Ski resort operator sued in collisions on the slopes

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RENO -- Two skiers injured in separate collisions with snowboarders have filed lawsuits against a Lake Tahoe resort claiming it was part of a pattern of accidents caused by seasonal employees from abroad with little training and no insurance.

The latest lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court seeks $75,000 in damages from Broomfield, Colo.-based Vail Resorts Inc. and claims the company is liable for a Feb. 22 accident at its Heavenly Mountain Resort at South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Elisabeth "Elly" Benschop, 54, of Gardnerville was knocked unconscious and suffered a brain injury when a 20-year-old Argentinian woman who allegedly worked at Heavenly crashed into her on the Olympic ski run, according to the lawsuit filed by attorney J.D. Sullivan.

The lawsuit accuses the company of negligence resulting in brain injury, emotional distress and loss of consortium.

Officials for the resort company deny any responsibility. The young woman, Andrea Ramos, was on her day off skiing on personal time and did not actually work for Heavenly, they said. Ramos is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Sullivan filed a similar lawsuit in December on behalf of another skier, Kimberly Bland of Florida, claiming she was injured in January 2011 when a Heavenly employee crashed into her while he was going down the Olympic slope on his snowboard.

The latest suit involves "another in a continuing pattern of skiing accidents at Heavenly, caused by Vail's youthful foreign national employees" who are hired seasonably through a State Department visa program, the lawsuit states.

The workers are "offered low wages, free season ski passes, discounted food and merchandise, helmets and medical insurance, and thus lured by Vail to travel to the United States and work cheaply at defendants' ski resorts," it added.

However, they are not provided with liability insurance "so after they crash into other resort guests, seriously injuring them, and return to their home countries, the injured guests have no recourse against the foreign employee who caused the injuries," the suit said.