Death to the Terrain Park as we Know it

tyfighter

tyfighter

Member
Do to the Verdict of the following Case that was settled in Washington State over a 23 year old who hit a jump that threw him 37 feet in the air and landed in the flat, that paralyzed him. Boyne, Boyne Highlands, Nubs Knob, and Crystal Mountain in Michigan are not going to have Jumps in their Parks this year and they say years to come. The Pipe and Rails will be the only thing left in the park.

The Following is the News article about the Verdict of the Case in Washington. Because of the Wording from this case it has made it almost impossible for resorts to create jumps so people won’t Sue all the time when they get hurt. If you read the case it says that because the jump was the structurally engineered properly the resort was at fault. The question is how do you structurally engineer snow, it is always changing and will never be the same hour to hour.

Story about Case:

Jury gives $14 million to skier paralyzed at Snoqualmie

By Sara Jean Green

Seattle Times staff reporter

After a five-week trial, a King County jury on Friday awarded $14 million to a 27-year-old skier who was paralyzed after dropping 37 feet from a ski jump at the Summit at Snoqualmie.

Kenny Salvini, of Lake Tapps, was 23 years old when he went off the jump at the Central Terrain Park at Snoqualmie Central and landed on compact snow and ice in February 2004, said his attorney, Jack Connelly.

During the trial at the Regional Justice Center in Kent, "information came out ... that the man who built [the jump] eyeballed it with a Sno-Cat" rather than engineering a design, Connelly said.

Engineers and an aeronautics professor from the University of California, Davis, testified that the jump was improperly designed and featured a short landing area, Connelly said, adding that ski jumps are supposed to be sloped so that energy from a vertical jump is transferred into a skier's forward motion on landing.

"Going off this jump was the equivalent of jumping off a three-story building," Connelly said. "If you're going to be throwing kids 37 feet in the air, these jumps need to be engineered, designed and constructed properly."

Officials from the Summit at Snoqualmie on Friday afternoon wouldn't answer questions about the incident but released a statement. It said risk is inherent in snow sports, but, "that said, any time there is an incident, our genuine thoughts and prayers are with our guests and their families."

The statement said Summit officials "are disappointed but respectful of the [trial] process."

According to Connelly, other people were injured on the same jump in the weeks before Salvini's accident, including a snowboarder who broke his back. A week after Salvini was injured, 19-year-old Peter Melrose of Bellevue died going off a different jump at the same terrain park, he said.

"There were 10 accidents with eight people taken off the slope in a toboggan" in the weeks before Salvini was hurt, landing on what Connelly said was a flat surface. In all, he said, evidence of 15 earlier accidents was admitted into evidence but "nothing was done" by ski operators to fix or close the faulty jumps.

The full jury award was for about $31 million, Connelly said, explaining that the amount was decreased to $14 million after calculating "the comparative fault" of his client and "the inherent risk of the sport."

Before he was injured, Salvini, now a quadriplegic, was captain of the wrestling team at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, where he graduated in engineering technology, Connelly said. His mother is now his full-time caregiver.

Over the course of his life, Salvini's medical needs are estimated to cost between $23 million and $26 million, Connelly said.

 
Heard about that a while ago as most of us have I'm sure.(Stories been posted) However thanks for the update on how some mountains are reacting. I was wondering just what kind of shit storm this was going to create. Hopefully not many resorts follow this bitch ass decision to remove jumps.
 
Eek. You have parks in the mid-west refusing to build jumps at all now?

Honestly, a park pass doesn't guarantee that someone can not sue either, due to the way people can prove "negligence" so easily.

I'm betting that after the jury awarded such a large sum, the insurance companies have likely started jacking any hills insurance prices if they have jumps.

I knew there would be some fallout to that case.
 
One thing I forgot to add is that we are talking about BOYNE USA who is the largest Ski Company in the USA, owning Boyne Moutain, Boyne Highlands, Big Sky, Just bought Sugar loaf and Sunday River in Main, Crystal Mountain Resort in Washington, Brighton ski Resort in Utah, and Cypress Mountain, British Colombia.

I can't only guess, that more resorts are to follow!
 
i dont belive it, boyne and nubs have invested way to much into their park equipment and snow guns to not have a decent park
 
sup with Americans suing everything and everyone. You should be able to judge a jump yourself before you hit it, not blaming the builder and then sue him/the resort for millions and fuck up for loads of kids who wants to have fun in the park.

No wonder cups with coffee says WARM CONTENT, cause you might get sued for millions of dollars if it doesn't say the coffee is warm and the drinker burns his tongue..
 
thats ridiculous. you sign a form that sayss the resort is not responsible if you are injured or dead. surely, it does? thats the whoel point of the waiver forms, so the resorts dont get in trouble,
 
i remember reading this a while ago, so i searched for it.

this came up:

posted april 11,2007

"A skier, Kenny Salvini, was awarded $14 million last week as the result of becoming paralyzed after he outjumped the landing on a tabletop feature and crashed in the terrain park at The Summit at Snoqualmie. The incident took place Feb. 11, 2004, at 8:30 p.m.

A jury found that the operator, Ski Lifts Inc., was partially responsible for the crash (the $14 million was the resort’s share of a total judgment for $31 million). During the trial, engineers and an aeronautics professor from the University of California, Davis, testified for the plaintiff that the jump was improperly designed and had a short landing area. Evidence presented by the defense at the trial, though, showed that Salvini flew approximately 110 feet through the air and outjumped the landing. He reverse-rotated, landing on his neck and causing his injuries.

Salvini’s attorney argued that the construction of the jump had been eyeballed by a park builder operating a snowcat, and was therefore not properly engineered and designed. In addition, 14 other skiers and snowboarders had sustained minor injuries by outjumping the landing on that feature earlier that season, and another suffered a broken back. However, those figures are out of more than 200,000 estimated takeoffs on the feature, including two by Salvini the previous week. Industry experts at the trial testified that the building of the jump was consistent with best practices in the industry.

Guy Lawrence, a spokesman for The Summit at Snoqualmie, said officials were "disappointed but respectful" of the jury verdict.

In a statement, Ski Lifts Inc. said, "The Summit at Snoqualmie’s number one priority has always been, and continues to be, the safety of our guests and employees. The Summit has twice been awarded the National Award of Excellence for Skier Safety by the National Ski Areas Association in recognition of its industry-leading safety programs.

"Our terrain park staff always considers safety as their first and most important goal. This concern for safety drives all of our operations."

Salvini, who had been captain of the wrestling team at Central Washington University, is now a quadriplegic. His medical costs are projected to total $23 million to $26 million over his lifetime.

Ski Lifts Inc. is preparing an appeal of the ruling."

i wonder if this guy was a gaper or a freesker?
 
only ballers can stomp step downs with narrow landing areas. signs in the park displaying such warnings should be placed accordingly.
 
some people dont take the warning signs into consideration. they merely glance at it and go "pfftt.." and carry on.
 
it really isn't... I work in diving, I let people sign waivers all the time that they can't hold me responsible for accidents that might lead to serious injury or death, but if something ever should happen and I got a douchebag who wants to sue me, he can and even has a fair change of winning because afterwards you can always find things you should/could have done better/different which might have given a better outcome for the victim, and they'll just try to twist and turn in some way to neglectance.

It's stupid... it's the way the world works these days. Luckily there are some good insurances who go up to a few million to pay those fuckheads, but it's because of people like that people like us have to pay for it in some way
 
Yup. A good lawyer can take any waiver, and find a loophole thru negligence and "prove" that the service provider could have done something differently that MAY change the outcome of the situation at hand.

The waivers do not prevent the victory of a lawsuit, it just makes the lawsuits more difficult to obtain so mainly only severe cases will be seen, not minor injury cases.
 
does anyone else find it fishy:"Salvini, now a quadriplegic, was captain of the wrestling team at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, where he graduated in engineering technology,"IF HE WAS A GRADUATE OF ENGINEERING SCHOOL, HIS KNOWLEDGE SHOULD HAVE TOLD HIM THAT IT WAS 'ENGINEERED' IMPROPERLY AND SHOULD NOT HAVE HIT IT... with that said, i feel bad he got hurt and received compensation for it, but who will really benefit from that money.... im sure his parents are the ones who brought the suit up in the first place.. leave it to the parents to not know anything about what he was doing in the first place.. and blame someone else for his poor judgemet
 
thats fucked up how one single shit kid can fuck up that much because he couldnt judge a fuckin jump himself, i really feel sorry for you
 
Here's the deal: when people do action sports, all responsibility falls to them to care for their own safety. All of it. If he didn't check out the jump before he hit it, that is his fault. If he did, and then he hit it anyway, it is still his fault. And it is not a question of negligence because there are billions of signs EVERYWHERE around terrain parks emphasizing the massive and grave dangers of what can happen. If he didn't read them, that again is his fault.

We cannot make people be responsible to read and check things out and then not hit what they are uncomfortable with or seems unsafe. However, we can choose not to bail them out when they claim that what they did was not their fault. This shit makes me ridiculously angry, because when one person who may not even be a passionate skier turns around and sues, they people who are passionate and do know and accept their responsibility get penalized because the resort can no longer afford to put up jumps.
 
A bunch of us from the WA regional got into a row with the guy on his blog a few months ago, the guy doesnt feel sorry at all, or that true justice has prevailed. Typical American who cannot take responsibility for their own actions.
 
Probably more expensive park passes, due to higer insurance costs. Hopefully a lot of parks also get safer... Coz the jump he got paralized on was a piece of shit
 
my understanding of the case is that summit knew the jump wasn't built right but it was still open. which means summit is guilty of negligence. however, if this happened in colorado where negligence is covered under the state ski law it would've been a very different trial. i think alot of states are now going to include negligence in their skier safety laws in order to protect the industry. i bet michigan doesn't have that clause.
 
Typical.

"I did nothing wrong and am entitled to this money" attitude.

Sickening. Sucks the kid cannot walk, but it's a risk you undertake when playing in parks or skiing in general.
 
dude, hes paralyzed. its not like he just fell. i don't know if hes right in his decision to sue but if i was paralyzed cuz a bulider built a shitty ass jump id definently be pissed enough to considering suing. hopefully, thisll lead to safer jumps in general.
 
You don't need to convince us, you're 100% right... now let's start beating that in to other people's minds and change how the whole system works...

The community has organisations like Stand Strong Again to help people who got into a bad accident doing what they love. They should face that guy with those people who have a strong personality.

None of the real skiers (or extreme sport athletes in general) will ever sue someone because of their own, actions.
 
tearing an ACL is completely different than being paralyzed for life and needing to live at home so that you're mom can be your caregiver for the rest of your life.

i mean, it's really sucky that he sued, but at the same time i've never been in a situation where i've been paralyzed from a jump. i just might be pissed off enough at EVERYONE to sue the hill.
 
yeah, Steve, you need to check your compassion level here. You have no clue, not the slightest comprehension what the rest of his life will be like. He isn't even just paralyzed from the waist down, but from the neck down. He cannot feed himself, he cannot use the bathroom himself, he cannot shower himself, and he certainly cannot go outside or do ANYTHING that you take for granted everyday. It also seems you are reading over the part where it says that he should have received 31 million, but they TOOK AWAY 17 million because it was his fault. Got that? They are saying it was more his fault than the mountain? Did you read that part? No one is saying he isn't at fault. However, the issue with the resort is that the jump was made poorly and not corrected. Maybe you haven't done any of the physics involved, but an incorrect takeoff to land ratio of slope can make a jump literally unhittable/unlandable. Perhaps you don't have a firm grasp of trajectory, nor the situation. In either case, however, I would highly recommend that you take 30 minutes and sit and consider what the rest of this guy's life will be like before you start ripping him apart. I can GUARANTEE you he has much more remorse over the accident or decision to go off the jump than you do anger that a couple of parks might not have jumps. So, please do not post any more hatred.
 
Cause there is always a way around a waiver...and in a sympathy case like this one...it is so easy to get juries to favor...
 
thats really stupid.. its his own fault that hes paralyzed or however thats spelt, maybe the waivers should say something like "i agree that i will not take this to court no matter what"

and i fucked my back up pretty bad last year and the first thing that comes to mind is how there was a shitload of resort staff right there to make sure i was okay
 
I don't understand what he needs all that money for 14 million is a shit load of money. I know there will be a bunch of medical cost, but 14 million. Someone explain please.
 
nobody needs 14 million dollars, if he was a halfway decent person he would give most of it to charity or something

the court system is like a lottery that rewards stupidity sometimes
 
First i would like to say that terrain parks witll NEVER, EVER die. As long as there is a market for park skiing, there will always be terrain parks. Terrain parks are the newest feature to skiing resorts, thus the formula, design, and full operations of terrain parks have yet to be fully exploared ( sp).

When you buy a ticket, or a sign a waiver saying that you are responcible for your own actions, this means that it is not the fault of the ski resort that you hurt your self. It means that you schould know your own limitations on what you can/cannot ride.

The resulting case is more then likely cause by the ski patrol responce, and how the resort took care of the accident. This one case will not change how ski hills operate. Im sorry but if you huck your self off of a 10 foot jump, and you can't even 180, thats not the fault of the hill, thats your own common sence. That case is wrong, and will be won in aquittal court.
 
Did you not read the article it said he needs 23-26 million in medical bills over a lifetime, I think that constitutes needing 14 million. This has been discussed before, it was probably his insurance company forcing him to file suit since they don't want to cover the costs that will be incurred for the rest of his life. You should be just a pissed at Blue Cross/Blue Shield as the man himself.
 
Waivers only limit liability, they can't extinguish it. In fact nothing can, really. Responsibility is kind of like a scale, and you put a percentage of the weight of an issue on certain parties. By signing a waiver, you're putting some of that weight on your end of the scale, but you can never take ALL of it.
 
sucks to live in the states i guess.

Were getting a bigger better park here. and Every year the mountain parks get bigger and better.

Lift tickets and warning signs only cover the mountain so much. You may be at fault for breaking your back on a jump that is out of your league, but its the mountains fault for putting it there and allowing you to use it. living in a legal system vs a justice system sure sucks, but its life. GET OVER IT!
 
I was going to come in and comment, but I'm just done with this subject. People are responsible for themselves. they sign that waiver by buying the ticket (printed on back of ticket) and by entering the park (signs all over the damn place. even more to come.) and now it's getting to the point where they think they aren't responsible for anything and it's our fault they got hurt on anything, tree, jump, running into people, bad snow conditions during spring break when they wanted powder...

sooooooooo ummm ya. stay classy... world.
 
no they didn't billy, don't talk out of your ass, vail resorts include breck and keystone, and they both had large jumps open until closing day. haha that's funny about crystal though, cause they never had jumps to begin with.
 
No, dumbass. it was a shitty jump so he SHOULD NOT HAVE HIT IT>

The dude is a total fucktard. Search for him on MYSPACE. He claims that since the accident, he is "a deep thinker" and all that shit. his writing is horrible, he's obviously a total toolbag. There's a bunch of pictures on there of him wakeboarding "This was BEFORE the accident omgz" and then there's a picture of him now, he's fat. Dumbass could eat right and be fine, but no, obviously he wasn't any sort of real athlete because he treats his body like shit.

then he's got a bunch of other asshats all posting things like "I heard you won your case, i'm so happy for you" Fuck them all, he shouldn't have ever sued anyone.

Basically, he's a giant tool, and he will be till he dies from heart failure due to poor diet.
 
actually it wasn't that bad, he just straightlined into from the top of the park instead of the starting area on an icy night.
 
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