SAM Magazine—Boise, Idaho, Feb. 24, 2025—The Idaho Supreme Court is reconsidering its December 2023 decision in Milus v. Sun Valley Co. In a rare move, the court agreed to rehear the case, with oral arguments presented Feb. 14.

The case centers on the 2019 accident in which 65-year-old skier Stewart Milus fatally collided with a yellow-padded snow gun tower on Sun Valley Resort's Lower River Run. Initially, a lower court ruled in favor of Sun Valley Resort, citing Idaho’s 1979 Ski Area Liability Act, which limits ski area operators' liability for inherent risks of skiing. The Idaho Supreme Court reversed this decision in December 2023, stating that a jury should determine whether the resort had failed to meet the duties of ski area operators outlined in the state's Ski Safety statute, regardless of the skier’s actions.

The ruling broke with decades of precedent. “It caught the state's ski area operators and legislature off guard,” said National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) director of risk and regulatory affairs Dave Byrd, who noted that Idaho is generally considered a business-friendly state.

Sun Valley asked the court to rehear the case on the basis that the court failed to factor in considerations such as the duty of skiers in its original ruling. Per the Idaho statute, while the operator has a duty to use a warning implement to mark snow guns on the trail, each skier expressly assumes the risk for a collision with, among other things, snowmaking and snow grooming equipment that is plainly visible or plainly marked.

The December 2023 ruling could lead to higher insurance costs for all ski areas, significantly impacting smaller “mom-and-pop” ski areas with less capacity to absorb soaring premiums, said Byrd.

Bogus Basin, Idaho, general manager Brad Wilson underscored the concern to Betsy Russel of the Idaho Capital Sun, saying if liability insurance costs boom, “You’re talking about substantial increases in the cost of doing business at a ski area. This will have a profound effect on our smaller ski areas,” he said. “I do not think that many of the smaller ski areas in some of the communities will be able to absorb these costs."

Byrd said that the Idaho legislature is closely monitoring the case and may consider amending the state's Ski Safety statute if the court decides to uphold its original precedent-breaking ruling.

The outcome of the rehearing in Milus v. Sun Valley Co. may not be decided for some months.

In the interim, said Byrd, NSAA, as part of its broader education efforts, has been recommending that ski areas implement signage to educate the public that padding serves as a warning device and that skiers and snowboarders must avoid equipment and resort infrastructure when out on the slopes.