James Kelly v. Sierra-At-Tahoe
Published: Dec. 6, 1997 | Result Date: Aug. 19, 1997 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: SV0714 – $0
Judge
Court
El Dorado Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Jon O. Jacobson
(technical)
Richard C. Penniman
(technical)
Kevin Wightman
(technical)
Defendant
John R. Price
(technical)
Facts
On Dec. 4, 1994, plaintiff James Kelly, a 19-year-old snowboarder, was snowboarding at defendant Sierra-At-Tahoe snowboard park. The park "Snowboard Alley" consists of terrain features of varying size and shape, built out of snow. The snowboarder performs tricks on the features, riding, jumping and spinning in the air, as on a skateboard. The plaintiff jumped off a feature called the Keyspine and, allegedly because of the pitch of the takeoff ramp, the plaintiff did an unintended back flip, landing head first on hard snow. He broke his neck and is now a permanent paraplegic. The plaintiff brought this action against defendant based on a theory that the design of the terrain feature created an extreme risk of injury to snowboarders.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiff made a C.C.P. º998 settlement demand for $1.25 million. The defendant made no offer.
Injuries
The plaintiff suffered permanent paraplegia.
Other Information
The verdict was reached approximately two years and three months after the case was filed. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE: A settlement conference was held on April 21, 1997, before Judge Suzanne Kingsbury of the El Dorado Superior Court. It did not resolve the matter. Prior to trial, the court denied defendant's motion for summary judgment. The court applied Branco v. Kearny Motor Park, Inc. (1995) 37 Cal.App. 4th 184, 43 Cal.Rptr.2d 392. (a bicycle motorcross BMX case) to find that defendant had a duty not to increase the inherent risks of snowboarding by creating a jump that posed an extreme risk of injury, and there was an issue of fact whether that duty was breached in this case. EXPERT TESTIMONY: Plaintiff's expert, Kevin Wightman, testified that the Keyspine resembled jumps used for back flips in international freestyle skiing competitions where only highly trained athletes were allowed to use them under close supervision. Defendant's expert, John Rice, general manager at Sierra-At-Tahoe, testified that only the snowboarder could control the jump and the snowboarder, not the ski area, was best able to control the risks of jumping. POST TRIAL MOTION: The plaintiff made a motion for a new trial which was denied. The case is now on appeal.
Deliberation
2+ days
Poll
9-3
Length
21 days
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