the upward ramp just before the arrival platform. The tip of the ski jammed as the chair carried on moving forwards, so the ski tip was pulled under the chair, with the ski being forced to vertical. My legs at this point were being pulled under the chair, in the space between the snow platform and the seat - not much clearance there. I was pulled forwards, around the front of the seat, and under the chair itself.

How I didn't break both legs, and the ski, I'll never know. I felt incredibly luckly not to be injured. Entirely my fault for not keeping the ski tip up on arrival.

I employed an expensive lawyer and sued myself for the price of a beer.

Chairlifts have, of course, become dramatically safer with the introduction of detachable take-off and landing. Some of the old ones used to be amazingly dangerous, especially when run at relatively high speeds with fixed grips. There was an amazingly nasty one at St Anton (Kapall, I think?)
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
David Goldsmith, same thing as happened to you happened last month to a bloke next to me on a detachable chair in St Anton (I think, possibly Kitzbuhel), except that he was on two skis. It looked horrible, but there appeared to be no damage to him or his skis.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
There's got to be a book in this: "How to Cheat Death on the Electric Chairlift'.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Kapall is a detachable.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
ulmerhutte, David Goldsmith goes back to the days before detachables were born or thought of.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
"People who sue ski areas should be shot" - Glen Plake, Blizzard of Aaahs, 1987 (I think).
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
kkev, he presumably has a financial interest in one or more ski areas. Hard to see why else he would encourage negligence among ski area owners.
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