Family seeks $2M for teen’s ski death at Blue Mountain

Lord.Quasimoto

Lord.Quasimoto

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http://www.thestar.com/news/article/950471--family-seeks-2m-for-teen-s-ski-death-at-blue-mountain?bn=1

The family of a girl who died on a school trip to Ontario’s Blue Mountain Ski Resort has filed a lawsuit claiming the teen was encouraged to ski a hill she felt she wasn’t ready for.

Elisabeth Reurink, 17, of London, Ont., died in March 2009, after hitting a tree at the resort in Collingwood, Ont., about 150 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

A statement of claim was filed with the Ontario Superior Court on Feb. 7 but the law firm representing the girl’s family announced the suit this week.

It is alleged in the statement of claim that Reurink, a student at London’s Catholic Central High School, wasn’t given enough instruction on how to ski and was encouraged by her phys-ed teacher to ski a slope that was beyond her abilities.

It is also alleged the school board failed to take adequate safety precautions to ensure the Grade 12 student’s safety during the ski trip that was part of the school’s curriculum, according to the statement.

None of the allegations has been proven in court, and the defendants intend to defend against them, their lawyers said Tuesday.

The statement of claim listed the resort, the school board, school officials and two unnamed resort ski instructors as defendants.

After the teenager’s death, the London Catholic School Board cancelled all remaining snow-related school trips that year and reviewed its policies, according to media reports at the time.

“We respect the right of the family to file the suit,” Wilma de Rond, the board’s education director, said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

De Rond, who is among those named in the lawsuit, said she could not comment further.

A resort spokeswoman said in an email they were “truly saddened by the Reurink family’s loss.”

“Elisabeth Reurink’s accident was fully investigated by Blue Mountain and we are satisfied that everything was done appropriately,” said Kelly O’Neill.

Legate & Associates, which represents the family, said in an email that the teenager’s parents and sisters launched the $2-million lawsuit to get answers about why she died.

According to the statement of claim, members of Reurink’s gym class received less than one hour’s instruction from employees at Blue Mountain, then were permitted to ski any terrain at the resort.

However, O’Neill said Reurink’s sticker allowed her to ski only green and blue runs — not the black or double black diamond runs. Ski runs are marked green for easy, blue for intermediate and black for most difficult or advanced. Double black diamond runs are for experts only.

The statement of claim says Reurink did not want to ski on an intermediate hill, L-Hill, where advanced and intermediate runs converge on a difficult slope.

O’Neill said the teenager was on an intermediate slope, not an area where advanced and intermediate runs converge.

The statement of claim says Reurink told the phys-ed teacher of her concerns but despite her protests, the teacher encouraged her to ski the hill.

Reurink, who was wearing a helmet, lost control on the slope and hit a tree at the bottom, dying instantly, the statement of claim alleged.

“She hit with such force her aorta and brain stem were severed,” the statement read.

Thoughts?
 
Complete bullshit. The resort has zero fault in this. If anybody is going to be sued it should be the teacher, and even then its pretty iffy.

Why cant North America be more clear cut like Europe when it comes to skiing safety?

 
Noone is to blame for the lack of ability or judgement except the dead girl. The family are just fuckin retarded.
 
the following post contains rough generalisations, so yeah, dont take it too serious:

nothing against northern america, but "your" quest for freedom and self-determination in every facet of life (e.g. fuck governmental interventions, "give me a fucking gun",...) is totally contradicting to such stories.

ZOMG! my kid died skiing, you better pay me money because she wasnt ready. comon guys, its sad and everything but noones to blame for that. my (somewhat) stepbrother died a few years back when a pipe cracked down in his friends living room and the emergent carbon monoxide killed him in his sleep. sad, yeah, hate the world, but filing a multi-million dollar lawsuit? who profits from that? makes you look like a greedy bastard. i mean if she was handicapped now and would need permanent help, than its ok because that can be a huge financial problem for a family. but as sad as it is, shes gone and money wont bring her back.

and to be honest, if 2M let you overcome your daughters death than you are a piece of shit anyways...

 
out here in germany. its basically ski where the fuck you want. if you die, you die. if we have to come save you, you will be fined.
 
i don't understand this. I can understand hitting a tree if you're skiing some tight glades, but if you're on a groomed run, and heading straight for a tree, then why not just fall the fuck down before you splat against it? Seriously? I don't care how inexperienced someone is. EVERYONE knows how to fall down.
Natural selection at its finest.
(I know I sound like an asshole, but I have little sympathy for dumb people.)
 
I think it is funny that her family values her life at only $2m.

That said, the family needs to get on with it, the girl died living which I doubt either of her parents will have the heart to do.
 
i fucking hate people like that its not the ski resorts fault and fuck people that sue, for shit like that, GAPERS SUCK, too many fucktards crashing into trees
 
She was wearing a helmet and still died from brain injury. She must have been ripping.Youd think if you were going that fast out of control ud just sti down and at worst twist up a leg... Sad story but theres no reason to sue in that situation.

similar example from my past... race coach told us he would buy a hot choc for who ever skis this mogul patch the best/fastest. I ripped it but ended up getting bucked back seat and crashed hard on my back, winding me and fracturing a vertebrae. I never once thought that it was my coaches fault for pushing us to go fast. People need to take responsibility for their actions. Even if the instructor is telling u to do something, if ur not ready dont do it.
 
So she passed her test to ski on blues, then she crashed and died skiing on a blue run. But she was somehow skiing beyond her ability... and that's the resorts fault?

I hope these parents get fined for filing a bullshit lawsuit and clogging up the court system.
 
damn is Blue mountain an RCR resort? if so, i hope they lose all that money that would be really funny since they banned terrain parks because of fear of people dying.
 
you guys who laugh or say the family is retarded need to grow up. Imagine losing your sister/bro etc.
 
a few weeks ago, i took a bus to my university, and a few towns later, a school class (maybe 7-8 years old) got in, and you could see that they made a trip to the nearby ice skating rink. and guess what? all of them had helmets on, so it was pretty obvious that it was mandatory.

while its not something bad, no problem, i just wonder how in the world i could survive my childhood. when we were ice skating with our school back in the 90s, or even skiing, there were no helmets. we didnt have high visibility vests on when we walked in cities or so.

of course, safety is good and everything, but people need to stop sometime. there is such stuff as bad luck and sometimes you just cant guard yourself reasonably against all possible dangers
 
nothing proves to the onlooking world that you love your late daughter more than demanding an astonishing amount of money to replace her....
 
Or maybe the family should understand the concept of personal responsibility and not look to punish others for a tragic accident that was nobody's fault but the girls.

Playing to the emotion of the situation is both counter-productive and irrelevant.
 
the family is fucking retarded, they want 2 mill for their daughters death WHICH IS COMPLETELY her own FAULT , not the gym teachers, not the ski resort. people like them should just.....
 
exactly, im sorry for these people's loss, but it had nothing to do with the mountain absolute bullshit. I'm sick of hearing about these stories
 
sounds like a huge head ache relief to me

the girl was a 12th grader, she was more then competent in deciding if the run was to advanced for her. To top it off, when using a pass at any mountain, you acknowledge that skiing is a dangerous sport and that you are partaking in said sport at your own risk, read the back of a pass some time. Parent's case should get thrown out, its disgusting how they are trying to cash in on their daughter's death
 
I've never been to blue mtn.. but looking at the trail map... it looks pretty flat?
If the PE teacher tried dragging her onto a double black diamond run or something her first day out.. then ya, that sucks.
But girl is in 12th grade. She could make her own decisions.. Could get to the top of the run.. throw her equipment down and say.. I'm not doing it.
I hate how everyone is a victim these days.. people gotta own up to their own decisions.Shit happens. We do dumb things sometimes. that's life. get over it.
If this was a total peer pressure thing where the PE teacher was riding her case and forcing her on the run.. then take it up with him. Get him fired.
To sue the mountain is rediculous and I hope the case gets dropped.

 
if the teacher was encouraging a grade 12 down a hill that they shouldnt have been on, the kid should have the brains to not do it....
 
pretty much yep

first tramps (at least in austria), and a lot of other things everytime someone hurts themselves.

i wonder how kids will even get to school in 2030. my bet would be in busses cushioned with pillows, in a complete hockey protection kit. and yeah, the bus's max speed is limited to 10 mph.
 
they're not sueing the resort. They're sueing the school for encouraging her to do something she wasn't ready for. If she were an adult this would not be a case at all, but since she was under the care of the phys ed department her death is on their shoulders
 
wow fuck that family, i get they lost their daughter and all but they sent her knowing that there was obviously some form of danger, and it was her call in the end, if she didnt feel comfortable going down a certain run than she shouldnt have, and its not like she was a young kid, she was 17 or 18, clearly old enough to make a sensible decision. and dont they always have to sign waivers for these sort of things? basicaly she frech fried when she should have pizza'ed, she was bound to have a bad time
 
thats fucked. ive been to blue mountain, its a standard ontario hill, nothing too serious, no epic terrain and a black diamond over there would probably be a blue square anywhere else in the world. anyways, unless i misread the article, she was on a blue run, not even a black diamond. ive been to ontario ski hills like horseshoe and shit with my school, and the people who obviously suck get a sticker only letting them go on real easy hills, so im pretty sure they did everything they could have to try and prevent an accident like this. bottom line, if a kid sucks, loses control, doesnt know what to do and hits a tree, well shit happens, theres not much else the resort couldve done to stop it.
 
this whole thing is stupid. the family just doesn't know what to do. i'm pretty sure that when you buy a lift ticket it says the resort isn't responsible for any damage and that skiing is a dangerous sport that involves obstacles that could cause injury or death.
/trying to sound knowledgeable.
 
our country's judicial system is so fucked up, the family will probably win the lawsuit. Did anyone ele here about that lady who sued tobacco companies because she got come sort of cancer from smoking? she won and got millions of dollars, which is ridiculous. People put themselves into situations, like smoking or skiing, and think they should get money if they hurt themselves, and they sign a waiver, but the majority of the people still win. stuff like this pisses me off because blue mountain will most likely be hurting financiially after this is done, its ridiculous.
 
This is in Canada... but same thing I guess.

I'm just an echo: people need to stop playing the victim card. This girl, for pretty much all intents and purposes, was an adult, perfectly capable of making choices. A tragedy sure, but a tragic accident should not equal a large payday.

This sounds like what happened here in Washington: guy goes off jump with way too much speed and gets paralyzed. Later down the road, a lawyer convinced them to go to court, go for a huge fucking suit, and won. The family was probably coaxed, but it doesn't matter. This suit is bullshit.
 
looks like canada is america's lil bro after all. SUE SUE SUE!!!!
SueMcropped.JPG
 
1. Phys ed teachers are not ski instructors

2. Blue had nothing to do with the accident

3. Accidents happen

RIP for the girl. Sucks to die for a sport that you dont really enjoy
 
This.

Not to be mean, but it is the girl's fault. The resort doesnt have shit to do with her fucking up. Its not like the runs arent clearly marked, or you cant fucking tell that its steep. And she could fucking tell the run was steep, she didnt have to go down it
 
This is bull. I feel for the family i do but come on. I blew out my knee 2 years ago because a kid cut from a cat track into the park right in the middle of a jumpline. Usually they have a snowfence setup but on that day someone forgot to do it. I was told by a few people to sue the mtn for everything i could becuase they neglected to preform a basic saftey procedure. Probably could have won if i had a decent lawyer, even a few people who worked at the mtn said i probably would have won. Fuck that though, if everyone tried to hold someone else financially liable every time they got hurt people would be running around hurting themselves just to file law suits(i wouldnt doubt if some people arnt fucked up enough to do this)
 
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