K Ambassador wins ski Worker's Comp case

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SnoBrdr
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K Ambassador wins ski Worker's Comp case

Post by SnoBrdr »

A Connecticut man won a worker’s compensation claim against Killington Ski Resort following a two-day jury trial this week.

The Rutland civil court jury found that Thomas Kibbie, 56, was entitled to compensation for a number of treatments he had initially been denied by the Vermont Department of Labor.

A call to Killington Ski Resort seeking a comment was not returned Friday.

Kibbie was a mountain ambassador at Killington — a seasoned skier or snowboarder who helps guests find their way on the slopes and provides other services — in 2008. On Jan. 12 of that year, according to court records, he was making a final check of the trails for the day when he fell, crashing hard enough to break his helmet.

Kibbie’s lawyer, Thomas Bixby, said Kibbie has no memory of the crash.

“As far as we know, there were no witnesses,” Bixby said. “Thankfully, he was wearing a helmet.”

Despite that helmet, according to court records, Kibbie suffered a hemorrhage in his right temporal lobe, leaving him with a permanent brain injury. Bixby said Kibbie had a construction business he tended to when he was off the slopes, but that the injury has left him unable to work.

It also left him in need of serious medical care, according to court records. Documents from the case describe ongoing treatment — or a need thereof — for chronic neck pain, headaches, visual problems, trouble sleeping and depression.

Bixby said there was an initial settlement in which the resort agreed to pay for certain treatments on an ongoing basis, but Killington stopped payment in September 2010.

“For the last seven years, he’s been fighting for these benefits,” Bixby said.

A decision from the Department of Labor in February 2016 granted some of the benefits Kibbie sought, but denied others, including cervical injections and a device that treats pain through electrical impulses.

With the jury decision Wednesday, Bixby said all the treatments will be covered. Bixby said he did not know what cost that would amount to.

“They have all the bills because they have the treatment notes,” Bixby said of Killington. “They will go back to the providers. I don’t want to make up a number — it’s significant.”
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Mriceyman
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Re: K Ambassador wins ski Worker's Comp case

Post by Mriceyman »

If his job was to clear trails for closing how was he going fast enough to crack his helmet?
daytripper
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Re: K Ambassador wins ski Worker's Comp case

Post by daytripper »

It doesn't say what trail it happened on but on steeper trails you can fall at any speed and quickly be at enough speed to crack a helmet.
skiadikt
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Re: K Ambassador wins ski Worker's Comp case

Post by skiadikt »

Mriceyman wrote:If his job was to clear trails for closing how was he going fast enough to crack his helmet?
doesn't say which trail, but bet a skied-off cascade at 4:30 in early january can be pretty treacherous.
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ANGUS
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Re: K Ambassador wins ski Worker's Comp case

Post by ANGUS »

Sounds like a load of crap. He might have well snuck into the gondi at closing and claimed ptsd. Some ambassadors can ski. No doubt. Others should never leave the magic carpet and are embarrassing to watch. K should have higher standards. If your not qualified to make ski patrol what business do you have being an ambassador? Oh the free pass. I get it now.
Southside_Bobby
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Re: K Ambassador wins ski Worker's Comp case

Post by Southside_Bobby »

This is an industry wide tendency, and it sucks. People volunteer their time on the hill, and when they get hurt doing it, they run into a lot of roadblocks to the full medical care they need to recover.

When you "work" at a ski resort as a patroller or ambassador, you are an employee. You sign all of the same paperwork, are required to attend all of the same pre-employment sessions, etc. And you are told all of this is to your benefit, because if you get hurt at the resort you will be covered by their worker's comp. But then when people do get hurt, all too often, this happens.

And it doesn't matter, within reason, how he got hurt. It doesn't matter if it was his fault or if it was a freak accident. A fellow patroller of mine broke her ankle on the carpet lift, turning to help a small child who fell. She was an expert skier. The ski patrol director, a 30 year veteran, broke his ankle getting off the top of the six pack.

I know several people who ran into a lot of stonewalling with their medical care after they got hurt on the hill. They have to deal with insurance companies, but usually when the resorts step in a little on behalf of the volunteer, the resistance stops. When they don't, it doesn't.

Ambassadors, for the most part, are awesome additions to the hill. They help patrollers a lot, many times helping with manual tasks which aren't technically part of their responsibilities. I have seen more patrollers and ambassadors hurt doing chores like digging out gun tubs and pulling ropes, than in ski incidents.

When they get hurt, they deserve full coverage.
2014 - "A South Ridge trail is Pipe Dream. A South Ridge lift shouldn't be."
2019 - "A South Ridge trail is Pipe Dream. A South Ridge lift (operating midweek) shouldn't be."
2023 - Killington announces that the South Ridge lift will run five days a week.
2024 - Killington lied.
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