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Posted by Tom D on August 17, 2007 at 12:04:37 am EDT
In reply to NOLS director killed by rock trundled by hiker posted by Bill S on August 16, 2007 at 11:30:34 am EDT

I do live in CA and I believe Bill is correct on the issue of liability. There will a question of "assumption of the risk" and whether or not rockfall would be considered a natural hazard of the sport. I don't know the answer to that one. I would think that being pelted by rocks thrown by hikers would fall outside of assumption of the risk, but it may be a novel question, which we may see raised in the future at some point.

The issue really isn't whether or not the hiker "feels badly" about what he did; the issue is whether or not he is liable to the survivors of the person he killed. Of course money damages or jail time won't bring back the victim, but those are the only recourse we have when things like this happen.

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