LENGTH: 780 words

HEADLINE: Colorado Supreme Court rules recreational businesses may still be held legally responsible when a child is hurt, despite a parent signing a waiver

ANCHORS: MADELEINE BRAND

REPORTERS: ANDREA DUKAKIS

MADELEINE BRAND, host:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Madeleine Brand.

When it comes to adventurous sports activities, parents often are asked to sign release forms waiving the right to sue. But a recent Colorado Supreme Court ruling makes it clear that despite a signed waiver, recreational businesses may still be legally responsible when a child is hurt. The Colorado case involved a teen-ager who lost his sight in a ski accident. From Denver, Andrea Dukakis reports.

ANDREA DUKAKIS reporting:

It was back in 1995 in Aspen when 17-year-old ski racer David Cooper lost control and hit a tree while training on a race course. At the beginning of the ski season, both he and his mother had signed forms releasing the Aspen Valley Ski Club from liability, even in the case of carelessness or negligence. Nevertheless, after the accident, David and his parents filed suit claiming his coach and the ski club had been negligent in setting the course. A lower court tossed out the lawsuit, but a decision last month by the Colorado Supreme Court held that the public policy of Colorado gives children protections that transcend a parent's decision to waive a child's liability rights.

Mr. JAMES CHALAT (Attorney): Clearly, the children won this case.

DUKAKIS: James Chalat is an attorney who specializes in recreation industry law and filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association. He believes children should be protected, even from an unwise choice made by a parent. Chalat predicts the ruling will prompt businesses to be more safety conscious.

Mr. CHALAT: It is now very clear in our recreational industry that ski areas, operations that run white-water rafting trips and other recreational industries have some responsibility for the safety of children, notwithstanding any sort of demands that they want to put on the parents that the business have no responsibility whatsoever.

DUKAKIS: In Colorado, as in several other states, the law does protect ski areas from lawsuits involving what are called the inherent risks of skiing--slipping, falling, hitting a rock, crashing into a tree--unless negligence is a factor. But in cases of negligence, Chalat says resorts should be accountable. He adds that a typical family coming to Colorado on a prepaid ski vacation is usually asked to sign a waiver at the eleventh hour.

Mr. CHALAT: On the first morning that they're in Colorado, after flying in the night before, they go to the ski school to enroll Johnny and Jane in the ski school, and that's typically the first time that one of these waivers is put in front of the parents. Now the parents are supposed to start lessons at 9, they've been looking forward to this vacation for months, if not years. And so typically there's absolutely no thought put into the execution of documents. Criminy, you'd sign anything at that point.

DUKAKIS: But Peter Rietz, an attorney in Dillon, Colorado, who represents the US Ski Association, says he believes parents should be somewhat accountable when they place their children in sports activities. More importantly, he argues, too much is being made of the case, since historically releases for minors have not been enforceable in Colorado or other states. But, Rietz says, these waivers remain important for several reasons, and that's why recreational providers continue to ask parents to sign them.

Mr. PETER RIETZ (Attorney): First of all, to put them on notice that their minor participant is going to be subjected to a list of risks; secondly, as a warning that they can be injured; and, thirdly, it is helpful if there ever is litigation to have a release to show to a jury that the provider of that athletic endeavor or venue provider or coach did try to put the parents and the child on notice.

DUKAKIS: Rietz worries that if recreational businesses can't rely on waivers in court, they may stop offering certain potentially dangerous programs for kids. Tom Russell, a professor of law at the University of Denver, says if the case does anything, it provides a training opportunity for the industry.

Professor TOM RUSSELL (University of Denver): I think it would be good, generally speaking, and better for all recreational users if companies managing recreational areas reminded their employees that the company could be at risk if their staff behaves negligently.

DUKAKIS: As for the case of David Cooper, it now goes back to court, where a judge must decide whether David's injuries were the result of the inherent risks of skiing or some negligence on the part of his coach or club. For NPR News, I'm Andrea Dukakis in Denver.

LOAD-DATE: December 5, 2002