 Poster: A snowHead
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Vail, Colorado, is suing a skier who is suing the resort for allegedly causing her personal injury on a 'ski bridge rail'. The skier, Julia Parsons, accuses Vail of not repairing a metal bracket that she says stuck out out and cut her knee severely.
The resort is counter-suing, accusing Parsons of skiing out of control and breaching her contract with the resort. It claims that she waived her right to sue when buying a liftpass. This is believed to be the first time that Vail has counter-sued in this way.
This report from Denver's ABC 7.
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The Colorado Ski Safety Act places the burden on skiers to ski safely to avoid injury. Some US lawyers consider the Act to be over-protective of ski resorts. The history of ski litigation in the States is a long one, sometimes involving controversial cases where natural hazards (tree roots, rocks etc) are arguably a resort's responsibility to mark or cover. The issues are often: when is a natural or artificial hazard sufficiently hazardous to demand a resort's action? How observant and controlled should a skier be expected to be, to avoid hazards?
One prominent lawyer in this field is Jim Chalat. Here he, and Linda Chalat, set out some of the issues involved:
http://www.skisafety.com/jimart-beginners.html
Comments welcome!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Those crazy americans and their endless lawsuits 
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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?
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Keeps the suit industry going, though. Think of all those tailors.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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ponder, unfortunately some of those crazy Americans are over here as well.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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... writes an elegantly-tailored businessman.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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David@traxvax, Took me a while to catch on there 
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Interesting: I'm assuming this was on the old Lionshead bridge which was a notorious bottle-neck. (Last season it was widened). The Colorado act does protect the resorts pretty well regarding natural obstacles (trees, cliffs) which is a good thing - otherwise Crested Butte would have been committing commercial suicide by opening up their amazing extreme terrain.
But when the obstacle is part of the resort infrastructure (fences, pylons) then the resort is less protected. I had a friend who broke his leg in Vail by hitting a stake that had been used to launch fireworks the night before and had not been removed. He gained a substantial settlement.
Yes, we have an image of the Yanks being sue-happy, but the line has to be drawn somewhere. Say if your child or spouse died because a chairlift fell off a cable, because a lift mechanic hadn't done proper maintenance, surely even in Europe you would expect some sort of compensation? In a sense this case is similar except in degree.
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