Estate of Frant v. Haystack Group, Inc.

Martin Erant sued for injuries received when he skied into a wooden lift-corral post at defendant Haystack’s ski area.* Haystack won summary judgment under Vermont’s sports injury statute, which states that “a person who takes part in any sport accepts as a matter of law the dangers that inhere therein insofar as *13they are obvious and necessary.” 12 V.S.A. § 1037 (acceptance of inherent risks). We hold the trial court misconstrued § 1037 by concluding that, regardless of whether the ski area’s use of the wooden posts was negligent, the statute prevented recovery as a matter of law because…