Colorado Jury Awards $20 Million in Ski Lift Accident Lawsuit

Teen Paralyzed After Fall at Crested Butte

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — A Colorado jury awarded $20 million in damages to an Oklahoma woman who was left paralyzed after falling from a chairlift at Crested Butte Mountain Resort in March 2022.

The victim, Annie Miller, was 16 at the time of the accident. According to the lawsuit filed by her family, Miller and her father were loading onto the Paradise Express, a detachable quad chairlift, when she was not fully secured on the seat as it left the bottom terminal. Her father tried to hold on to her while both he and others shouted for the lift to stop.

The lawsuit alleged there was no attendant at the loading area to intervene. Miller fell 30 feet onto hard-packed snow before the chairlift was stopped, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.

Legal Fight Over Liability

The Miller family’s 2022 lawsuit accused the resort of violating its duty of care, negligence, and gross negligence. In 2023, a state district judge dismissed the first two claims, citing the resort’s liability waiver.

The family appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court, asking whether a ski area can use liability waivers to avoid responsibility for statutory duties outlined in the Colorado Ski Safety Act. The justices ruled that the waiver did not shield Crested Butte from claims of illegal acts of negligence. They ordered the district court to reinstate the negligence per se claim.

The case went to trial, where a jury found that the resort violated state regulations but was not grossly negligent. Jurors also determined that because Miller had signed the liability waiver, she accepted some risk. They found her 25 percent at fault and the resort 75 percent at fault.

Landmark Case

According to Courthouse News Service, the case marked the first time the Colorado Supreme Court considered whether a resort’s liability waiver shields it from negligence claims under the Ski Safety Act and the Passenger Tramway Safety Act.

The ruling and verdict are expected to have wide-reaching implications for ski resorts across the state, where liability waivers are standard for lift ticket purchases.