Liability waivers will no longer protect ski resorts that violate state laws based on a new ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court.
The ruling marks the end of a yearslong battle from Colorado ski resorts to lean on waivers in the face of lawsuits. Skiers and snowboarders sign these waivers that claim resorts are not liable for possible injuries, even when resorts violate state laws. The court reexamined a lawsuit brought forth by Annie Miller and her father, Michael Miller, over Annie Miller’s 30-foot fall from a ski lift that left her paralyzed in 2022.
“This was a big victory for ski safety in Colorado,” said Bruce Braley, an attorney and former U.S. representative who represented the Millers. “It says unequivocally that ski areas cannot force skiers and snowboarders to sign away their rights to protection under the statutes and regulations that govern the ski industry in Colorado.”
Michael Miller brought a negligence lawsuit against Crested Butte Mountain Resort, which is owned by Vail Resorts, after Annie Miller was unable to board the ski lift safely. Michael Miller yelled for the ski lift to stop, but it continued, with Annie Miller hanging on to the chair as it climbed up the mountain. She eventually fell and landed on her back, and the ski lift finally came to a stop.
The lawsuit claimed the resort violated Colorado’s Ski Safety Act and the Passenger Tramway Safety Act and should have stopped the ski lift at the first sign of danger for Annie Miller.
In the Colorado Supreme Court’s 5-2 decision, the high court reversed a lower court’s ruling that waivers protected ski resorts that violate state law and that much of Michael Miller’s claim was invalid. The new ruling allows Miller to continue with his lawsuit against Vail Resorts.
“For many, many years … everyone sort of agreed that when you sign that waiver you are waiving claims of negligence, but you can always still make claims if the ski area fails to do the things it is required to by law, like maintaining the lift properly,” said Evan Banker, another attorney representing the Millers.
Since 2017, ski resorts have successfully strengthened protection in the face of lawsuits through a series of targeted litigation and winning key court cases. Banker and Braley argued that some of the wins for the ski resorts gave them full immunity from liability claims unless there was gross negligence involved in the accident.
“It brings us back to the landscape everyone understood it to be many years ago. Which is, you can waive claims of negligence, but the ski area doesn’t get to avoid its legal responsibility, its responsibility in statute and regulations, by having you sign a waiver,” Banker said.
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Attorneys for Vail Resorts argued that the Millers’ lawsuit misstated the Colorado precedent surrounding waivers.
“Colorado courts have upheld private recreational waiver agreements, even where the plaintiff could have (or did) point to a statute regulating the activity,” attorney Michael Hofmann wrote. “The existence of recreational safety regulation has never been enough to prohibit private parties from agreeing that a waiver defense will be available.”