Thread: Lawsuit Launched-Kicking Horse Lost Skiers

Remember the guy who went out of bounds at KH and wrote the Sos signs in the snow whose wife died? He has just launched a lawsuit.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/st...e-lawsuit.html

I'm no fan of the lawsuit, but why didn;'t they search when a "SOS" was seen stamped into the snow by a heli-ski pilot?
Bears aren't doing that.
And neither are prankster kids (considering where the SOS was located)

Not sure why he named Kicking Horse in the Lawsuit; kind of douchey... It's not their fault the RCMP didn't search...

Originally Posted by Imz

Not sure why he named Kicking Horse in the Lawsuit; kind of douchey... It's not their fault the RCMP didn't search...

SOP. Name all interested parties. I'd imagine attorneys have been sued for malpractice for not doing this. Kicking Horse will move to dismiss as it pertains to them, and they probably have a good shot at getting themselves dismissed.

Talked to some folks in Golden who felt his story was uber-sketchy. Some of the points they made include:

He wrote 3 SOSs, all of which were seen by the daily heli flights overhead. The three areas were searched by the heli op but victims were never nearby. The victims never stayed in one place long or out in the open where they'd be visible from the air.

Lights from Kicking Horse were visible from their location at night, but they didnt return to the resort.

He walked within 100m of a backcountry hut, crossing numerous skin tracks which would have taken them back to civilization.

He was reported to be a hunter and seasoned outdoorsman but never followed the drainage out to town and instead walked wide circles for a week and a half.


Whatever happened, it sure sound weird.

Originally Posted by The Gnarwhale

Lights from Kicking Horse were visible from their location at night, but they didnt return to the resort.

He walked within 100m of a backcountry hut, crossing numerous skin tracks which would have taken them back to civilization.

He was reported to be a hunter and seasoned outdoorsman but never followed the drainage out to town and instead walked wide circles for a week and a half.


Whatever happened, it sure sound weird.

MUSHROOMS???

Originally Posted by The Gnarwhale

Talked to some folks in Golden who felt his story was uber-sketchy. Some of the points they made include:

He wrote 3 SOSs, all of which were seen by the daily heli flights overhead. The three areas were searched by the heli op but victims were never nearby. The victims never stayed in one place long or out in the open where they'd be visible from the air.

Lights from Kicking Horse were visible from their location at night, but they didnt return to the resort.

He walked within 100m of a backcountry hut, crossing numerous skin tracks which would have taken them back to civilization.

He was reported to be a hunter and seasoned outdoorsman but never followed the drainage out to town and instead walked wide circles for a week and a half.


Whatever happened, it sure sound weird.

Seasoned enough to get his wife dead. Hmmmmmm
I wonder if that happened on purpose. The cops need to give this douche a hard looking at IMO.

Originally Posted by liv2ski

Seasoned enough to get his wife dead. Hmmmmmm
I wonder if that happened on purpose. The cops need to give this douche a hard looking at IMO.

???!!?J!@I19!!??

Seriously? Are we that jaded against litigation in this nation? Sure, lawsuits always suck but this dude's wife DIED and the RCMP didn't bother searching after there were apparently 3 separate SOS messages stamped into the snow. And the "lights from the resort" argument certainly does not take into account micro weather systems like fog. And this is the first time I've heard that the heli op "searched" last I heard they weren't allowed to and the only search actually performed was a checking of rental equipment stocks...

Unless some more info has arisen since I first saw this story I'd say you're being a little presumptuous. Not every guy whose wife dies is out to kill her you know, just like not every father at an elementary school isn't there to rape the chilluns. I don't like the attitude brewing in this thread, calling the guy a "douche" is unwarranted I think. Dumbfuck is a better word, whatever the circumstances. But douche presumes he has done something wrong other than being a dumbfuck who wandered OB with naught but granola bars.

His dumbass went out and got lost. Im not sure i agree he should get any money. But not searching after seeing SOS signs is about as stupid as his ass getting lost. Id say some people need to be fired and dumbass needs to live with the fact that he's the dumbass that got his wife killed. Quit blaming everyone else. Had he not went out of bounds in the first place, well.....

Originally Posted by The Gnarwhale

He was reported to be a hunter and seasoned outdoorsman but never followed the drainage out to town and instead walked wide circles for a week and a half.


Whatever happened, it sure sound weird.

I agree it sounded weird, but IIRC, "following the drainage out" was actually not terribly viable, that climbing back up to the resort and dropping in was the correct way out.

I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but the weather was clear enough for Heli's to fly & see an SOS.

In clear weather I think homeboy should have been able to figure something out to save himself and his wife over a week being within such close distance to a resort...

Whether he *should* have been able to do is beside the point, and not relevant to the lawsuit at all. His ability to self-rescue is not in issue.

What is relevant is that the RCMP acknowledged that they'd seen a bigass SOS in the snow, multiple times, and didn't send somebody out to investigate it on foot. The main issue that the judge is going to have to determine is what responsibility the RCMP bore toward the lost skiers.

^^ understood...

Still think he's a hoser.

Originally Posted by Imz

Still think he's a hoser.

I'd tend to agree with you that he's probably not too sharp... at least when it comes to mountain sense.

Originally Posted by SCUTSKI

Whether he *should* have been able to do is beside the point, and not relevant to the lawsuit at all. His ability to self-rescue is not in issue.

I think it is on point because "In both lawsuits, the resort is accused of negligence for failing to post notices, warning signs or some kind of barrier on the resort boundary."

So you have to consider not only what the RCMP did, but his actions to go out of bounds.

Some more stories:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/can...xtVrBoePMlv3wQ
http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/piq...burn+suit+1620

Originally Posted by nomensteven

I think it is on point because "In both lawsuits, the resort is accused of negligence for failing to post notices, warning signs or some kind of barrier on the resort boundary."

So you have to consider not only what the RCMP did, but his actions to go out of bounds.

Some more stories:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/can...xtVrBoePMlv3wQ
http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/piq...burn+suit+1620

So there are then two separate issues:

1. His contributory negligence v. the resort's negligence. (Resort has a way stronger argument)

2. RCMP's ignoring the SOS and their liability

Still his ability to self-rescue *once he's out there* doesn't seem to be in issue.

Originally Posted by SCUTSKI

So there are then two separate issues:

1. His contributory negligence v. the resort's negligence. (Resort has a way stronger argument)

2. RCMP's ignoring the SOS and their liability

Still his ability to self-rescue *once he's out there* doesn't seem to be in issue.

Yeah fair enough, anyone with legal background think he has any chance at all against the resort? Cause it could set a pretty nasty precedent. What do they expect resort's to do build a wall? It is the backcountry not Mexico.

Originally Posted by nomensteven

Yeah fair enough, anyone with legal background think he has any chance at all against the resort? Cause it could set a pretty nasty precedent. What do they expect resort's to do build a wall? It is the backcountry not Mexico.

Dunno what Canadian tort law is like, but I'd like to say that over here it'd be a longshot to recover against the resort. Varies state by state. Lots of "assumption of the risk," "skiing is a dangerous sport," types of stuff. Read the back of your lift ticket or season pass. That's their attempt at a liability waiver. And I find it hard to believe that there was no boundary marker in the area at all.

Against RCMP though... I dunno. I remember when the story came out thinking it was a pretty egregious oversight.

Originally Posted by SCUTSKI

Dunno what Canadian tort law is like, but I'd like to say that over here it'd be a longshot to recover against the resort. Varies state by state. Lots of "assumption of the risk," "skiing is a dangerous sport," types of stuff. Read the back of your lift ticket or season pass. That's their attempt at a liability waiver. And I find it hard to believe that there was no boundary marker in the area at all.

Against RCMP though... I dunno. I remember when the story came out thinking it was a pretty egregious oversight.

I'm pretty sure I remember reading in the original incident, that he knew and intended to go out of bounds during that day. So I'm pretty sure he knew he was crossing a resort boundary.

Originally Posted by Shorty_J

I'm pretty sure I remember reading in the original incident, that he knew and intended to go out of bounds during that day. So I'm pretty sure he knew he was crossing a resort boundary.

Hmm... then that makes his claim about boundary notices complete horseshit.

Gonna be interesting to see how this comes out.

Originally Posted by cramer

His dumbass went out and got lost.

And that is where it ends.

Not the ski area, not the heli-ops, not the RCMP. Him.

/thread.

It should also be noted that the two kids are also suing in a separate lawsuit for "additional loss including loss of guidance, care and companionship of their mother and loss of inheritance,". I hope they named their father in that lawsuit. Point the finger and there are three more pointing back at you.

Originally Posted by grrrr

And that is where it ends.

Not the ski area, not the heli-ops, not the RCMP. Him.

/thread.

So if an RCMP officer saw somebody breaking into a house, did nothing, and then somebody was killed by the burgler...? What if the person whose house was being burgled called for help and the cops didn't come (not just that they didn't show up in time)? Not perfect analogies I know because this guy got himself/his wife into trouble and the homeowner is innocent, but my point is that when a responsible agency makes a mistake, it's not that simple.

I think he's a dick for suing, and a dumbass for getting lost, but that still doesn't mean there wasn't some kind of responsibility on the part of the RCMP. I think that the more appropriate thing here is for the RCMP to internally review things, and perhaps fire the person/people who fucked up, but again, that's not the point. Not trying to start a flame war or anything, just saying.

I still feel like we really don't know near enough facts about what actually happened to comment on how viable -- or how justified -- this suit is.

Fair enough. I'm the first to admit that I've been for the most part talking out of my ass.