{"id":29159,"date":"2024-02-18T16:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-18T23:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ski-resorts-long-history-of-immunity-threatened-by-colorado-supreme-court-case\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:50:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:50:01","slug":"ski-resorts-long-history-of-immunity-threatened-by-colorado-supreme-court-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ski-resorts-long-history-of-immunity-threatened-by-colorado-supreme-court-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Ski resorts\u2019 long history of immunity threatened by Colorado Supreme Court case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Wolf
Wolf Creek Ski Area in Southwest Colorado, seen here in 2018. (Courtesy of Scott DW Smith via Wolf Creek Ski Area\/file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Annie Miller\u2019s family wants the ski industry to share responsibility for injuries she suffered when she fell from a Crested Butte Mountain Resort chairlift. Whether that happens depends on the seven justices of the Colorado Supreme Court, who, in the coming months, will issue a ruling on how much protection liability waivers can provide ski areas.<\/p>\n

The high court\u2019s decision could have sweeping impacts on Colorado\u2019s signature industry and the long-standing Ski Safety Act that has protected ski resorts for several decades. If the Colorado Supreme Court rules that parents cannot sign liability waivers for their kids, recreation providers like camps, rafting companies and ski resorts argue insurance costs will climb and they will be unable to provide opportunities for children.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s lawyers on Tuesday asked the Colorado Supreme Court to reverse a lower court\u2019s decision that pointed to liability waivers signed by Miller\u2019s dad when he bought lift tickets in its dismissal of the family\u2019s negligence claims against Crested Butte ski area and its owner Vail Resorts. It\u2019s the first time the state\u2019s highest court has considered the now-ubiquitous use of liability waivers by ski resorts.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrested Butte and the ski industry as a whole is attempting to get complete contractual immunity to overcome any duty to the highest care and any duty based upon a regulatory statute,\u201d argued Bruce Braley, the attorney representing the Miller family. \u201cSo if you can waive any negligence claim, including any claim based on the highest duty of care, any claim based on statutory duty, and if you don\u2019t have a right to recover for gross negligence under Colorado law, even though the parental waiver statute specifically carves out an exception for gross negligence and recklessness claims, what\u2019s left?\u201d<\/p>\n

Annie Miller was 16 when she fell from the Paradise Express chairlift, at Crested Butte Mountain Resort in March 2022. The 30-foot fall left her paralyzed. The family of the Oklahoma teen sued the ski area and its owner Vail Resorts in December 2022, arguing the lift operators were negligent because they did not stop the chairlift when Miller was unable to load the chair properly.<\/p>\n

The family also argues the liability waiver Miller\u2019s father signed to get Annie\u2019s lift ticket should not relieve resort operators of their duty to \u201cthe highest standard of care\u201d while operating chairlifts, as required by state law.<\/p>\n

A Broomfield County District Court last year dismissed the family\u2019s negligence claims, pointing to that liability waiver signed by Annie\u2019s father. The family appealed that decision to the Colorado Supreme Court, hoping to get the easier-to-prove simple and ordinary negligence claims back in their lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Changes to lift operator safety rules<\/div>\n

The American National Standards Institute in 2011 amended the safety rules for lift operators \u2013 which were adopted by the Colorado Tramway Safety Board \u2013 that allowed lift attendants to choose \u201can appropriate action\u201d when responding to unusual conditions, which \u201cmay include\u201d stopping the lift. That was a shift from earlier standards requiring attendants to stop the lift when dealing with something out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow just because they watered down the mandatory language does not mean they repealed the requirement that if you see an endangered passenger, you should stop the chairlift,\u201d said Braley, a lawyer with the Denver firm Leventhal Puga Braley.<\/p>\n

Justice Maria E. Berkenkotter asked Braley: \u201cIsn\u2019t that a significant amendment? I mean it changed from a \u2018shall\u2019 or a \u2018must\u2019 to a \u2018may.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

What about waivers?<\/div>\n

The Miller family also urged the justices to closely examine a 2003 law approved by the Colorado legislature that allowed parents to sign liability waivers for their kids participating in recreational activities. Providers of recreation \u201cneed a measure of protection against lawsuits\u201d and without that protection \u201cthese entities may be unwilling or unable to provide these activities,\u201d reads the 2003 Senate Bill 253. The legislation rejected a Colorado Supreme Court decision in 2002 involving a ski racer who was injured in a crash and sued a local Aspen ski club. The high court in that case ruled that a parent may not sign away a minor\u2019s ability to sue for negligence. Lawmakers in 2003 crafted the parental liability legislation to say the court\u2019s decision in 2002 \u201cdoes not reflect the intent of the general assembly or the public policy of this state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Braley emphasized that the lawmakers in 2003 did not include dismissals of previous Colorado Supreme Court decisions \u2013 including a lawsuit by a 19-year-old Florida skier critically injured after a 30-foot fall from the Paradise chairlift at Crested Butte Mountain Resort in 1992 \u2013 that ruled resort operators \u201cmust exercise the highest degree of care\u201d when running chairlifts.<\/p>\n

Justice Melissa Hart asked Braley to break down his fundamental argument, asking, \u201cCan Crested Butte absolve itself of the statutory duty through private contract?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the fundamental legal issue,\u201d said Braley, urging the justices to reinstate the easier-to-prove claims of lower negligence and expressing concern that the ski area operator will seek to dismiss the gross negligence claim in the Broomfield District Court.<\/p>\n

\u2018It doesn\u2019t make sense to say that area operators \u2026 are going to ignore their obligations\u2019<\/p>\n

Michael Hoffman, the attorney representing the Crested Butte ski area and Vail Resorts, asked the justices to see the Miller claim as not a violation of a statutory rule in the Colorado Ski Safety Act but a violation of a rule by the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re talking about rules of the tramway board, you will never have a circumstance where a ski area operator can absolve themselves of a duty,\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cIf we do something wrong, the tramway board can suspend our license. Can shut us down on an emergency basis. Can revoke our license. If we violate one of their orders, we can be sent to jail for 364 days. These are serious, serious consequences, especially for corporate executives that don\u2019t want to go to jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Hoffman said the 2003 state law that allows parents to dismiss their child\u2019s right to sue for injury is not waiving a statutory duty. And children \u2013 just like anyone \u2013 can sue for gross negligence. That\u2019s \u201cone of the ironies\u201d of the Miller argument, Hoffman said, that waivers allow resort operators to ignore laws protecting skiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense to say that area operators, all area operators, are going to ignore their obligations, people will be hurt and we\u2019ll be immune. We won\u2019t be immune,\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cIf there\u2019s an intentional decision or a reckless decision made not to comply with the Ski Safety Act, not to comply with a tramway board regulation, we\u2019re opening ourselves up to gross negligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Ski Areas Association, Colorado Ski Country, the Colorado River Outfitters Association and the Colorado Camps Network have joined the case in support of the Crested Butte ski area, arguing liability releases \u201care essential to providing children with the ability to participate\u201d in organized recreation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout the protection of releases, many smaller and low-cost providers will not be able to provide their services to children,\u201d reads a brief filed in the case by the recreational groups. \u201cFor many larger providers, without the protection of releases, they will have to increase prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Something about that is wrong\u2019<\/div>\n

Justice Carlos A. Samour Jr. asked Hoffman, \u201cSo what\u2019s the point of these statutes?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I feel like your position renders all these statutory provisions meaningless,\u201d Samour said.<\/p>\n

Samour said he was concerned with the idea that all chairlift riders at ski resorts must sign a waiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yet we have a situation where the legislature is saying: \u2018Hey, ski industry, these are standards that we expect. That we are requiring you to keep,\u2019\u201d Samour said. \u201cAnd the ski industry then turns around and says, \u2018Well, that\u2019s nice of you. Thank you. But we\u2019ll just make people waive and be done with it.\u2019 Something about that is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoffman said the ski area and Vail Resorts will not return to the Broomfield District Court and argue that the Miller family cannot sue for gross negligence because they signed the waiver. Some justices pressed Braley to explain why a lawsuit claiming gross negligence was not enough for the Miller family. Why reinstate the claims of simple negligence?<\/p>\n

Justice Monica M\u00e1rquez said the \u201callegations of the complaint actually set out a pretty solid claim for gross negligence if, in fact, these allegations prove to be true. If no one was there, if no one was paying attention and the lift kept operating, that seems like gross negligence to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the gross negligence argument requires the Millers to argue for \u201ca higher burden of proof,\u201d Braley said.<\/p>\n

And Braley was dubious that the ski area operator would not argue that the waiver signed by Annie Miller\u2019s father, Mike Miller, dismisses all negligence claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at their waiver language. Their waiver language is complete and absolute. A complete assumption of risk for anything that happens on our property, a waiver of liability for all claims,\u201d Braley said. \u201cIf they truly believed that there were claims for gross negligence and recklessness, their release language \u2026 should tell prospective riders on a public tramway \u2018This waiver does not release claims against us for gross negligence, recklessness or intentional acts.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

involves a teen who was paralyzed after a fall from a chairlift<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[378,120,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-alpine-skiing","tag-colorado","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80650,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29159\/revisions\/80650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29159"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}