Mt. Bachelor lawsuit proceedings postponed

Attorneys for Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort and injured snowboarder Myles Bagley met Tuesday before Deschutes County Circuit Judge Stephen Forte, a day nine years in the making. But as is often the case in court proceedings, there was another postponement, of several months.

In 2006, then 18-year-old Bagley went off a jump at Mt. Bachelor’s terrain park. He landed badly, in a way that left his legs paralyzed.

Bagley’s negligence lawsuit against the resort, claiming improper design and setup, initially was thrown out of court because of the risk release form he signed on his season pass, a liability waiver that is typical in the ski resort industry.

But Bagley and his attorneys took the case to the appeals court, and it made its way all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court.

Late last year, the court, in a decision that drew wide attention, ruled the resort’s release was not enough to throw the case out. Now, it’s going back for trial, essentially beginning the process all over again.

The issue has garnered national attention. The Oregon Legislature had been considering legislation designed to protect ski resorts from release issues. They did not make it out of committee, but at a hearing in Salem, Bagley’s mother, Lauren Bagley, spoke out.

“Myles was an 18-year-old expert snowboarder on that day in February,” she said.

Now, resorts and officials other states wait with bated breath to hear how Oregon’s liability waivers hold up in court.

“It’s gathered so much attention because it’s a unique decision,” Andrew Balyeat, Mt. Bachelor’s attorney, said Tuesday.

Terrain parks gained popularity in the mid-’90s. Resorts say. and always have, that there are inherent risks.

“There is no perfect snow feature,” Balyeat said. “You can have 100 people use the same feature and have 100 different results.”

He says there are guidelines to follow when making jumps, but no industry standards.

A retired physics professor and father of a professional snowboarder, James McNeil, has a goal to make jumps more predictable. He wants to marry science with snow, and in doing so, avoid battles in the courtroom.

“I said, ‘Well, you know, that sounds like a physics issue so lets think about the shape of a jump that could cause these things,'” McNeil said.

He’s one of many trying to create standards for winter terrain parks.

“It’s a thing that engineers do all the time, you know? We can do this,” McNeil said.

But the risk manager with the National Ski Areas Association says such standards are likely many years down the road. That’s because there are hundreds of variables to consider first. It will be an uphill battle, if possible at all.

Meanwhile, the pre-trial hearing in Bagley’s lawsuit has been pushed back to October, so attorneys can continue working to gather evidence, such as those who were there and can tell what they saw nearly a decade ago.