Injured While Skiing? Burg Simpson Outlines Your Rights and Recent Cases

Skier-on-Skier Collisions

Thinking of hitting the slopes this season? Protections for skiers when it comes to skier-on-skier collisions is an area for skiers and snowboarders to be aware of this ski season. Colorado Ski Country USA announced a record 14.8 million visitors during the 2022-23 ski season. While ski resorts don’t publicly release injury numbers, those growing numbers mean skiers and snowboarders may be at greater risk of injury caused by a skier-on-skier crash.

To protect yourself, Jacob Burg, a shareholder with the Burg Simpson Law Firm, suggests taking the following actions if you’ve been in a skier-on-skier collision:

1) Call ski patrol and make sure there is an investigation and report documenting the collision.

2) Gather information from the other skier involved, including name, contact details, and any relevant information about the collision.

3) Keep all witnesses and all skiers involved in the incident at the scene to obtain witness statements.

4) To the extent you or someone skiing with you is able, it’s important to document the scene. Take photos of the location, the terrain, your injuries, visible damage to your equipment, any evidence of who the uphill skier was, and the skier’s path of travel.

5) In the event a skier were to hit you and flee, provide ski patrol with as much information on the skier as you possibly can, such as their height, what they were wearing, and the location of where they hit you.

6) Seek medical attention. Receive a medical evaluation from ski patrol and seek treatment as needed.

7) Contact an attorney to discuss your legal options.

“The mountains are really busy, and they’re really crowded,” Peter Burg said. Peter Burg is a shareholder at Burg Simpson Law Firm and one of the country’s foremost trial lawyers handling claims for people with traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries. “If you are skiing recklessly and you ski into someone, and you hurt them, people need to understand that they may very well get sued.”

Peter Burg added that homeowners insurance available to negligent skiers may offer some recovery for injured skiers, but there may be no coverage for skiers who injure others where the responsible party is not a homeowner or “resident” under a homeowner insurance policy.

Ski Resort Claims

Apart from skier-on-skier incidents, thanks to a recent Colorado Supreme Court decision, skiers may finally have a chance to bring a successful suit against Colorado ski resorts in the event they are injured or a loved one is killed while riding a chairlift or if a resort fails to comply with required safety rules and regulations.

The case, Miller vs. Crested Butte, LLC, involved a father who sued Crested Butte Mountain Resort for negligence after his 16-year-old daughter fell 30 feet from a chairlift in 2022, paralyzing her from the waist down. According to the suit, the chairlift operators failed to stop the lift after Annie Miller struggled to get on, and her father, Michael, held onto her while people screamed at the operator to stop it. In May 2024, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that “Crested Butte may not absolve itself, by way of private release agreements, of liability for violations of the statutory and regulatory duties on which Miller’s negligence per se claim is based.”

“[Skiers] can sue for an injury related to a chairlift incident, so long as the cause is due to the ski resort violating what they’re obligated to do under the safety rules and regulations that govern the operation of a chairlift,” said Peter Burg.

Peter Burg, along with Jacob Burg, said the case was an important win for skiers when it comes to their reasonable expectations of safety because it gives them the potential to win a claim, even after signing a broad liability waiver. Courts in the past have overwhelmingly construed those waivers, whether signed online or in-person, as giving broad protections to ski resorts.

“The biggest takeaway from Miller and what the court has clarified is that, look, when you are riding on a chairlift, that is very different than skiing down a mountain, because you are relying on the ski area operator to operate that lift safely,” Jacob Burg said. “You have a very limited area of claims that you can bring, even under this Miller decision.”

That’s why both Peter and Jacob Burg said it’s vital that skiers who are injured contact a knowledgeable attorney to walk them through their rights and potential to bring a lawsuit against the resort — and to do so as soon as possible. Colorado’s statute of limitations for bringing a lawsuit related to ski injuries is generally two years.

Prior Cases Showcase Protections for Ski Resorts

The Miller v. Crested Butte case was similar to a case Peter and Jacob Burg worked on. In that case, Varnish v. Vail Resorts, New Jersey resident and father of three Jason Varnish died in February 2020 when his jacket caught on the chairlift’s frame, causing him to hang from the chair for about 8 minutes. His children sued Vail Resorts, claiming it did not properly train its workers in lift evacuation procedures, and settled the case out of court in spring 2023.

“The lift should have been reversed, and eventually it was, but it was too late and, in our allegations and our point of view, it was the procedures and policies that were inadequate,” Peter Burg said.

Peter Burg said in that case, they alleged that the Ski Safety Act was violated and that regulations put forth by the Passenger Tramway Safety Board were not properly followed.

“It was a case very likely to continue up through the appellate courts,” Peter Burg said. “So, right before rulings on the case, right before trial, the case settled. I am very happy for my clients — very frustrated, though, from a ski liability lawyering point of view that we weren’t able to get rulings on several pending motions. Fortunately, though, the Colorado Supreme Court addressed some of these issues in the Miller ruling.”

In another ruling that took place while the Varnish case was moving forward, Redden v. Clear Creek Skiing Corp., a 2020 Colorado Court of Appeals ruling provided ski resorts with near-total immunity when skiers and snowboarders sign liability waivers upon purchasing ski passes. According to that lawsuit, in March 2017, a Loveland ski area staff member failed to stop the lift for a fallen skier directly in front of Charlotte Redden as she was unloading from the same lift, causing her to suffer injuries.

Peter Burg noted the ruling basically said: “You signed the waiver and release. It doesn’t matter if it’s pled that there is negligence per se, which means a violation of a specific regulation, rule, or statute. We don’t care about that. It gave very, very broad protections for the ski resorts.”

That’s why the court’s recent ruling in the Miller v. Crested Butte case was so vital in giving skiers some protection, Jacob Burg added.

“The decision left open an ambiguous question of law for the courts to determine whether or not the waiver you sign — that we all sign as skiers — whether or not that precludes you from bringing a claim against the ski resort for injuries, even when they failed to comply with rules and regulations governing the resort’s conduct,” he said.

Ultimately, he added, any skier injured due to a chairlift should contact an attorney as soon as possible.

“When we’re talking about injuries on a chairlift, how these claims are presented and what’s called ‘pled’ in terms of a complaint is a very complicated process,” Peter Burg said. “We all expect, and I think we should expect, that when ski resorts are operating the chairlift, they are paying attention to what is going on…but that is a very specific claim that is very dependent on the standards and the violation of specific standards. It’s very important that you contact a lawyer.”

“We want the ski resorts to be protecting people, to have attendants that are well-trained, that understand that when you’re there and you’re operating a chairlift, it’s a very serious job, [that] people are depending on you for their safety,” Peter Burg added. “I do think Miller is a step in the right direction.”

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, skiers can best protect themselves by following proper mountain etiquette and adhering to the posted rules and conditions.

If, however, they are injured due to a skier-on-skier collision or a chair lift incident, contacting a knowledgeable attorney like the seasoned lawyers at Burg Simpson is a critical first step in holding reckless skiers and snowboarders and resorts accountable and finding out if there’s cause for a suit.

The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this post’s preparation.