‘Nuclear Verdicts’ Against Big Ski Resorts Could Price Mom-And-Pop Areas Out Of Business

The Sun Valley Resort in Idaho and its slopes on Bald Mountain continue to set the standard for world-class ski operations, according to the National Ski Area Association.  

That’s why a recent Idaho Supreme Court ruling against Sun Valley stopped ski industry watchers in their tracks and raised concerns about an avalanche of liability lawsuits. 

Could the current case in Idaho fracture across the ski industry and bury small ski areas in costly insurance premiums and court settlements?

Those were the stakes headed into a Feb. 14 hearing at the Idaho Supreme Court, when justices listened to arguments from attorneys representing Sun Valley Resort and the widow of a skier who died in 2019 on a beginner slope. 

The court is now considering whether Laura Milus can proceed to trial with her suit against Sun Valley Resort, which is owned by the family of Wyoming’s own Robert Earl Holding. 

If Milus were to succeed at trial and receive a large cash settlement from Sun Valley Resort, small ski area operators across the country could see their liability insurance premiums go up, say industry insiders.

“I know in Wyoming it's going to have a drastic effect. It could have ramifications nationwide,” Brian Bressel told Cowboy State Daily. Bressel is the general manager of Lookout Pass ski area. He traveled to Boise for the Feb. 14 hearing as a board member of the Idaho Ski Area Association. 

“The jury could say, ‘Hey, Sun Valley, you know, did everything right,’” said Bressel. “But that's not usually the way these types of things go. Juries want to help the person in some way.”

Plainly Visible? 

“A sad situation. A gentleman lost his life and nobody takes that lightly,” continued Bressel. “No question skiing is an inherently risky sport.”

Since 1979, Bressel said Idaho has had a ski statute and, “It gives you general protection against frivolous lawsuits if you stay within the guidelines of what you're required to do. And it's extensive marking and padding and most all resorts follow those very diligently because we want our skiers to know when there's hazards.”

Bressel described how Lookout Pass straddles the Idaho-Montana border. An incident on the Montana side leading to a lawsuit would favor the plaintiff more than if the same accident happened on the Idaho side of the state line. 

“Montana doesn't have a real good ski statute at the moment. So Montana is a little looser,” said Bressel. 

In the Milus vs. Sun Valley case, Idaho’s statute so clearly shielded the ski area from liability that a district court judge dismissed Milus’ suit on summary judgement. Milus appealed, and in 2023, it looked like the Idaho Supreme Court intended to send her case to trial. 

Justices considered the facts: On Nov. 30, 2019, Stewart Milus, a Boise physician, descended Lower River Run. Tall, stainless-steel snow-making nozzles project out from the middle of this novice ski run. Sun Valley’s state of the art snowmaking system ensures the ski season kicks off in November. 

A collision with one of the nozzles marked with bright yellow padding on Lower River Run killed Stewart Milus, according to his wife Laura. 

“That's what they did wrong. They put monstrosities. They increased the risk. They created a danger,” Milus told Idaho ABC News 6 outside the Feb. 14 hearing. “Of course, there's inherent dangers when you take upon skiing, but what you don't expect is that a ski resort will create a danger by putting massive obstructions in the middle, right smack dab in the center of a beginner run”

Milus now waits for the Idaho Supreme Court to rule on her case: Will the court clear the way for a jury trial? Or will it affirm the district court’s dismissal based on Idaho law that places heavy responsibility on skiers for their own safety?

During live testimony on Feb. 14, according to coverage in the Idaho Capital Sun, the widow’s attorney argued over whether or not a snow gun marked with bright yellow padding is “plainly visible.”

Idaho Justice Colleen Zahn said, “Whether you’re a novice or an expert, it’s there in the middle of the run. It’s the only thing in the middle of the run. How is that not plainly visible?” 

Attorney Matthew Gunn responded that “there is an argument” that could be made to a jury. 

Ski Patrol’s Recurring Nightmare

Sun Valley and Milus continue to live in the nightmarish aftermath of a skiing tragedy.

In the ski industry, it’s become a recurring nightmare with novice skiers slamming into things. 

“On a fateful day in February 1974, a novice skier named James Sunday took to the

slopes at Stratton,” writes Utah attorney Andrew A. Beerworth in a 2012 summary of skier injury cases. Sunday hit a boulder that day and became quadriplegic. A Vermont jury later awarded him $1.5 million. 

Beerworth reports this case, “Undoubtedly contributed to escalating operating expenses for an industry that has not traditionally boasted wide profit margins to begin with.”

Less than a month after Stewart Milus crashed into a snow gun and died in Sun Valley in 2019, a man skiing at Okemo Resort in Vermont crashed into a snow gun and became a paraplegic. 

In 2024, a jury awarded the man $97 million in damages in what industry insiders refer to a “nuclear verdict.”

“Nuclear verdicts by juries — enormous verdicts entirely disproportionate from fault or injuries — have been occurring across all businesses at alarming rates for the past few years, and they are significantly driving up insurance premiums, including for ski areas,” Dave Byrd with the National Ski Areas Association told Cowboy State Daily. 

Byrd is the NSAA’s Director of Risk and Regulatory Affairs. He said the Idaho Supreme Court’s initial reversal of the district court’s summary judgement “overturned decades of precedents” and “only adds fuel to these fires” when it comes to the bottom-line challenges at “mom and pop ski areas.” 

“The Idaho Supreme Court agreed to ‘re-hear’ the case, which is rare, but not unheard of, with oral arguments last week,” said Byrd. “There may be a new ruling from the Court in the next few months, or they may simply re-affirm their initial ruling.”

“In this case, Sun Valley’s snowmaking equipment on this trail was padded extensively with bright yellow pads—it would be impossible to not notice these yellow pads,” said Byrd. “They are helpful to encourage skiers and snowboarders to ski in control and within their ability, and to avoid lift towers and snowmaking on trails.” 

Even with all the precautions, the fear of nightmare scenarios haunt the dreams of ski patrollers. Or at least they do in the fiction of Idaho author John Rember, who worked as a ski patroller at Sun Valley Resort before sharing the experience in his 1994 collection of short stories, “Cheerleaders from Gomorrah: Tales from the Lycra Archipelago.” 

In one story, a ski patroller is haunted by a recurring nightmare, where he loses his grip on the rescue toboggan.
“The sled bounces one last time and smashes into the tower,” dreams the patroller. In a nod to the fear ski areas harbor when it comes to personal injury litigation, Rember adds that sometimes in these nightmares, the ski patroller watches his out-of-control toboggan crash into “lift lines of vacationing attorneys.” 

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.