Suit filed following 2008 chair lift accident

    The Drumheller Ski Club, The Canadian Badlands Passion Play, Christ the Redeemer School Division and Municipal District of Badlands have been named in a lawsuit following an accident at the ski hill in 2008.     The original Statement of Claim was filed with the courts in February 2009, and then amended to add Christ the Redeemer School Division and the MD of Badlands on December 1, 2009. The suit centers around an incident at the ski hill on March 19, 2008.
    The allegations have not been tested in a court.
    The plaintiff was a student at Holy Cross Collegiate in Strathmore and attended the ski hill on a school trip. The suit claims the male student had never skied or snow boarded, and was given a snowboard and boarded the ski lift. The boy was confused when he reached the top of the lift and did not dismount. He stayed on the chair lift as it descended the hill. The chair lift began to swing sideways colliding with the first tower. The chair came off the cable and fell 30 feet to the ground below.
    The Statement of Claim states he was taken to the Drumheller Health Centre and then transferred to the Alberta Children’s Hospital.
    The Passion Play has filed their Statement of Defence in the suit stating it denies each allegation made in the plaintiff’s Statement of Claim. It denies the plaintiff fell as alleged, or at all, but if it did, the Ski Hill is in the sole control of the facility.
    The Drumheller Ski Club, The Passion Play and the Town of Drumheller all own a portion of the land that contains the ski hill.
    According to Vance Neudorf, manager of the Passion Play, parties involved have attended for discovery.