Ski resort liability waivers were back in front of the Colorado Supreme Court this month, nearly two years after the high court ruled the ubiquitous scroll-and-click agreements cannot always shield ski areas from all negligence claims.
That case — involving Annie Miller, an Oklahoma teenager who fell from a chairlift at Crested Butte Mountain Resort and was paralyzed — “expanded an injured guest’s ability to bring claims against a ski area,” said Trent Ongert, an attorney for a snowboarder struck by an employee-driven snowmobile at Breckenridge ski area in December 2020, during his oral argument this month before the Colorado Supreme Court.
A Summit County District Court dismissed injured snowboarder John Litterer’s claims before the Miller decision, agreeing with resort owner Vail Resorts that the Texas man’s purchase of an Epic Pass roughly two years after the crash waived his right to sue.
After the Colorado Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court and dismissed Litterer’s lawsuit in January 2025, the Colorado Supreme Court last fall accepted the case, with a fresh light from Miller ruling.
“It is up to this court. The legislature is not going to act here,” Ongert told the court during an April 16 hearing at Holyoke High School. “The legislature has ignored every recent attempt to enact laws that enhance skier safety and ski area accountability.”
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