Widow: Resort must pay......

[Hacksaw]

Randy,
I heard nothing about this from the Wy crew that attended A3 BOD meeting and CSAW.
HM

[JD May]

This just in: Having a beer last night before a SAR debrief and ran into a guy who is very connected to the JH area.

He told me this suit had been dismissed on technical grounds, the widow filed too late.

Can anyone confirm this?

The limitation period on civil claims is several years depending on jurisdiction (here it's two). However, I don't even see why this would've gone anywhere at all if she was out of time on the filing, that is the first thing the lawyers for the resort would look at. It's not like you get into debates as to the adequacy of disclaimers on your lift ticket and whether Wyoming law limiting liability should apply when you file late. All other discussions become moot.

[robgoose]

....
Christine Nodine sued the resort in district court in December, after U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Freudenthal dismissed a similar lawsuit in her federal court. Freudenthal decided the liability release agreement that David Nodine signed required his wife to bring her claims in state court.
...

I don't know the Wyoming Statute of Limitations on Ms. Nodine's claims, but one of the risks in trying to evade a forum selection clause (saying she could only sue in state court) is that by the time the Federal Court dismisses on the grounds that the forum selection clause is valid, the time to bring the claim in state court will have passed.

I wouldn't be shocked if the journalist failed to pick up on a Statute of Limitations claim in the defense, and sometimes there is a factual question as to when the time to sue starts to run (knowledge of the negligence, for example).

Finally, the decision to dismiss on Statute of Limitations Grounds takes place fairly early on in a lawsuit, but not before the filing of the Complaint and Answer quoted by the journalist.

[Snowboard Professor]

The Snowboard Professor was there the day of the slide, and he thinks since David was skiing a closed area above paintbush/tower three, this whole thing is loco.