Donovan v. Sutton

2021 UT 58, 498 P.3d 382
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 30, 2021
DocketCase No. 20190914
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 2021 UT 58 (Donovan v. Sutton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Donovan v. Sutton, 2021 UT 58, 498 P.3d 382 (Utah 2021).

Opinion

2021 UT 58

IN THE

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF UTAH

STEPHANIE DONOVAN, Petitioner, v. DWIGHT SUTTON and S.S., a person under eighteen years of age, Respondents.

No. 20190914 Heard March 8, 2021 Filed September 30, 2021

On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals

Third District, Silver Summit The Honorable Kara L. Pettit No. 160500459

Attorneys: Judson D. Burton, W. Alexander Evans, Murray, for petitioner Gary T. Wight, Jeremy R. Speckhals, Salt Lake City, for respondents

JUSTICE PETERSEN authored the opinion of the Court, in which CHIEF JUSTICE DURRANT, ASSOCIATE CHIEF JUSTICE LEE, JUSTICE HIMONAS, and JUSTICE PEARCE joined.

JUSTICE PETERSEN, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION ¶1 This case arose after a nine-year-old beginner skier collided with a woman on the “First Time” ski run in Park City. The woman sued the child and her parents, asserting claims for, among other things, negligence and negligent supervision. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the child and her parents, and the court of appeals affirmed. The case is now before us on certiorari. We are asked to determine first, whether the child was negligent when she collided with the woman, and DONOVAN V. SUTTON Opinion of the Court

second, whether the child’s father negligently supervised the child. ¶2 As a matter of first impression, we hold that the applicable standard of care is simply that a person has a duty to exercise reasonable care while skiing. We conclude that under the circumstances here, the child was not negligent, and her father did not negligently supervise her. We affirm. BACKGROUND1 ¶3 On a clear day in Park City on slopes of packed powder, Dwight Sutton took his family skiing at Park City Mountain Resort. Shortly before the resort closed for the day, the family took a final run on “First Time,” “a green bunny hill for new skiers.” Mr. Sutton’s wife and youngest daughter skied to the bottom of the run, while Mr. Sutton remained with S.S., the couple’s nine- year-old daughter. Mr. Sutton and S.S. (collectively, the Suttons) went down the run together, with Mr. Sutton skiing backwards so he could monitor S.S. They were moving slowly because S.S. was “fearful” and skiing cautiously, despite having had ski lessons the year before and “informal lessons” on the current trip. ¶4 S.S. was skiing in a “wedge,” a common maneuver taught to beginner skiers to help them slow down, with the front tips of her skis together. She was traveling at approximately five miles per hour when she suddenly lost control and came out of the wedge. Although S.S. tried to “get back into” the wedge to slow down, she could not regain control and instead “just kind of straightened out.” This caused her to accelerate past her father and collide with Stephanie Donovan. Ms. Donovan had stopped “just right of center” on the run to take a photograph of her husband and daughter. As Ms. Donovan was putting her camera away, she heard S.S. scream “look out!” But Ms. Donovan did not

__________________________________________________________ 1 “In reviewing the evidence before the court on summary judgment, the ‘facts and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom [are viewed] in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.’” Nixon v. Clay, 2019 UT 32, ¶ 34, 449 P.3d 11 (alteration in original) (citation omitted). We recite the facts accordingly and note that the parties agree that the material facts are undisputed.

2 Cite as: 2021 UT 58 Opinion of the Court

have time to react, and S.S. crashed into her from behind. Ms. Donovan suffered injuries to her arm and shoulder. ¶5 Ms. Donovan sued S.S. for negligence and Mr. Sutton2 for negligent supervision of his daughter.3 Ms. Donovan alleged S.S. breached a duty of care because she “failed to pay attention to her speed, failed to maintain a proper lookout for other skiers, [and] skied out of control and beyond her abilities.” And Ms. Donovan alleged Mr. Sutton breached his “duty and obligation to properly train and supervise [S.S.] . . . to avoid collisions with other skiers.” ¶6 At the close of discovery, the Suttons moved for summary judgment. In their motion, the Suttons relied on the court of appeals’ decision in Ricci v. Schoultz, in which the court held that a skier owes “a duty to other skiers to ski reasonably and within control,” but “an inadvertent fall on a ski slope, alone, does not constitute a breach of this duty.” 963 P.2d 784, 786 (Utah Ct. App. 1998). The Suttons argued that S.S. was skiing cautiously before she suddenly lost control and collided with Ms. Donovan, and she attempted to warn Ms. Donovan of the impending collision. The Suttons asserted that the collision was simply an accident that occurred absent any negligence on S.S.’s part. Further, recognizing that children in negligence actions are judged by a different standard of care than adults, the Suttons argued it was “not unreasonable for a 9-year-old beginner to be frightened, lose control, and fall, even under good ski conditions,” and that S.S. was not “skiing unreasonably for her age or for the conditions.” ¶7 As to the negligent supervision claim, the Suttons argued that Mr. Sutton’s supervision of S.S. was “reasonable” because S.S. had professional lessons the year before, her parents “took [S.S.]

__________________________________________________________ 2 Ms. Donovan also sued S.S.’s mother, but the district court granted summary judgment in the mother’s favor and the court of appeals affirmed. Donovan v. Sutton, 2019 UT App 161, ¶ 32, 452 P.3d 1189. Ms. Donovan does not claim error on certiorari with respect to the claim against S.S.’s mother. 3 Ms. Donovan also alleged S.S.’s parents were vicariously liable for S.S.’s negligence, but that claim was dismissed by the district court and is not at issue before us.

3 DONOVAN V. SUTTON Opinion of the Court

to the ‘magic carpet’ area of the mountain to warm up,”4 she was skiing on a beginner run at the time of the collision, and she gave Mr. Sutton “no indication that she was tired, sore, or that she could not otherwise continue to ski.” Additionally, the Suttons argued that S.S. was never unattended and that Mr. Sutton “had no reason to take more steps than he was taking to supervise” her. ¶8 Ms. Donovan opposed summary judgment, arguing that Ricci was not applicable in this case and that in any event, there was additional evidence of negligence beyond the fall itself. Ms. Donovan asserted that the evidence showed S.S. was “out of control”; “ignored instructions given by her father as to how to slow down”; and violated provisions of Park City Resort’s Skier Responsibility Code, rules of conduct from the International Ski Federation, and Park City’s Municipal Code. Ms. Donovan argued that S.S.’s breach of these guidelines amounted to negligence. ¶9 Ms. Donovan also argued that Mr. Sutton had negligently supervised S.S. because: he was aware that S.S. was not only inexperienced, but also “fearful of skiing”; it was the end of the day, so he should have known S.S. was getting tired and “skiing in a sloppy fashion”; his attempts to instruct S.S. were “feeble”; and he was skiing in close proximity to S.S., so he should have intervened to thwart the collision or warned Ms. Donovan of the imminent crash. ¶10 The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Suttons. The court determined that “the only thing that the evidence showed . . . is that [S.S.] as a nine-year-old beginner skier, was not able to maintain her wedge . . . and then fell,” which did not amount to a failure to use reasonable care under the Ricci standard. The court elaborated that S.S. “inadvertently” losing her wedge “caused her to start going faster, lean back and fall,” and then collide with Ms.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2021 UT 58, 498 P.3d 382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/donovan-v-sutton-utah-2021.