Questions About Skiing Accidents
I sustained a serious injury in a skiing accident. Who can potentially be held liable in a skiing accident?
Because of the inherent risks that accompany skiing and snowboarding, resorts and other skiing industry businesses in popular ski areas often have special legal protections. For instance, the Colorado Skier Safety Act establishes "reasonable safety standards for the operation of ski areas [in Colorado] and for the skiers using them" and defines "the rights and liabilities existing between the skier and the ski area operator and between skiers".
Some accidents, however, are not due to the inherent risks of the sport, but to negligence on another's part, including that of ski area operators, who may have improperly marked or patrolled ski trails, failed to procure adequate safety equipment, or poorly maintained it.
Other parties that could be held liable in a skiing accident case include ski equipment owners and manufacturers and other skiers or snowboarders who may have acted in a negligent or reckless manner.
What are these "inherent risks"?
Because skiing and snowboarding are known to be potentially dangerous activities, certain injuries to those who engage in them are unavoidable. Ski area operators can therefore not be held responsible for every injury that occurs on the ski area's premises. When individuals willingly engage in such recreational activities, the nature of which are known to involve potential perils (or risks which are inherent to these sports), they assume them to a certain extent.
As noted above, however, some injuries are not as a result of these inherent risks. A skillful attorney can often uncover circumstances surrounding a skiing accident that should or could not have been "assumed" by the victim. Ski area operators also have certain responsibilities to those who use their facilities, such as an "utmost duty of care" to ski lift passengers.
How else can a lawyer help me after a skiing accident?
The ski patrol will not always necessarily investigate a skiing accident. It is therefore incumbent on you to try and collect contact information for all participants involved in the accident, and to write down, as soon as you are able and with as much detail as possible, your recollection of what happened. Regardless of whether you have taken, or were able to take these steps, a skillful attorney can prove beneficial in securing the maximum compensation you may be entitled to by developing your best litigation options based on:
- Any ski patrol reports
- Inspector and witness interviews
- Photographs and any other additional evidence
- State inspection reports
- Engineering expert consultations
- Applicable ski laws and insurance status
