PHILADELPHIA - For the second time in a month, a Pennsylvania federal judge has ruled for a ski resort sued by an injured customer, citing a state law that "for better or worse" protects defendants.
Justice Gerald McHugh on Feb. 6 ruled for Blue Mountain Resort in Carlton County and against plaintiff Elizabeth Kupsta-Badurina, who described herself as a "pretty good skier" with a season pass at Blue Mountain.
She was on a double black-diamond trail in March 2021 when a snowboarder crashed into her, striking her clavicle with the board. She broke eight ribs, suffered four fractures to her clavicle and experienced blood clots.
But her season pass agreement required her to sign an agreement releasing Blue Mountain from liability for negligence. Still, she filed suit in 2023.
Her husband had purchased the passes but the name on the dotted line was that of her son's, Nathan. McHugh said it didn't matter because her case was governed by the Pennsylvania Skiers' Responsibility Act.
"(T)he dispositive issue is whether the risk that caused Plaintiff's injury is one of the 'inherent risks' of downhill skiing," McHugh wrote.
Blue Mountain said her injuries came from a standard collision, a risk recognized by Pennsylvania courts as inherent in skiing. Kupsta-Badurina argued otherwise, claiming there was insufficient signage at a merger point on the trail.
But she submitted no affidavit about whether she was unaware of the merger point and offered no expert opinion.
As for her claim the snowboarders were particularly reckless, McHugh said it is also deficient.
"There was no testimony to that effect in Plaintiff's deposition; her counsel has taken no depositions; and there are no affidavits from Plaintiff, her husband, or her son, who seemingly were there that day, or any other witnesses," McHugh said.
"It is also unclear whether the snowboarders' behavior was in any way atypical. Snowboarders performing tricks and 'catching air' do not intuitively strike the Court as conduct out of the ordinary for the sport."
Weeks earlier, U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Daryl Bloom ruled for the owner of Shawnee Mountain ski resort in another personal injury case, finding the SRA 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 a 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."
As for Kupsta-Badurina's case, McHugh refused to let her lawyers reopen discovery in order to support their theories.
The two-year-old case already had a full year of discovery, he wrote.