Skiing accident in the Alps

Graham Anderson was on a family ski holiday. It was their third ski holiday using tour operator Snowbizz. They were staying in Puy St Vincent. Mr Anderson was having lessons with a ski instructor Jerome Portejoie who permitted and possibly encouraged Mr Anderson to ski off piste when Mr Anderson hit into a tree and was seriously injured.

The UK High Court has ruled that the French Ski instructor should pay a substantial sum in damages to Mr Anderson. The Court felt that the potential for serious injury is clear when skiing off piste. The potential for serious injury when impacting with a tree is obvious and therefore the instructor should not have taken Mr Anderson off piste during his lessons.

A skier cannot relinquish all responsibility to an instructor. Adult skiers must say something to the instructor to avoid the suggestion that they are not taking sufficient care of their own safety.
The Court held that the ski instructor was two thirds responsible for this accident and that Mr Anderson was a third responsible for his own accident.

The Court warned that everyone recognises that skiing is inherently risky and accidents causing injuries, sometimes very serious, will occur without there being any negligence established.

It is estimated that Mr Anderson may receive in excess of £1,000,000, but damages are yet to be assessed.

Contact Isabel Elliott on 020 8300 9321 or ielliott@wmk-law.com alternatively Contact Us