By: Tim Seaman
tseaman@kcautv.com
This winter the City of Sioux City is cracking down on sledding. The reason? It was sued and lost almost half a million dollars in 2008 after an accident on city property.
Now some Iowa lawmakers are trying to make cities exempt from that kind of liability.
A sledding hill in Boone, IA was closed after a woman was injured on it a few years ago. Now Boone's state representative is working to prevent Iowa towns from being sued because of sledding accidents.
"If the city doesn't create a dangerous situation on that hill in their park, and someone is injured while they're sledding, then the city would be immune for that and would not be liable for the injury," said Representative Chip Baltimore.
Baltimore believes people should know the risks of sledding before they hit the hills.
"If you fall off your sled and break your arm, that's not the city's fault and the city would not be responsible for that. That's a risk that's inherent in the activity of sledding," says Baltimore.
The Iowa Association for Justice is fighting back. It says the majority of people out sledding are children. Brad Lint says kids shouldn't be responsible for judging the dangers.
"They're not fully capable of assessing the risks and the dangers that are inherently associated with this kind of an activity," says Lint.
Lint believes injuries should still determine who's at fault on a case by case basis. He says, "we have total confidence in them to look at the facts of any particular case, whether it's a sledding injury, or any other injury, and decide that case on its merit."
The bill passed through a house sub– committee. Channel 9 Eyewitness News will keep you updated on its progress.
