Opinion ID: 3036664
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Inherent risk

Text: [6] To establish a claim of negligence, a plaintiff must first demonstrate the existence of a duty of care. Gaudreau v. Clinton Irrig. Dist., 30 P.3d 1070, 1073 (Mont. 2001). “The existence of a legal duty can be determined as a matter of law.” Lopez v. Great Falls Pre-Release Servs., Inc., 986 P.2d 1081, 1087 (Mont. 1999). The Forest Service owed a duty of care to all persons which it could reasonably foresee would use the 5 The Forest Service does not dispute the trial court’s damage award. 2882 OBERSON v. USDA snowmobile trail. Id.; see Busta v. Columbus Hosp. Corp., 916 P.2d 122, 134 (Mont. 1996) (“Duty . . . is measured by the scope of the risk which negligent conduct foreseeably entails” (quoting Mang v. Elaisson, 458 P.2d 777, 781-82 (1969)). The government argues that Musselman cannot show the existence of a duty because Montana’s snowmobile statute places all legal responsibility for risks “inherent in the sport of snowmobiling” on the snowmobiler. MONT. CODE ANN. § 23-2-654 (1996). It argues that the statute relieved the government of liability for the failure to warn Musselman of the “variation in terrain” on which he was injured. § 23-2-654(1). The government, however, overstates the law. [7] We review de novo a district court’s interpretation of state law. See Rabkin v. Or. Health Scis. Univ., 350 F.3d 967, 970 (9th Cir. 2003). To determine whether the government had a duty to warn Musselman of the hill’s hazardous nature, we must interpret the meaning of “inherent risk” in the Montana snowmobile statute. Courts considering the meaning of “inherent risk” or similar language in similar statutes have held that language to shield defendants from liability for risks that are integral parts of a sport and, therefore, could not be eliminated by a defendant with ordinary care. See Brewer v. Ski-Lift, Inc., 762 P.2d 226, 231 (Mont. 1988); see also Bouchard v. Johnson, 555 N.W.2d 81, 84 (N.D. 1996); Knight v. Jewett, 834 P.2d 696, 705-06 (Cal. 1992); Clover v. Snowbird Ski Resort, 808 P.2d 1037, 1047 (Utah 1991); Wright v. Mt. Mansfield Life, Inc., 96 F. Supp. 786, 791-92 (D. Vt. 1951). Here, the risk under consideration is not a variation in terrain but the lack of a warning sign at a hazardous variation in terrain. Given the Service’s comprehensive safety program designed to standardize hazard notification on trails, the negligent failure to post a warning sign is not an integral part of the sport of snowmobiling. The risk from such a failure could be eliminated by the exercise of ordinary care. We conclude that the snowmobile statute’s “inherent risk” provision did not OBERSON v. USDA 2883 shield the Forest Service from liability for failure to provide a warning of a known hazard on the Big Sky Trail.