Litigation is on the increase and is affecting people’s behavior in all walks of the ski world. In
the latest case a 17-year old boy, Brian Martin, fell off a ski rail in
Whiteface Mountain, NY, and broke his tibia on a
support bar. His lawyer, Salvatore D. Ferlazzo, argued that
the rail was not skirted and the bar should have been covered or
cushioned. He produced video evidence and a skiing expert to support
his thesis.
However the court considered all he facts and concluded that the state’s obligation to Martin was to make the conditions of performing an inherently risky maneuver like rail sliding “as safe as they appear to be, not as safe as it could be.” In other words the person executing the maneuver had to take some responsibility for their actions, make their own decision about how they would behave and accept some of the consequences.
Excerpted from PlanetSKI.com.
However the court considered all he facts and concluded that the state’s obligation to Martin was to make the conditions of performing an inherently risky maneuver like rail sliding “as safe as they appear to be, not as safe as it could be.” In other words the person executing the maneuver had to take some responsibility for their actions, make their own decision about how they would behave and accept some of the consequences.
Excerpted from PlanetSKI.com.
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