Vail Resorts has agreed to drop its unprecedented countersuit against a woman who sued the ski company after injuring herself on an exposed piece of metal, ending a closely-watched case over the validity of liability waivers.
After an Eagle County district-court judge dismissed the negligence claim by Julia Parsons stemming from an accident in 2004, she agreed on Friday not to appeal the ruling in exchange for having the company’s countersuit dropped.
“I think someday there will be a precedent set by someone … (to overturn) this judgment made by this judge, but I just got to the point that I don’t want to be the one to be used as the example. I don’t want to be that person,” said Parsons, of Eagle-Vail, who said the counter-suit “was intimidating.”
Parsons originally claimed that Vail had been negligent in maintaining a skier bridge – slated for demolition two months later – after she ran into a sharp metal bracket that slashed open her knee and resulted in medical bills of about $4,000.
Last October, nearly 18 months into the legal battle over the company’s liability, Vail’s attorneys filed a first-of-its-kind counter-claim against Parsons, arguing that the waiver she signed in applying for a season pass precluded her from suing under any circumstances.
The company sought attorney’s fees in excess of $100,000.
