Industry News
A settlement has been agreed upon between the family of a boy who suffered life-altering injuries at a pond skim event at Snow King Mountain Resort, WY, and the resort. The agreement came just hours after both sides completed unsuccessful mediation, and just as Teton County District Court was preparing to select a jury for the trial. The trial would have been Teton County’s first in this pandemic-era, reports the Jackson Hole News & Guide.
The pond-skim is an end-of-season ritual at many resorts across the country, a fun way to celebrate the end of another season. But for one entrant at Snow King Mountain, WY, his participation in the event had an everlasting effect on the rest of his life, caused by injuries sustained during his skim attempt.
According to the complaint filed by his parents, Wyatt Doyle sustained permanent injuries from an accident he was in during the pond skim event in March 2017. Through their attorney, Jerry Bosch, Doug and Elizabeth Doyle, claim Snow King was negligent, and a mediation between the parties was unsuccessful. Snow King has not held a pond skim event since.
The complaint filed against Snow King Holdings LLC claims their son was severely and permanently injured due to the condition of the defendant’s premises and the defendant’s negligence in designing, creating, and conducting a “pond skim” event. The boy and some other teenagers skied across a pool of water at the base of the mountain, and one of the other skier’s edges cut Doyle’s leg. Video of the accident shows one of the teen’s friends skiing over him in the pool, and the water becomes stained with blood.
“Doyle suffers significant and life-changing injuries including permanent nerve damage that results in what is commonly referred to as drop-foot,” Bosch wrote in the complaint.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs say the accident happened on land under the control of Snow King through a lease agreement with the town of Jackson. Snow King argues that it isn’t liable for the injury and that pond skimming is an inherently high-risk activity.
“There are no warning signs about the risk of undertaking this activity,” the complaint states. “Specifically, there are no warnings about the dangers of more than one person attempting to pond skim at the same time. Defendants built the pond and then simply allowed anyone to use it as they saw fit without control or warning.”
The complaint says the ski blade cut through Doyle’s skin, blood vessels, tendons, and nerves. The original complaint was filed before Wyoming’s new Skier Safety Act went into effect, designed to protect ski areas from such lawsuits.
Details of the settlement have not been released.
Snow King Mountain is a ski area and hotel in Jackson, Wyoming. “The King” is Jackson’s original 1936 ski hill, located on the southeast edge of the city. It was the first ski area in the state of Wyoming. Locals sometimes refer to Snow King as “The Town Hill.” The ski area offers three-hour and night skiing.
Unfortunately, snow king made the best decision financially. Even winning a lawsuit is more expensive than settling out of court. They know it was the skiers fault and they would’ve likely proved that in court.
Should of sued his buddy that ran him over and not the ski resort
Skiing is an inherently dangerous sport. “Know before you go” applies at all times, even when in bounds on the gentlest of slopes.
Yes, Snow King could have had more precautions in place. No, they shouldn’t be responsible for people with a lack of common sense doing stupid things. Actions have consequences and unfortunately the consequences here were severe. With that being said, I highly doubt this kid will make this mistake again (but who knows, with parents who automatically blame someone else instead of taking responsibility for their DEPENDENT and teaching him how to conduct himself safely and responsibly, it’s tough to tell).
Most who attempt to pond skim never make it all the way across and have a yard sale mid skim. It is absolutely foreseeable that a piece of equipment could release and/or hit someone in the vicinity. Allowing a free-for-all or more than one at a time to skim is destined to end badly. It can be done reasonably safely with a few precautions in place.
That is a very tragic accident and I’m sorry for the young man’s loss of full function in his leg. That being said, it is absolutely ridiculous that the family should feel they have the right to sue–and even more so that they are awarded money through “agreement”–for their son being injured in an event he participated in. It would seem that they feel the resort is responsible for supplying their son with common sense.
“Riding on sharp-edged boards designed for sliding on snow through water with a group of your friends can hurt you? But we weren’t TOLD that, specifically.”
This kid has a lot more problems than drop foot with an upbringing like that.