A skier who says he was knocked down and injured by another skier at Timberline is suing for $1.4 million in Multnomah County Court.

According to an article by Oregonian courts reporter Aimee Green, Ward T. Smith’s lawsuit contends that he was skiing down to Stormin’ Norman on the afternoon of Jan. 8, 2012 when Victor Desimone came barreling down from behind him and collided from him, breaking his leg and tearing cartilage in his knee.

This new lawsuit is different from the big case that Skibowl recently beat, because it does not attempt to blame a resort for an accident. As Green explains in her article, “It’s virtually impossible to successfully sue resorts for dangerous skiing conditions — that might have led to one person injuring another — because of iron-clad liability waivers.” But skiers and snowboarders can and do sue each other for behaving recklessly on the mountain and endangering others.

A third Mount Hood lawsuit names both a snowboarder and a resort as defendants. That case involves a 14-year-old boy named Eric Stinson Jr., who suffered brain damage and spinal trauma after a collision with a snowboarder named Jeffery Reichlein. The boy’s family is suing Reichlein for allegedly riding drunk. They are also suing Skibowl for allegedly serving Reichlein alcohol when he was clearly intoxicated.

The Stinson case is expected go to trial sometime in 2014. The Smith lawsuit was just filed this week, so it remains to be seen whether that case will make it to court.

Last modified: January 10, 2014