Posted On: July 21, 2004, 8:35 am CDT

Posted By: MarkT

Seems the ski industry (or boarding or tubing or whatever on snow or similiarly derived substance)is a step behind the litigation process. The discalimers on the back of your ticket will need to come up with a new term to describe the universe of possbile snow or resonable facsimile of snow activites. Better yet maybe we need to sign a discalimer form (multipage) listing all sorts of possbile potential dangers including sunburn (or maybe that should be windburn or skin irritation or dermtalogical discomfort) to broken bones (ostio something) to ultimately death (we would probably need to be more specific here).

It appears that we should never blame an individual for their action or inaction. At least not if there are deep pockets available somewhere down the line. I don't know the specifics of the case nor do I want to know. I do know that every morning when I leave my house in my car that I take certain risks. If I get hit at the intersection after missing the stop sign I'm not going to sue the car maker but I guess I could. Not sure why but they must have something to do with a bad color mix or indistinguishable vehicle profile or the paint style of the stop sign. All things a "good" lawyer could work out.

As the spouse of a long-time professional ski instructor and the parent of a multi-year snowboader instructor I hear first-hand the warnings they must say to studuents even if no on is listening. Then there are the paradoxes of what can and cannot be done if someone is maybe hurt, or hurt, or just faking and complaining. A funny thing about being a dedicated instructor at a winter sport (sometimes spring and sometimes fall) facility: you get paid very little, pay a signigicant fee to belong to the ski-related organization, require frequent training and updates, and in the end you are liable for everthing because the business that hired you, paid you, and in part trained you can simply disown you.

As an employee I am ultimately responsible for my actions. As a provider of services I am responsible. As a user of goods and services I just need good legal representation!