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[Stephen]

Court says ski area not protected from snow tuber’s lawsuit

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A ski area is not protected from a lawsuit brought by an injured snow tuber, the state Supreme Court has ruled.

State law helps shield ski areas from lawsuits by saying a skier assumes the risk of injury by participating in the sport. The Ragged Mountain Ski Area cited the law, saying it applied to snow tuber Alaina Santoro Sweeney of Warner.

But the court said Thursday the ski area immunity statute applies to skiing, not snow tubing.

Sweeney, 39, filed the suit in Merrimack County last year, alleging that she collided with another snow tuber and suffered a lasting head injury at the Danbury area in 2001.

Her lawyer, Peter Hutchins, said she appears to suffer a loss in hearing, memory and balance.

Ragged Mountain lawyers said Sweeney assumed the risk of injury when she went snow tubing and asked that the case be dismissed. A judge did so.

But the state Supreme Court agreed with Sweeney that the law, which refers to the "sport of skiing," doesn’t bar her claim and returned the case to the trial court.

"Given that the statute broadly defines ‘skier,’ Ragged Mountain argues that the ‘sport of skiing’ must be similarly broadly defined. We disagree," the court wrote.

Hutchins said the court handed down "a very strong case and said that snowtubing is not skiing, that skiing has to be done on an alpine slope or a cross-country trail."

Hutchins said he anticipates the high-court ruling will be significant in his wrongful death case against Loon Mountain in which a 21-year-old snowboarder from Hudson, Louis Cicere, was killed not on the ski slope but a terrain park designed for aerobatic snowboarding.

 

[Charlie Schuessler]

Seems like Ragged Mountain and probably the whole ski sport industry got some bad legal advice. The law is written and the area’s risk is greater when they don't follow the law. Now the industry will spend $$$$ to lobby all States legislator's to specifically include snow tubing as part of the ski sport laws. And what will industry ticket price increases fund?

Lawyer & Lobbyist invoices…. :evil:

It will be interesting to see if the snow tubing parks will be open this season...and what about the "Terrain Parks?"

 

[bigbog]

.....Hutchins said he anticipates the high-court ruling will be significant in his wrongful death case against Loon Mountain in which a 21-year-old snowboarder from Hudson, Louis Cicere, was killed not on the ski slope but a terrain park designed for aerobatic snowboarding.

You know I agree with the court about the Tubing. A tubist has no way to control themselves....that's why if allowed, they must be given a LOT of room... The park is just another facet of skiing...imho, but what really scares me is the part where the court talked about alpine skiing on designated trails...period ??? Just what is this saying about off-trail/backcountry experience in NewEngland :-?
I just wish areas would stop the grooming(as a rule) and designate much of their trails as off-trail skiing :roll: For one thing, it would slow the speeds down and make them think about safety a little more and just might offer a little less ice in the afternoons....given the appropriate weather. Granted, many days would demand grooming, but I'd like to see someone give it a try... 8)

 

[riverc0il]

bigbog, i don't see the part of that article that strictly defines skiing as being done only on "designated trails." i believe the statement in question more states what snow tubing is not rather than what skiing is (i.e. since snow tubers are not tubing on an alpine or x-c trail, they don't count as skiers). i believe that the wording "an alpine slope" would also include trails such as glades, bumps, etc. backcountry skiing is clearly outside of the bounds of libel as there's no operation or organization being paid to run a safe operation.

while i agree snow tubing is different than skiing, are they to bleed the soul of snow tubing??? no more than 5 degree pitch and only one snow tuber on a "trail" at a time? i've never been snow tubing, but the image that always comes to mind is the group of friends holding on to each others tubes having an awesome time.

i think the more important question here is the broader implication to extreme sports, outdoor sports, outfitters, guides, etc. surely law suits like this have a potential to undermine an entire industry of outdoor leisure and sport activities that require risk and potential of injury. is the soul to be removed from entire "risky" sports due to a few unfortunate incidents.

what a word we live in. a world that wants you to believe you live life dangerously and full of adventure (from the comfort of your lazyboy in the comfort of your own home watching TV) -- but sucks the life out of everyone and everything it can, homogenizing experience and people alike and removing any sort of challenge or obstacle for people to try to overcome. while cases like these suck for skiing and the ski industry and reminds us it won't be long before only a few dozen ski areas remain open in new england... it really is indicative of a larger more complex problem facing the psyche and mental health of the nation.