Survey of Ski Law in the United States
by James H. Chalat
To read cases specific to a particular state, click the state name, above.
OREGON - 2006
The "Skiing Activities law," Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 30.970 to 30.990, provides that skiers and passengers assume the "inherent risks of skiing" insofar as they are "reasonably obvious, expected, and necessary" parts of the sort, including skier/skier collisions and failure to ski within one's ability. Skiers must notify operators of injuries within 180 days and bring suit within 2 years. Id. at §§ 30.980(1), 30.980(3). Skiers assume without condition the inherent risks associated with skiing outside a designated area. Id. at § 30.985(1)(a). Lifts are regulated as amusement devices pursuant to Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 460.310 to 460.370, with operators expressly not common carriers, but nonetheless required to exercise the "highest degree of care for the safety of users."
Cases
Operators are not immunized for their own negligence. Pierce v. Mt. Hood Meadows Oregon, Ltd., 847 P.2d 909 (Or. Ct. App. 1993), reviewed denied (involving negligent instruction claim and rejecting waiver as ambiguous that did not expressly refer to ski school activities). Operators remain liable for their employees' negligence, even if that negligence takes place in the form of skiing. Nolan v. Mt. Bachelor, Inc., 856 P.2d 305 Or. (Ct. App. 1993) (operator remains potentially liable for skier/skier collision where negligent skier was a ski instructor employed by the resort). While injuries sustained solely from an inherent risk work as a bar to recovery, if injury is caused by combination of inherent risk and operator negligence, comparative fault applies. Jessup v. Mt. Bachelor, Inc., 792 P.2d 1232 (Or. Ct. App. 1990), review denied (plaintiff injured when she ran into crowd of skiers at ski lift off-ramp). In Steele v. Mt. Hood Meadows Oregon, Ltd., 974 P.2d 794 (Or. Ct. App. 1999), review denied, the court allowed a suit in negligence to proceed, holding that a ski ticket that recited the inherent risk statute that allows claims in negligence, could be understood by skier to release claims for inherent risks only, not negligence, and did not bar plaintiff's claim. In Stiles v. Freemotion, Inc., 59 P.3d 548 (Or. Ct. App. 2003), review denied, the court reversed a lower court ruling that allowed jury instructions crafted from the Skiing Activities law in a case brought against a snowboard manufacturer and dealer, saying that the Act applied only to defendants who were ski area operators.
