Mother Killed and Two Children Left Injured in Ski Lift Malfunction

A Texas family has filed suit against a Colorado ski resort after a mother and her two children were thrown from a ski lift due to a ski lift malfunction.

On December 29, 2016, Kelly Huber, a Texas mother, and her two young daughters were on a holiday trip at the Colorado ski resort Ski Granby Ranch. As they were riding the Quick Draw Express lift, their chair began to swing side to side and struck a nearby lift tower-throwing all three of the Hubers at least 25 feet below the lift. Kelly Huber died almost immediately, while her two daughters suffered debilitating injuries, both physically and emotionally.

In May of this year, after months of digging into the cause of the accident, a state investigation revealed that a new electric motor drive was not properly tuned to settings appropriate for operating a ski lift and was the main contributing factor to the Hubers’ ejection.

The Huber family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Ski Granby Ranch alleging that the ski resort had knowledge of the unsafe conditions on the Quick Draw Express ski lift but did nothing to immediately shut it down. The lawsuit alleges that Ski Granby Ranch had cut corners when installing a new motor and had ignored weeks of complaints from skiers before the Huber family accident. The lawsuit also alleges that the management of Ski Granby Ranch made a conscious decision that their revenue was more important than the safety of the people and families getting on their ski lift.

Although the Ski Granby Ranch has reportedly replaced the motor drive on the Quick Draw Express ski lift, the Huber family hopes through their lawsuit to send a message to the Colorado ski industry that nothing like this should ever happen again.

If you or someone you know has been catastrophically injured, contact an experienced attorney at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner by calling (713) 222-7211 or toll free at 713-222-7211.