Vail Resorts has agreed to drop its 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 judge dismissed the negligence claim by Julia Parsons stemming from her 2004 accident, she agreed 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.
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.
In October, Vail’s attorneys filed an unprecedented counterclaim 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.
“We will vigilantly defend ourselves anytime a claim is brought against the company that we feel has no merit,” Vail Resorts spokeswoman Kelly Ladyga said Monday.
Judge Thomas Moorhead dismissed Parson’s suit on grounds that she signed the waiver and it is a legal contract that protects the ski company “regardless of whether the injury is the result of Vail’s negligence.”
“It’s skier beware,” said Parsons’ attorney, Joseph Bloch. “The pass now says they can basically kill you or one of your family members due to their own fault, and you can’t sue them. And if you do sue them, they’ll come after you.”
Parsons said she would have been dissuaded from suing the company if she knew from the outset that Vail would file a countersuit.
“They had never done that before. … I didn’t want to take the risk of being sued for attorney’s fees. That came out of the blue,” she said.
Although lift tickets to every ski area in the state cite the Colorado Skier Safety Act and indicate that resorts cannot be sued for the “inherent dangers” on the slopes, the waiver for a Vail season pass took it a step further, seeking to insulate the company from all lawsuits by pass-holders.
Jim Chalat, a prominent ski- injury lawyer based in Denver, has suggested that the company’s season-pass waiver creates a double standard that makes it more difficult for pass-holders to sue Vail than for those who purchase a single-day ticket.
“This certainly raises ethical questions about Vail using those kinds of enormously threatening economic sanctions against their own customers for raising their voice,” Chalat said.
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
