http://www.snewsnet.com/ If it happens in the outdoor and fitness markets, SNEWS® is there so you can listen in. Always insightful, sometimes humorous, absolutely invaluable. No one covers the outdoor and fitness markets better than we do, period. In print since 1983, on the web since 2000, and now in audio for your listening pleasure. Interviews, special reports, event coverage, and more. en Copyright SNEWS® LLC, all rights reserved Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:15:02 -0600 60 http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Caddell_Chapman_files_class_action_complaint_against_SIGG.html SNEWS® Law Review has obtained a copy of a class action complaint filed on Aug. 28 in the United States District Court, Western District of Kentucky, against SIGG. The complaint, brought by Caddell & Chapman of Houston, Texas, seeks “to represent a nationwide class of consumers who purchased SIGG reusable aluminum bottles that unbeknownst to them contain BPA” and alleges that the plaintiffs and the class they represent “paid more for SIGG bottles than other available alternatives because they believed SIGG’s representations that their bottles were BPA-free.” http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Caddell_Chapman_files_class_action_complaint_against_SIGG.html Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Minnesota_Court_of_Appeals_approves_release_signed_by_parent.html In Moore v. Minnesota Baseball Instructional School, 2009 Minn. App. Unpub. LEXIS 299 a minor was injured in spare time activities at a baseball camp. His mother had signed a release as part of the registration materials she had signed online. The father sued for the boy’s injuries however the Minnesota Appellate Court upheld dismissal of the case because of the release signed by the mother. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Minnesota_Court_of_Appeals_approves_release_signed_by_parent.html Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Prior_experience_video_prove_plaintiff_assumed_risk.html A 17-year-old skier can assume the risks of a terrain park under New York law. The case of Martin v State of New York et al., 2009 NY Slip Op 3822; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3704 is an excellent review of the law of assumption of the risk in New York. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Prior_experience_video_prove_plaintiff_assumed_risk.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Whitewater_rafting_Maryland_plaintiff_tries_various_ways_to_sue.html The plaintiff in this case had gone whitewater rafting previously with the defendant. During his second trip he fell out of the raft, injuring his knee. He later developed a staph infection from the injury. He sued the defendant for failing to warn and failing to properly provide first aid for his injuries. Cases where the plaintiff argues the first aid care was improper or negligent are extremely rare. This is the only one that the SNEWS® Law Review editors have found to date. However the court rules on a technicality that throws out the plaintiff’s first aid claim and does not provide us with any direction in this area of the law. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Whitewater_rafting_Maryland_plaintiff_tries_various_ways_to_sue.html Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/California_Supreme_Court_upholds_Appellate_Court_Good_Samaritan.html In a story posted on March 13, 2007, we reported a concerning California Appellate Court decision in California court ruling appears to limit protections of California Good Samaritan Act. The California Supreme Court has followed the ruling of the lower court stating that California’s Good Samaritan Law which provides immunity for civil litigation when assisting injured people only provides that immunity during an emergency and only to the extent the help provided is first aid. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/California_Supreme_Court_upholds_Appellate_Court_Good_Samaritan.html Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/ropes_course_procedures_can_work_to_eliminate_lawsuits.html In this challenge course or ropes course case the plaintiff was a volunteer facilitator on the course. He clipped into the wrong anchor point which could not hold him and he fell 35 feet. The ropes course is located in Virginia and owned by the defendant Young Life which is incorporated in Texas with its place of business in Colorado. The Plaintiff Kuykendall is a citizen of Florida. The case was brought in the Federal Court in the Western District of Virginia where the accident occurred and where the law of the location of the accident would be applied to the facts of the case. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/ropes_course_procedures_can_work_to_eliminate_lawsuits.html Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Iowa_Court_misses_opportunity_for_reviewing_minors_right_to_sue.html The Iowa Supreme Court in Sweeney vs. City of Bettendorf and Bettendorf Parks and Recreation was given the opportunity to review a minor’s right to sue. However the facts in the case would lead most courts to decided easily for the plaintiff and the issue of whether a parent could sign away a minor’s right to sue was not reviewed. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Iowa_Court_misses_opportunity_for_reviewing_minors_right_to_sue.html Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Florida_does_not_allow_parent_to_sign_release_for_minor.html The Florida Supreme Court took on the issue of whether a parent can sign away a minor’s right to sue and said no. The decision weaves around previous Florida decisions we reported in Pending Florida Case Leaves Questions about Release Validity, (Gonzalez v. City of Coral Gables 871 So.2d 1067, 29 Fla. L. Weekly D1147) and Case Brief: Florida Court Establishes Arbitration Precedent in Travel Company Case -- see also (Global Travel Marketing, Inc v. Shea, 2005 Fla. LEXIS 1454). http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Florida_does_not_allow_parent_to_sign_release_for_minor.html Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Pennsylvania_release_missing_key_language_plaintiff_jury_trial.html This is an illustrative case where a release which was written to appear fair to those signing it instead gave the plaintiff the knowledge and the legal right to beat the release and have the case go to trial. The release stated it protected the defendant from all claims but did not specifically mention gross negligence, so the injured plaintiff sued for gross negligence. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Pennsylvania_release_missing_key_language_plaintiff_jury_trial.html Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Tubing_accident_case_instructive_into_Pennsylvania_release_law.html The decision in Wang v. Whitetail Mountain Resort is very easy to read, easy to understand, and sets forth simple rules for writing a release under Pennsylvania law. Pennsylvania law, as we have written about in the past, is not very conclusive on the validity of releases or how they are to be written. In this case, the appellate Pennsylvania court made the understanding that much easier. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Tubing_accident_case_instructive_into_Pennsylvania_release_law.html Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/additional-insured_school_district_sues_insurance_company.html Many times you are asked to provide a certificate of insurance to someone you are doing business with. This lists the other business as an additional insured on your insurance policy. As previous SNEWS® Law Review articles have explained before, that means your insurance policy is covering the third party if a claim is made against the third party or both of you. In this particular case, coverage was offered under an additional insured endorsement on an insurance policy. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/additional-insured_school_district_sues_insurance_company.html Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Case_Brief_Illinois_equine_injury.html In this Illinois case the federal district court upheld the lower courts motion for summary judgment based on the release the plaintiff signed. The plaintiff argued the release was not broad enough to cover the injury, was void because of an Illinois statute and the release violated public policy. However the court did not find any of the plaintiff’s arguments persuasive and granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Case_Brief_Illinois_equine_injury.html Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Case_against_summer_camp_insight_Massachusetts_release_law.html This is a great case to study Massachusetts law concerning releases, indemnification agreements, camps, camp rules (standards) and how the court examines the facts to make its decision. The only problem is the court ruled against the defendants on each motion, and in most cases, correctly. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Case_against_summer_camp_insight_Massachusetts_release_law.html Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Kayak_rental_shop_and_dam_owner_owe_no_duty_to_kayak_renter.html This case is a discussion of the obligations to the deceased of a kayak rental shop and land owner who controlled a dam. The plaintiffs are the heirs of the deceased. The deceased had rented a kayak from Janice Cody, d/b/a Winding River Canoe Rentals. He was kayaking on the Clinton River of Michigan when he went over the Yates Dam and drowned. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Kayak_rental_shop_and_dam_owner_owe_no_duty_to_kayak_renter.html Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13595.html The Wyoming Supreme Court interpreted the Wyoming Recreational Safety Act to determine that boarding the gondola (now gone) at Jackson Hole Resort was an inherent risk of skiing. The plaintiff, while wearing ski boots, got her foot stuck under the exterior ski rack and was injured the gondola started and dragged her several feet. The court’s interpretation of the Wyoming Recreational Safety Act has not always been in favor of the defendant. This case was originally filed in the Federal District Court, tried and appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13595.html Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13513.html The plaintiff in this case was an experienced skier who had gone over the table top jump, the one that led to his injuries, before. There is conflicting testimony on how fast the plaintiff was skiing, however he landed far down the hill beyond the landing zone – some reports indicated the skier was travelling so fast he landed over 100 feet beyond the landing zone. The injuries rendered him a quadriplegic. The case was taken to trial and the jury found the plaintiff 55 percent liable and the ski area 45 percent liable. The jury awarded $30 million in damages, resulting in a $14 million dollar recovery for the plaintiff. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13513.html Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13478.html The plaintiff in this case was riding a bike and followed two friends off a street onto a dirt track. The dirt track was on land owned by the defendant homeowners association. As the plaintiff was proceeding down the track he hit a hole and was injured and sued the association. The trial court denied the defendant’s motion for summary judgment and the decision was appealed. The New York Appellate Court overturned the trial court’s decision and granted the summary judgment based on the New York Recreational Use Statute argued by the defendant and assumption of the risk, a defense which the court raised on its own. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13478.html Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13443.html The entire subject of venue (where a case will be heard) and jurisdiction (what law will be applied to the case) is confusing. We have looked at those issues from a state-to-state argument, "Jurisdiction can affect the potential outcome of a case" and a state vs. international corporation argument -- "Foreign Corporation held to stand trial in Colorado for ski clothing that did not have insufficient coefficient of friction." In this instance the issues of venue and jurisdiction are examined in a snowboard product liability case between courts in different counties in California. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13443.html Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13374.html In less than seven weeks apart the Utah Supreme Court upheld the use of releases by ski areas and then subsequently ruled that ski areas could not use releases. Worse, the decision voiding the use of releases is very confusing and may affect other recreational activities besides skiing. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13374.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13313.html Everyone loves checklists, especially when looking at risk management issues. A checklist is a way to ensure you are covering the basics on a regular basis to minimize risk. However, even with a checklist, you can never say “I’ve checked all of the boxes, therefore I’m liability free.” http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/13313.html Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 MST