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Stiles v. Freemotion12/11/2002
Argued and submitted December 6, 2001, at Riverdale High School, Lake Oswego.
Affirmed.
Plaintiff fractured his right leg in a snowboarding accident at Mount Hood Meadows. He sued Nidecker Enterprise, the manufacturer of the snowboard, and Freemotion, Inc., the dealer who supplied it to him, for negligence and product liability. A jury returned a verdict for defendants. Plaintiff appeals, assigning error to the trial court's decision to give jury instructions based on Oregon's Skiing Activities Law, ORS 30.970 to 30.990. Plaintiff argues that those statutes apply only to claims against ski area operators, not against manufacturers or suppliers of ski or snowboard equipment. Because this jury instruction issue involves only a question of statutory interpretation, we review for errors of law. Chaffee v. Shaffer Trucking, Inc., 151 Or App 323, 325, 948 P2d 760 1997 (quoting Community Bank v. U.S. Bank, 276 Or 471, 478, 555 P2d 435 (1976)). Under that standard, we conclude that the statutes do not apply to defendants and that therefore the court erred in instructing the jury as it did. However, we will reverse a jury verdict because of an erroneous instruction only if we "can fairly say that the instruction probably created an erroneous impression of the law in the minds of the [jurors] which affected the outcome of the case." Waterway Terminals v. P.S. Lord, 256 Or 361, 370, 474 P2d 309 (1970). Under that standard, we affirm, because the erroneous instruction could not have affected the outcome of the case.
Plaintiff was employed at Mount Hood Meadows and often spent his free time snowboarding. Freemotion loaned him a snowboard that was manufactured by Nidecker. Plaintiff was using that snowboard at the time of the accident. He claims that the product design was defective because the front binding was placed forward of the center of gravity, that defendants failed to warn him of that design defect, and that as a result he fell and injured himself when he caught the front edge of the board as he went over a small ridge. Defendants asserted several affirmative defenses based on the Skiing Activities Law, including statutory assumption of risk, and asked for jury instructions based on that law. Over plaintiff's objection, the trial court included such instructions. In particular, the judge told the jury, "Now I'm going to instruct you about -- three instructions regarding the law regarding skiing or snowboarding, as provided by Oregon law[,]" and gave the following instructions:
"The law of the State of Oregon provides that skiers assume certain risks. A skier is any person who is in a ski area for the purpose of engaging in the sport of skiing, or who rides as a passenger on any ski lift device. An individual who engages in the sport of skiing accepts and assumes the inherent risks of skiing, insofar as they are reasonably obvious, expected or necessary.
"The inherent risks of skiing include but are not limited to those dangers or conditions which are an integral part of the sport, such as changing weather conditions, variations or steepness in terrain, snow or ice conditions, surface or subsurface conditions, bare spots, creeks and gullies, forest growth, rock, stumps, lift towers and other structures and their components, collisions with other skiers, and a skier's failure to ski within the skier's own ability.
"The law of the State of Oregon also provides that skiers have certain duties. These duties include but are not limited to the following: Skiers shall be the sole judges of the limits of their skills and ability to meet and overcome the inherent risks of skiing and shall maintain reasonable control, speed and force."
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