BOISE, Idaho — In November 2019, a skier died at Sun Valley Resort on Lower River Run. According to court documents, Stewart Milus skied over the back of another person's skis and then went head-first into a snow gun in the middle of the run.
Laura Milus filed suit against Sun Valley Company and the district court sided with Sun Valley. However, in December 2023, the Idaho Supreme Court reversed that decision unanimously.
We went to an appeal as the Supreme Court decides if this case goes to a trial by jury.
"I would describe that day as the day that I went to hell and ever since I’ve been clawing my way back from that pit," said Laura Milus. "My husband was the most wonderful human being you could ever imagine."
Ski resorts have been protected from litigation through the Idaho Ski Area Liability Actcreated in 1979. Brad Wilson, the general manager of Bogus Basin told us pretty much every state that has skiing has something similar to protect resorts against lawsuits because skiing is a dangerous sport.
The liability act lays out what ski resorts need to do to protect skiers and snowboarders, but it also lays out a code of conduct that states skiers and snowboarders have an individual responsibility to be safe on the mountain while assuming the risk of this activity.
"You should take that responsibility before you get on the chair lift before you buy a ticket or a season pass," said Wilson. "That doesn’t mean the ski areas aren’t going to do whatever we can to make it as safe as we can, absolutely we will and this was a tragic case, but Sun Valley in my opinion did everything they should do."
Milus disagrees telling us that having snow-making equipment in the middle of a beginner run like Lower River Run at Sun Valley caused her husband's death.
"That’s what they did wrong, they put monstrosities, they increased the risk and they created danger," said Milus. "Of course, there are inherent dangers you take upon skiing, but what you don’t expect is a ski resort to create a danger by placing a massive obstruction in the middle of a beginner run."
During the appeal hearing it seemed like the justices were weighing whether the yellow padding on the snow guns constituted a visible and marked warning. They questioned lawyers on both sides about previous cases and if they set a precedent for this case while also asking what the legislation in the Idaho Ski Area Liability Act really intends.
The Idaho Supreme Court is on recess until the beginning of April and they will decide if this case will go to a trial by jury.
"That’s what this case is about and that’s what they are going to have to decide in court," said Milus. "Where does the liability begin and end for ski operators."
Idaho ski resorts worry about the implications of this case if it leads to more liability and what that will mean for the future of skiing in Idaho. They had a strong presence at the hearing including representatives who flew down from Silver Mountain and Lookout Pass in the Idaho panhandle.
Wilson believes the larger resorts would be able to pass along litigation costs to guests in the form of higher ticket prices. However, he also worries that this lawsuit could spur Idaho resorts to merge with corporations like the majority of the West has already done.
"The last thing we want in Idaho is to have a couple of big corporations own our ski areas," said Wilson. "We are fiercely independent here in Idaho, but if we start losing these cases the big conglomerates will step in because they have the financial background to absorb these costs."
Idaho also features many locally owned mom-and-pop ski resorts in rural communities and that's what Wilson worries about the most if this case sets a new precedent for people to sue ski resorts.
"They can not absorb the cost they will see on their liability insurance, they can’t pass those onto those communities," said Wilson. "What we will see is what we saw in Vermont in the 80s and what I saw in California in the early 80s with small ski areas going out of business because they simply can’t pay the additional insurance cost to keep the doors open."
