Injured Utah Skiers Can Sue, Despite Waivers
Skiers who hurt themselves as the result of negligence by Utah ski resorts can sue for damages, even if they sign agreements waiving any right to damages.
That’s the ruling of the Utah Supreme Court, which ruled yesterday that ski resorts cannot shield themselves from negligence lawsuits through liability waivers. Jesse Trentadue, the lawyer for the plaintiff, told the Salt Lake Tribune that Utah now joins Colorado and Vermont in holding that liability waivers are invalid.
The Utah high court held in its 3-2 ruling (PDF) that the liability waivers for negligence are unenforceable because they are contrary to state public policy. The court said the public policy was apparent in a Utah law that barred liability for accidents occurring from the inherent risks of skiing, which was enacted to make insurance affordable.
“The bargain struck by the act is both simple and obvious from its public policy provision,” the majority opinion said. “Ski area operators would be freed from liability for inherent risks of skiing so that they could continue to shoulder responsibility for noninherent risks by purchasing insurance. …
“The act’s core purpose is not to advance the cause of insulating ski area operators from their negligence, but rather to make them better able to insure themselves against the risk of loss occasioned by their negligence.”
Two dissenters argued the majority interpretation of the statute “improperly expands the plain language of the act and infuses it with ‘intention not expressed’ by the legislature.”
In 2001, the Utah Supreme Court ruled in another waiver case that liability waivers signed by parents for their minor children are not valid.
