Ski Accident Law: Common Injuries & Reckless Behavior
UPDATED: Sep 24, 2024
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Mary Martin
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Mary Martin has been a legal writer and editor for over 20 years, responsible for ensuring that content is straightforward, correct, and helpful for the consumer. In addition, she worked on writing monthly newsletter columns for media, lawyers, and consumers. Ms. Martin also has experience with internal staff and HR operations. Mary was employed for almost 30 years by the nationwide legal publi...
Published Legal Expert
UPDATED: Sep 24, 2024
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right legal decisions.
We strive to help you make confident insurance and legal decisions. Finding trusted and reliable insurance quotes and legal advice should be easy. This doesn’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own.
Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about legal topics and insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything legal and insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by experts.
UPDATED: Sep 24, 2024
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right legal decisions.
We strive to help you make confident insurance and legal decisions. Finding trusted and reliable insurance quotes and legal advice should be easy. This doesn’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own.
UPDATED: Sep 24, 2024
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right legal decisions.
We strive to help you make confident insurance and legal decisions. Finding trusted and reliable insurance quotes and legal advice should be easy. This doesn’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own.
Skiing and snowboarding can be dangerous sports and often result in injuries and even death. But what are the most common injuries and how does the law punish reckless behavior on the slopes? To find out, we asked Jim Chalat, a Colorado attorney with over 30 years experience whose practice focuses on personal injury, and particularly ski accident law. Here’s what he told us:
Common injuries
The most common injury for any ski accident is the anterior crucial rupture of the knee, according to Chalat. He explained, “This is a function of the technology of the alpine release binding which has come a long way in protecting the lower leg. However, it’s still unable to prevent or avoid injury to the knee in all cases. We handle a number of cases in which this injury, although common, was caused by someone else’s negligence and is often a “skier on skier” collision, a lift accident and sometimes accidents caused by collisions with motorized vehicles on the slopes, such as snow groomers.”
Chalat says that the large cases his firm handles, and the ones that are most troubling, involve catastrophic injuries. He explained, “These include death, paralysis and severe brain injury. We usually handle several cases a year involving catastrophic injuries which profoundly and adversely affect the victim’s earnings capability, require long term care and have generated substantial medical expenses.”
Reckless behavior
Chalat’s firm, who took the first multimillion dollar verdict in a skier collision case, deals with all types of ski accident cases – including reckless behavior on the slopes. We asked him to comment:
Skiers are sick and tired of reckless snowboarders and skiers causing injuries and sending innocent people to the hospital – or worse. As a consequence of this increased number of skiers and skier accidents, there’s a strong impetus toward suing reckless skiers for running down other skiers and snowboarders on the hill. We’ve been involved in several very high profile cases, some with international implications, involving skier collisions.
You do not assume the risk of someone else’s reckless behavior
Snowboarders’ accident rates are exactly the same as the skiers, according to Chalat, who says that he’s seen snowboarders run down by reckless skiers and innocent skiers who have been run down by reckless snowboarders. “Here’s the paradigm. If you are skiing and you lose control because you’re going too fast and you hit a tree, it’s your responsibility. If instead of hitting a tree, you hit somebody else and injure him or her, it’s still your responsibility. Skiing is not a contact sport. You don’t assume the risk of someone else’s negligent or reckless behavior.”
If you’ve been injured in a skiing or snowboarding accident, contact an experienced injury lawyer whose practice focuses in this area of the law to discuss your situation, evaluate your options and find out more about potential damages. Consultations are free, without obligation and are strictly confidential.
Find the right lawyer for your legal issue.
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Mary Martin
Published Legal Expert
Mary Martin has been a legal writer and editor for over 20 years, responsible for ensuring that content is straightforward, correct, and helpful for the consumer. In addition, she worked on writing monthly newsletter columns for media, lawyers, and consumers. Ms. Martin also has experience with internal staff and HR operations. Mary was employed for almost 30 years by the nationwide legal publi...
Published Legal Expert
Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about legal topics and insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything legal and insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by experts.