In February 2008, Michael Coady headed up to Wentworth Ski Resort in Nova Scotia with two friends – they were all 16 at the time. After a few runs on the regular hills on his own snowboard, Coady decided to take up Burton on a promotional offer they were doing. You could check out any of their new boards, grab an energy drink and test the new boards out. Coady signed the waiver, handed off his driver’s license and hit the terrain park.
On the first feature on his first attempt Coady said he hit some “slick and icy snow conditions on a snowboard that was much faster and lighter than his own.” The resulting accident ended up with Michael Coady fracturing his C-5 vertebrae and being confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Now this is obviously a tragic story. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to go from a young 16-year-old snowboarder to a paralyzed kid in a wheelchair and on top of that I don’t have all the evidence in the case. But we do have court documents that outline the general idea of the case and from what I have read, it kind of seems like a dude who has been dealt a huge amount of bad luck is trying to get a little cash to smooth things over. I’m sure he has serious medical bills, probably had to make a lot of stuff handicapped accessible, and probably is pissed that day even happened.
With all that being said it will be up to the court to decide who was at fault. Can a resort be sued for icy conditions? If so I better file suit against Canyons for stress fracturing my elbow last season on an ice patch. Are Burton boards really so fast that an experienced snowboarder would get on one and lose control to the extent of breaking their vertebrae? I’d like to hear y’all’s thoughts on this. Be kind though, at the end of the day a kid got hurt and his life will never be the same.
(source)
