Liability for Skiing Accident Found to be Barred by Signed Waiver and Under the Skier's Responsibility Act

By Daniel Cummins on February 25, 2025

The case of Lin v. Shawnee Mountain Ski Resort, No. 4031-CV-2022 (C.P. Monroe Co. Dec. 11, 2024 Williamson, J.), the court granted the Defendant ski resort’s Motion for Summary Judgment in a case arising out of a skiing accident at the resort.

According to the Opinion, the Plaintiff was relatively a novice at skiing. As part of the ski rental process at the resort, the Plaintiff executed a release or waiver document.

After some time on the “bunny slope,” the Plaintiff and her friend went to ski on other trails on the mountain.

At some point during the day, when coming down one of the other trails, the Plaintiff came all the way down the hill and was unable to slow or stop allegedly due to icy conditions and missed crashing into the ski racks situated outside of the lodge but skied into the lodge itself. The Plaintiff, who was wearing a helmet, went head first through a glass window of the lodge.

The Plaintiff alleges that, as a result of the collision, she suffered a broken pelvis and multiple stomach lacerations which have resulted in considerable scarring.

The Plaintiff sued on various theories of negligence. In part, the Plaintiff alleged that the lodge was located too close to the bottom of the trail, that the Defendants failed to provide some sort of stopping mechanism in front of the ski racks in the lodge, and that the Defendants should have installed safety glass in the lodge’s windows. The Plaintiff additionally alleged that the trail she came down was mislabeled as a easier or beginner’s slope.

The Defendants filed a Motion for Summary Judgment asserting that the Plaintiff’s inability to stop and result an accident where inherent risks of skiing which is deemed to be an assumed risk under the Pennsylvania Skier’s Responsibility Act.

In the alternative, the Defendants alleged that the Plaintiff’s claims were barred by the release that the Plaintiff signed at the time she rented the ski equipment.

The Defendants also requested summary judgment on the punitive damages claims asserted.

Judge David J. Williamson of the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas granted the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment, holding in pertinent part, that the Plaintiff’s negligence claims were barred by both the Skier’s Responsibility Act and the liability waiver that the Plaintiff had signed before commencing her skiing activities.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.

Source: The Legal Intelligencer Common Pleas Case Alert, www.Law.com (Jan. 29, 2025).