It's also worth looking at how this type of litigation occurs in America, and the background to it.
There was a landmark case in 1977 - Sunday -v- Stratton - when James Sunday, a 27-year-old beginner, sued the Vermont resort of Stratton Mountain. His ski had tripped on a bush in the snow, he was flung on to a rock and he was paralysed. He was awarded $1.5 million by the jury.
After that case US ski resorts were repeatedly sued until individual states passed 'skier safety acts' which heavily indemnified ski resorts from accident litigation. There's a distinction, of course, between (and these are just examples) (a) natural hazards such as ice, rocks, holes, that the ski patrol may, or may not, have a duty to warn about (b) normal fixed obstacles on ski mountains such as snowfences, snow cannon and lift towers (and the linked issue as to whether there's a duty to pad them) (c) machinery moved around the mountain, such as snowmobiles and piste-grooming machines.
I worked for about 10 years as an expert witness in ski accident cases, including a big one at Sydney Supreme Court in Australia concerning a British skier paralysed from a fall at Thredbo. That case involved ice, a slope with quite steep transverse gradients and an issue as to whether a run should have been open or closed (note how often this arises with the Ciste Gully on Cairngorm these days). It's generally relevant in these cases to look at (because there is always the angle of contributory negligence by the skier, as well as anything else) how well the skier was prepared for a day which might include visibility problems, typical challenges of turning ability, avoidance, speed control (how much ski instruction had the skier taken etc.) and so on.
All in all, it's for the public and politicians to decide what is reasonable in law. What level of indemnity should Scottish ski resorts enjoy from this type of litigation?
This page from the prominent US ski lawyers Chalat Hatten Koupal & Banker is a good one to look at, because it's biased towards their business interests and hints at what they see as the loopholes in quite tightly controlled law ...
[
skisafety.com]
Edited 2 times. Last edit at 10.30hrs Sat 14 Jun 14 by David Goldsmith.