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Jay Peak Lawsuit

Nick

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on Facebook someone commented on Jay Peak's page basically implying they should just pay for the damages anyway since they more or less have the funds. The case is more nuanced than that but unfortunately there is always perception to deal with, especially since this case involves a very young child which makes people often throw logic / reason out the window and just want the situation rectified by those with the biggest pockets. No matter which way you cut it its surely a PR difficulty for a mountain.
 

skiberg

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What if the instructor failed to look back uphill. What if the instructor saw the snowboarder and still brought 5 yr olds into the path of a high speed boarder. Doesn't an instructor have an obligation to act in a safe manner? What if she could have been safer? What if she failed to follow standard safety protocol for the PSIA? What if some of these things turn out to be truths? The family will recover something in this case. A jury probablywon't tell a five year old little girl she gets nothing. They are way more likely to give a huge award to the family so what will happen is the insurance company will make a substantial offer but not full value and the family will take it because of the problems with the case.
 

thetrailboss

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What if the instructor failed to look back uphill. What if the instructor saw the snowboarder and still brought 5 yr olds into the path of a high speed boarder. Doesn't an instructor have an obligation to act in a safe manner? What if she could have been safer? What if she failed to follow standard safety protocol for the PSIA? What if some of these things turn out to be truths? The family will recover something in this case. A jury probablywon't tell a five year old little girl she gets nothing. They are way more likely to give a huge award to the family so what will happen is the insurance company will make a substantial offer but not full value and the family will take it because of the problems with the case.

Not necessarily.
 

kingdom-tele

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what does a work place injury have to do with this?

not much.

If the instructor was drilled though I would imagine they would take medical compensation, it is an inherently dangerous job. A five year old under supervision of an adult partaking in a resort based activity gets drilled and people act like the parents are spoiled. A shame one gets access to compensation while the other is the recipient of third party disgust.

Doesn't matter, hopefully the parents and child go on to lead a beautiful, healthy together.
 

Abubob

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The lawsuit claims Jay Peak was negligent in how it hired and trained Vincent and Leveillee.

Really? While they're at it why not sue for making the snow so slippery? Or sue the snowboard manufacturer for making the boards with steel edges? They're sandbagging and they know it - adding as many charges as they can think just to make things seem worse than they are.
:thumbdown:

Those kids should be made to be personal servants to that little girl for the rest of her life if she doesn't make a full and complete recovery.
:slap:
 

thetrailboss

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not much.

If the instructor was drilled though I would imagine they would take medical compensation, it is an inherently dangerous job. A five year old under supervision of an adult partaking in a resort based activity gets drilled and people act like the parents are spoiled. A shame one gets access to compensation while the other is the recipient of third party disgust.

Doesn't matter, hopefully the parents and child go on to lead a beautiful, healthy together.

There's no real comparison.

Again, for your hypo, the employee would probably get workers compensation benefits from her employer. She sure as hell won't get rich. She could not sue her employer though but she might be able to sue the dingo who hit her.

And people are angry because they see the parents going after whoever they can to seek compensation, regardless of fault. It is unfortunate that this is a case where the real person at fault is penniless. That's what [mandatory] healthcare coverage in Massachusetts is for. Additionally, they could get a judgment against the guy and collect over the next how many years from him.

Again the fact that the guy had no money does not justify suing someone else if there was no fault. Personally with these facts, I'm having a hard time seeing any fault for JPR.
 
Last edited:

drjeff

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on Facebook someone commented on Jay Peak's page basically implying they should just pay for the damages anyway since they more or less have the funds. The case is more nuanced than that but unfortunately there is always perception to deal with, especially since this case involves a very young child which makes people often throw logic / reason out the window and just want the situation rectified by those with the biggest pockets. No matter which way you cut it its surely a PR difficulty for a mountain.

After reading that thread on FB, which might I add is full of a bunch of ski industry folks from resorts all over the country, the person you referenced Nick who has making the comments that Jay Peak should just fork over the cash, kind of struck me as "Highwaystar-esque" (or at least the HS of a few years ago, since it has seemed to me that HS to his credit has matured a bit the last few years)

I'm guessing that there isn't an instructor, especially teaching a group of single digit aged kids on a high traffic trail, who would knowingly stop their group in a blind area, even if another child in the group had say fallen and needed assistance getting back up.

The skier's/boarder's responsibility code pretty much sums it up where the it's the person who is doing the passing job to stay out of the way of the downhill skier/rider and that person should always be in control and able to stop under the conditions at hand
 

deadheadskier

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not much.

If the instructor was drilled though I would imagine they would take medical compensation, it is an inherently dangerous job. A five year old under supervision of an adult partaking in a resort based activity gets drilled and people act like the parents are spoiled. A shame one gets access to compensation while the other is the recipient of third party disgust.

Doesn't matter, hopefully the parents and child go on to lead a beautiful, healthy together.

The only thing we can agree on here is your last statement. Vibes to the young skier and family.

The girl was probably compensated for her injuries by her parents health insurance provider. The only difference between her compensation and that received by the hypothetical situation of an injured instructor is that the instructor probably would get compensated for lost wages......maybe. I've had ski instructor friends get hurt while working (though not to the extent of the young girl). They were compensated for their injuries and then offered desk positions at the mountain.

I'll interject my own personal injury experience in skiing. I ski raced for 1 month during my senior year of high school. We were training GS gates on a lower mountain trail. On the upper mountain trail getting to that course, we were instructed by our coaches to "open" train Super G; to envision a Super G course and ski at a rate of speed we would in an actual Super G race. IIRC the only Super G race of the season our team competed in was during the New Englands. Well another racer on the team collided with me resulting in a wreck. I received a concussion, a dislocated shoulder, a hairline fracture to my C7 vertebra and nerve damage. There was an ambulance trip to the hospital involved, a CT-scan and extensive physical therapy. I didn't ski again that winter.

I was under the guidance of the ski race coaches. Should my parents have tried to sue the coaches or school for negligence? Should they have gone after the kid who collided with me?

Skiing is a dangerous sport. Unfortunately, horrific accidents can and do happen. It's the inherent risk we take in participating as individuals or as parents in allowing our children to participate.
 

kingdom-tele

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There's no real comparison.

Again, for your hypo, the employee would probably get workers compensation benefits from her employer. She sure as hell won't get rich. She could not sue her employer though but she might be able to sue the dingo who hit her.

And people are angry because they see the parents going after whoever they can to seek compensation, regardless of fault. It is unfortunate that this is a case where the real person at fault is penniless. That's what [mandatory] healthcare coverage in Massachusetts is for. Additionally, they could get a judgment against the guy and collect over the next how many years from him.

Again the fact that the guy had no money does not justify suing someone else if there was no fault. Personally with these facts, I'm having a hard time seeing any fault for JPR.

After reading that thread on FB, which might I add is full of a bunch of ski industry folks from resorts all over the country, the person you referenced Nick who has making the comments that Jay Peak should just fork over the cash, kind of struck me as "Highwaystar-esque" (or at least the HS of a few years ago, since it has seemed to me that HS to his credit has matured a bit the last few years)

I'm guessing that there isn't an instructor, especially teaching a group of single digit aged kids on a high traffic trail, who would knowingly stop their group in a blind area, even if another child in the group had say fallen and needed assistance getting back up.

The skier's/boarder's responsibility code pretty much sums it up where the it's the person who is doing the passing job to stay out of the way of the downhill skier/rider and that person should always be in control and able to stop under the conditions at hand

no arguement from me. But, the two issues above might be something they need to think about. People do come blazing down that section, it may not be 50, it very well could be, that little girl isn't the first one who has been impacted in that mixing zone, just so happens she was small enough to get really hurt by a full grown person.

edit for DHS: she was 5. seems the scenario should have a special context, IMO only.
 

tnt

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The only thing we can agree on here is your last statement. Vibes to the young skier and family.

The girl was probably compensated for her injuries by her parents health insurance provider. The only difference between her compensation and that received by the hypothetical situation of an injured instructor is that the instructor probably would get compensated for lost wages......maybe. I've had ski instructor friends get hurt while working (though not to the extent of the young girl). They were compensated for their injuries and then offered desk positions at the mountain.

I'll interject my own personal injury experience in skiing. I ski raced for 1 month during my senior year of high school. We were training GS gates on a lower mountain trail. On the upper mountain trail getting to that course, we were instructed by our coaches to "open" train Super G; to envision a Super G course and ski at a rate of speed we would in an actual Super G race. IIRC the only Super G race of the season our team competed in was during the New Englands. Well another racer on the team collided with me resulting in a wreck. I received a concussion, a dislocated shoulder, a hairline fracture to my C7 vertebra and nerve damage. There was an ambulance trip to the hospital involved, a CT-scan and extensive physical therapy. I didn't ski again that winter.

I was under the guidance of the ski race coaches. Should my parents have tried to sue the coaches or school for negligence? Should they have gone after the kid who collided with me?

Skiing is a dangerous sport. Unfortunately, horrific accidents can and do happen. It's the inherent risk we take in participating as individuals or as parents in allowing our children to participate.

Not saying it's right or wrong, but I bet there could be a case here against a coach telling the team to crank it up to race speeds on an opened trail with general traffic.

Generally, it's not in my nature to sue, and I would expect my kids - and myself - to ski in control regardless of what the coach said, but just saying, in this suit-happy world, I'd be surprised if those instructions are still given.
 

thetrailboss

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no arguement from me. But, the two issues above might be something they need to think about. People do come blazing down that section, it may not be 50, it very well could be, that little girl isn't the first one who has been impacted in that mixing zone, just so happens she was small enough to get really hurt by a full grown person.

edit for DHS: she was 5. seems the scenario should have a special context, IMO only.

IIRC Jay has many signs advising folks to slow down there and they indicate on the map that it is a "slow" ski/ride area. Short of closing down the headwall, I really don't know what else they could do.
 

tnt

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Bottom line - people should ski in control. If you can't stop for, or avoid, a bunch of 5 year olds getting a lesson on a green trail, you are not in control. This isn't the kid's fault, and I bet it wasn't the active instructors fault. I fail to see how it is Jay's fault - though if the jack ass was fired for reckless skiing and they didn't yank his pass the MAYBE.

It's the kid who was bombing down the mountain's fault. The parents and their lawyers are shotgunning the suit, but form what I can see here, the only person to blame is the kid bombing down the trail.

IMO. YMMV.

Jeez, we should talk more about skiing and less about crashing.
 

thetrailboss

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Bottom line - people should ski in control. If you can't stop for, or avoid, a bunch of 5 year olds getting a lesson on a green trail, you are not in control. This isn't the kid's fault, and I bet it wasn't the active instructors fault. I fail to see how it is Jay's fault - though if the jack ass was fired for reckless skiing and they didn't yank his pass the MAYBE.

It's the kid who was bombing down the mountain's fault. The parents and their lawyers are shotgunning the suit, but form what I can see here, the only person to blame is the kid bombing down the trail.

IMO. YMMV.

Jeez, we should talk more about skiing and less about crashing.

Exactly
 

dlague

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so you put your 5 year old in a program, under the supervision of a resort employee and your kid and his/her life is completely altered you would have no second thoughts about the resort's part in this?

Are you implying that the instructor had control over the idiot? Seriously?
 

dlague

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Bottom line - people should ski in control. If you can't stop for, or avoid, a bunch of 5 year olds getting a lesson on a green trail, you are not in control. This isn't the kid's fault, and I bet it wasn't the active instructors fault. I fail to see how it is Jay's fault - though if the jack ass was fired for reckless skiing and they didn't yank his pass the MAYBE.

It's the kid who was bombing down the mountain's fault. The parents and their lawyers are shotgunning the suit, but form what I can see here, the only person to blame is the kid bombing down the trail.

IMO. YMMV.

Jeez, we should talk more about skiing and less about crashing.


I agree as well! Others don't - everyone is entitled to their own opinion which does not make anyone wrong! More than likely it will get settled quietly!
 

kingdom-tele

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Are you implying that the instructor had control over the idiot? Seriously?

If by idiot you mean the 5 year old, then yes.

Anyone who has ever come off of Riv Q has let em run through that section, the metro dumps through there, it is wide enough to accomodate the skiers and the variety of users, but it is still a mixing bowl, one that maybe isn't the best option for a learning skier of 5. It is one of the few places the flat run out doesn't create a balance between those learning and those just trying to get the run out over with. All the signage is great TB, maybe they just need to not rely on the signs and take a step toward protecting beginners, especially a 5 year old a little differently.
 

skiberg

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That is one of the reasons tha case has value. It's a good case. Not a great one, but it has significant value. It's going to take a lot if work but, ultimately the case will probably resolve favorably for the family. The mountain has a good defense but there is just to much risk in trying this case for the mountain and ins. Co.
 
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