Court Opinion

ID: 9631134
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:29:54.755205+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:28:28.461496
License: Public Domain

BAKES, Chief Justice,
concurring specially as to Part II:
The duty allegedly violated by the Sun Valley Company was the duty imposed by I.C. § 6-1103(3), “[t]o mark conspicuously the top or entrance to each slope or trail or area, with an appropriate symbol for its relative degree of difficulty____” In this case there is no claim that the sign in question violated that duty in that it did not “mark conspicuously the top or entrance to [the] slope or trail or area, with an appropriate symbol for its relative degree of difficulty____” Had appellant Northcutt’s injury been proximately caused by an inaccurate description of the relative degree of difficulty of the slope, or had the sign not been sufficiently “conspicuous” so that it could not reasonably have been observed, and as a result Northcutt descended a slope which exceeded his ability to negotiate, then in my view there would have been a violation of the duty provided in § 6-1103(3) for which liability would be imposed under I.C. § 6-1107, and which would not have been excused by I.C. § 6-1103(10).
However, that is not the claim being made. The allegation being made is that the sign was not safely located, or safely constructed of materials which would absorb an impact. However, I.C. § 6-1106 provides that “[e]ach skier expressly assumes the risk of and legal responsibility for any injury to person or property'which results from participation in the sport of skiing including any injury caused by [impact with] ... rocks, trees, other forms of forest growth or debris, lift towers and components thereof, utility poles, and snowmaking and grooming equipment____” For those risks, and other risks “not limited to those described in section 6-1106,” the exception contained in 6-1103(10) provides that the operator shall not have any duty to lessen such risks, and shall not be held to any standard of care if he attempts to lessen them.
On that basis, I specially concur with Part II of the Court’s opinion.