SCRANTON - A 1980 law addressing the risks of skiing will keep a Delaware family from blaming Ski Shawnee for the paralysis suffered by a then-16-year-old who struck a light pole while snowboarding.
U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Daryl Bloom ruled for the owner of Shawnee Mountain ski resort on Jan. 6, finding the Skier's Responsibility Act prevents Katherine and Damian Birl from taking their case over the injuries sustained by their son, known as G.B. in court documents, to trial.
Their 2022 lawsuit says the pole was unguarded and improperly placed, and that G.B. was paralyzed from his chest down when he collided with it in 2021.
Though the complaint said Ski Shawnee had duties to provide a reasonably safe environment and warn of any dangerous conditions, Bloom went through a group of previous skiing and snowboarding decisions to rule for the defendant.
"Even accepting the plaintiffs' version of events - that the course 'caused' G.B.'s loss of control, and ultimately, his collision with an off-trail obstacle - we conclude that this risk is inherent to the activity undertaken by G.B.: snowboarding in a terrain park," Bloom wrote.
"Snowboarding is a dangerous activity. Riding a snowboard in a terrain park to perform tricks and jumps increases the risk of that activity."
Terrain parks have features that allow skiers and snowboarders to perform stunts, tricks and jumps. G.B. went over one of these bumps and hit a light pole in a group of trees along the side of the trail.
There were no barriers, pads or warning signs. At Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Creek, G.B. underwent a spinal laminectomy, bilateral spinal fusion, repair of four broken ribs, evacuation of an epidural hematoma and decompression of his spinal cord, the decision says.
His hospital stay lasted nine days and rehabilitation over three months didn't cure the fact he was paralyzed from his chest down. The layout of the terrain park was unsafe, the ensuing lawsuit says.
Bloom was forced to decide if the risks posed by the terrain park were inherent to snowboarding.
Wading through past cases, Bloom arrived at Bjorgung v. Whitetail Resort, a Third Circuit decision from 2008 that found the risks of high-speed ski racing were inherent.
That plaintiff said the course of the race directed skiers towards the edge of a trail, so a collision wasn't a risk he assumed by simply racing. But the Third Circuit said a crash was a risk "altogether inherent in the activity undertaken by plaintiff."
The Birls tried to make the same argument the Bjorgung plaintiff did.
"Were the plaintiffs able to make a showing that G.B. remained in control after performing the jump in question and that despite retention of control he had no chance to avoid the light pole, because the jump necessarily put him on an unavoidable path to collision, we might be persuaded to characterize the risks as plaintiffs have here," Bloom wrote.
"But... the undisputed facts of the case do not support such a characterization. Rather, the undisputed material facts are that G.B. lost control of his snowboard."
Robert Mongeluzzi and others at Saltz Mongeluzzi represent the plaintiffs. Ski Shawnee is represented by Anthony Hinkle and William Brennan of Cipriani & Werner.