[Andrew]

Be wary of who you chose to go climbing with, especially if climbing in the USA:

Climber sues date for fall
Eds: NOTE climber being sued is from Michigan

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Dangling from a rope in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Lindsey Enloe says she was a climbing novice who put her life in her date’s hands.

But the 24-year-old woman never imagined the outing would end with her plummeting to the bottom of a rock formation.

Enloe, who was left partly disabled by the April 19, 1997, fall, sued Stephen Stinson earlier this month in 3rd District Court. Her negligence claim adds rock climbing to a list of outdoor accidents prompting lawsuits asking Utah courts to fix responsibility.

Enloe’s Salt Lake City attorneys, Stuart Hinckley and David Burns, say that because Stinson told Enloe he was an experienced climber he had a duty to keep her reasonably safe.

Stinson secured flat nylon webbing around a rock, but improperly attached that webbing to the rope holding Enloe, the suit alleges. The rope rubbed against the webbing, breaking it and sending Enloe to the ground, it says.

The fall left Enloe with a broken pelvis, foot and wrist and a concussion. Her right arm and wrist are permanently impaired and subject to uncontrollable spasms and pain. Enloe also suffered internal injuries.

Stinson, of Farmington, Mich., couldn’t be reached for comment.

Enloe, now 29, of Vernal, Utah, said she became angry when a friend looked at the equipment she had been using and revealed the cause of her accident.

Mounting medical bills convinced her to file suit.

University of Utah Law School professor John Flynn, who teaches tort law, said it is rare for one climber to sue another.

But Enloe’s suit could succeed if she can show that Stinson represented himself as an expert, said Chicago lawyer Mitchell Orpett, who heads the American Bar Association’s Torts and Insurance Practice Section.

Orpett said a defense lawyer would argue Stinson had a duty only to provide reasonable care, not absolute safety.

Utah courts have set a high standard for proving negligence in one outdoor sport: skiing. Salt Lake attorney Jeffrey Eisenberg handled, and lost, a case in which one skier was suing another after an accident. He said the latest case faces similar obstacles, with courts reluctant to assign blame for sporting mishaps.

Enloe says she’s suing only for restitution.

“I was a very trusting person,” she said. “That’s changed.”

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The Associated Press All Rights Reserved.
The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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