Industry News
A 66-year-old woman is suing Vail Resorts after the rescue toboggan she was riding in allegedly overturned, causing her further injuries in addition to the injury she was rescued for, reports the Denver Post.
- Related: Do Waivers Grant Ski Areas Complete Immunity From All Lawsuits? It May Appear That Way in Colorado
Kathryn Stoupas, from Connecticut, was skiing at Keystone Resort, CO, in February 2021. Having fallen at the base of the Geronimo Trail, a black diamond, and injuring her shoulder, she called ski patrol, who loaded her into the sled to transport her to the medical area at the base.
According to Stoupas, the patrollers pulling her in the toboggan were traveling at a “high rate of speed” and lost control. The toboggan overturned, “dragging Stoupas on her left side and face along the snow until it came to rest,” continues the Denver Post. Along with her injured shoulder, Stoupas was treated for “a fractured humerus bone in her upper arm, nerve damage, abrasions and contusions to her face.”
“What we’re alleging is that this was certainly negligence on their part because they shouldn’t be crashing toboggans. After the toboggan crash, she was in agony, screaming, crying pain that she was not in before the toboggan crash.”
– Robert Hoover, attorney
Stoupas claims the injuries led to loss of range of motion, strength in her arm, and continuing pain.
Stoupas seeks compensation for her significant medical bills and the pain and suffering she has endured.
When you buy a lift ticket, you sign a waiver accepting that the ski area is in no way liable for any harm/damages that you sustain while skiing there and that you assume all responsibility for what happens on the ski area’s slopes, even if it’s the ski area’s fault. This waiver would appear to make it impossible to sue a ski area, but just last week, the family of a man who died of asphyxiation on a Vail, CO, chairlift settled with Vail Resorts for his wrongful death.
