Colorado § 33-44-113 - Limitation of liability.

§ 33-44-113. Limitation of liability.

The total amount of damages which may be recovered from a ski area operator by a skier who uses a ski area for the purpose of skiing or for the purpose of sliding downhill on snow or ice on skis, a toboggan, a sled, a tube, a skibob, a snowboard, or any other device and who is injured, excluding those associated with an injury occurring to a passenger while riding on a passenger tramway, shall not exceed one million dollars, present value, including any derivative claim by any other claimant, which shall not exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars, present value, and including any claim attributable to noneconomic loss or injury, as defined in section 13-21-102.5 (2), C.R.S., whether past damages, future damages, or a combination of both, which shall not exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars. If, upon good cause shown, the court determines that the present value of the amount of lost past earnings and the present value of lost future earnings, or the present value of past medical and other health-care costs and the present value of the amount of future medical and other health-care costs, or both, when added to the present value of other past damages and the present value of other future damages, would exceed such limitation and that the application of such limitation would be unfair, the court may award damages in excess of the limitation equal to the present value of additional future damages, but only for the loss of such excess future earnings, or such excess future medical and other health-care costs, or both. For purposes of this section, "present value" has the same meaning as that set forth in section 13-64-202 (7), C.R.S., and "past damages" has the same meaning as that set forth in section 13-64-202 (6), C.R.S. The existence of the limitations and exceptions thereto provided in this section shall not be disclosed to a jury.

Source: L. 90: Entire section added, p. 1543, § 7, effective July 1.

Editor's note: The act amending provisions of this article included a nonstatutory legislative declaration in section 1 of chapter 256 (SB 90-80), Session Laws of Colorado 1990, that the Colorado Supreme Court considered in deciding Stamp v. Vail, 172 P.3d 437 (Colo. 2007), annotated below.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration contained in the 1990 act enacting this section, see section 1 of chapter 256, Session Laws of Colorado 1990.

ANNOTATION

By excluding injuries occurring to passengers on tramways from the liability provisions of this section, the general assembly clearly chose not to alter the common law standard of care applicable to ski lift safety: the highest degree of care commensurate with the practical operation of the lift, regardless of the season. Bayer v. Crested Butte Mtn. Resort, 960 P.2d 70 (Colo. 1998).

Ski area operators can, by using exculpatory agreements, protect themselves from personal injury lawsuits arising from the alleged negligence of their employees. Redden v. Clear Creek Skiing Corp., 2020 COA 176, 490 P.3d 1063.

The damages cap in this section limits recovery of compensatory damages in skiing-related wrongful death actions. Stamp v. Vail Corp., 172 P.3d 437 (Colo. 2007).

The terms "injured" or "injury", as used in this section, must be broadly construed to include death. Stamp v. Vail Corp., 172 P.3d 437 (Colo. 2007).

The phrase "any derivative claim by any other claimant" includes skiing-related wrongful death claims. Stamp v. Vail Corp., 172 P.3d 437 (Colo. 2007).

The Ski Safety Act's cap on damages prevails, in its entirety, over the Wrongful Death Act's cap in § 13-21-203 and limits the amount of compensatory damages that may be recovered from a ski-area operator in a skiing-related wrongful death action to $250,000. Stamp v. Vail Corp., 172 P.3d 437 (Colo. 2007).

The Wrongful Death Act's felonious killing exception, which provides for unlimited compensatory damages, does not apply to skiing-related wrongful death actions. Stamp v. Vail Corp., 172 P.3d 437 (Colo. 2007).