Update from the courts

Those who are limbering up for their annual skiing holiday may wish to pay heed to Mr Justice Foskett’s comments in Anderson v Lyotier and Portejoie [2008] EWHC 2790, [2008] All ER (D) 216 (Nov). Sitting in the Queen’s Bench Division Foskett J considered the duties of a ski instructor who had taken his adult pupils off -piste resulting in the claimant sustaining serious injury rendering him tetraplegic when he lost control of his skies and collided with a tree.

Off-piste activity
The claimant and his group, all of whom had skied previously, were assigned to Mr Portejoie for the duration of their holiday which had been booked with the first defendant’s company. On day three of the holiday the group progressed onto red pistes and had a first taste of off -piste skiing. The claimant struggled with it and bumped into a tree—this was not witnessed by Mr Portejoie. The rest of the group skied both on and off -piste and over moguls over