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Man Sues Ski Liberty After Fall

jimmywilson69

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Ski Liberty is on my pass. They have safety nets up all over the place. I can't imagine this guy slid off a cliff.

Due to its proximity to DC, it's amateur hour there every weekend. While it sounds like this guy got hurt bad, I have. Hard time believing the mountain will be found negligent.


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kartski

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From the Article:
"Vu suffered 21 broken ribs, both of his lungs were punctured, his hip was shattered, his skull was fractured, his liver was lacerated, and he sustained spinal, nerve and vision damage and a separated shoulder. He is seeking more than $75,000 in damages from the resort." With a list of injuries like that, $75K seems kind of low. Lawyers usually ask for more than they expect to get.
 

thetrailboss

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From the Article:
"Vu suffered 21 broken ribs, both of his lungs were punctured, his hip was shattered, his skull was fractured, his liver was lacerated, and he sustained spinal, nerve and vision damage and a separated shoulder. He is seeking more than $75,000 in damages from the resort." With a list of injuries like that, $75K seems kind of low. Lawyers usually ask for more than they expect to get.

One has to allege at least $75k and be a resident of a different state to get into federal court.


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jimk

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Sorry to hear about this and hope the gentlemen recovers enough to have a decent quality of life. There but for the grace of God go anyone of us. I have skied Liberty on an off for 50 years. There are no true cliffs there, but a few of the short, black diamond runs have some steep areas and could be bordered by rocks and debris off the sides of trails that may not be totally covered by manmade snow in early or late season. It would not be fun to be forced into such areas of the mtn. However, with a little googling I have discovered that the accident took place on Lower Heavenly trail. This is a blue square run with a pretty mellow pitch. I could see the gentleman skiing into rocks on the side of the trail, but I have a hard time picturing a cliff-like situation. Here is a video of my son from Jan 2015. Not positive, but I think Upper Heavenly is shown from approx 25 secs to 50 secs in this video. This is the steeper part of Heavenly and it is fairly mellow. If this is not Heavenly trail it is one very near it on the mountain with similar fall line.
 

thetrailboss

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Falling or hitting obstacles sounds like an inherent risk of skiing.


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shpride

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I assumed the artificial cliff was the same as the one my snow used to have. It was a mound of boulders shaped into a drop. It was built on carinthia and has been gone a couple years now.
 

fiddleski

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Wondered about that phrase as well.
More strange to me is the phrase "clear path along the slope". The snowmaking base may be 10 ft high in places, and the sides are very steep of course. I could see that being construed as an "artificial cliff". At the bottom there are frequently boulders in this neck of the woods. I've slid over the edge myself (slowly...) at nearby Whitetail and ended up in the rocks. That said, I don't know what on the Heavenly trail could be construed as a "clear path" that might lead to that situation.
 

JimG.

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It sounds to me like the plaintiff didn't know how to stop and thinks the ski area is to blame for not putting barriers anywhere someone might slip off the trail.
 

Jully

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It sounds to me like the plaintiff didn't know how to stop and thinks the ski area is to blame for not putting barriers anywhere someone might slip off the trail.

Sounds that way to me too and I really hope the plantiff loses... At first glance this really does not appear to be that resort's fault. The details could be different of course, but from what's out there I find this ridiculous.
 

jimmywilson69

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If he was really after some money, you'd think he would've asked for more.

Like I said earlier, this place and whitetail are a shit-show of crowds and poor skiers/boarders on the weekends due to their proximity to DC. I got run over by a snowboarder standing on the side of one of the expert trails at Whitetail a few years ago. I literally was almost standing off of the snow in the woods waiting for my son to catch up and this dude who was boarding out of control couldn't stop and slid into me and knocked me over. I probably saved him from a similar fate as the plaintiff. He barely spoke any English and was trying to blame me for being in the way. When I tried to explain to him that I was in a safe spot, and he shouldn't be boarding so recklessly near the edge of the trail he spoke at me in an angry tone in an another language and took off. Again, completely out of control.
 
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