Jury clears snowboard maker in liability suit

[Luke Warmwater]

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/05/29/c4.or.snowboardverdict.0529.html

May 29, 2005

Jury clears snowboard maker in liability suit

The Associated Press

PORTLAND - In what is believed to be the first liability verdict in the nation involving a snowboard manufacturer, a jury ruled a Swiss company was not to blame for the 2002 death of a young woman on Mount Bachelor.
Frank and Ellen Svitek of Ambler, Pa., sued Nidecker of Rolle, Switzerland, after their daughter, Kate Svitek, 22, was trapped in a well of deep snow surrounding a tree and died on Feb. 8, 2002, at the central Oregon ski resort.

The trial centered on the snowboard's bindings. Unlike ski bindings, which automatically release in a fall to prevent injury, snowboard bindings do not release.

The Sviteks' attorney, Joseph Chaiken of Philadelphia, argued that nonreleasable bindings increase the risk of death if a snowboarder falls into a well of deep snow. Unable to kick off the board, a rider can become trapped in the snow and suffocate.

But the attorney for Nidecker, Brad Stanford of Portland, argued nonreleasable bindings are safer overall because they allow the snowboard to act as an anchor when a rider falls.

[Mr.Scruff]

Let's sue the ski patrol for not grooming the tree lines.

[Baconzoo]

crazy skiers

I don't wait for skiers who loose a ski on a powder day.

[Tippster]

Unlike ski bindings, which automatically release in a fall to prevent injury...

Not always, idiot. Plenty of skiers have died in tree wells, a maggot had a near miss not too long ago.

This suit was yet another example of grieving parents filing a BS suit trying to find someone other than their child to blame. I empathise, but certainly don't sympathise.

[Below Zero]

I don't wait for skiers who loose a ski on a powder day.

OK, but do you wait for skiers who lose a ski on a powder day?

[Twoplanker]

Thank god for a sane verdict.

[bdog]

Thank god for a sane verdict.

Agreed. There was a similar suit against Burton a number of years ago with a verdict that ruled in favor of Burton. That was over a death at Mt. Hood Meadows, again a rider who was caught in a tree well.
The post mortem on Kate stated that she died almost instantly from suffocation due to snow being forced into her airway. It was and is a tragic accident and a great loss to those who knew Kate. It was and is nothing more.

As Scot Schmidt said: "People who sue ski areas should be shot".