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A group of skiers are asking the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to transfer and consolidate seven lawsuits claiming that skier insurance companies refused to pay for cancelled ski trips due to the coronavirus outbreak.
James Bradley says that on March 15, Vail Resorts announced the premature and early closure of all of its North American ski resorts for the remainder of the 2019-2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bradley now would like to join all of the similar skier insurance lawsuits that were filed by other plaintiffs who, in connection with the purchase of a 2019-2020 ski pass, paid the optional, additional fee for insurance coverage and whose subsequent insurance claims were denied.
In Bradley’s lawsuit, he says that he purchased an Epic Pass, which granted him access to more than 34 destination resorts all over the country. However, the ski resorts were closed on March 15 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bradley states. Plaintiffs in the other skier insurance lawsuits allegedly had similar experiences.
He goes on to state that the insurance company, United Specialty Insurance Company (USIC), refused to issue any refunds for the rest of the 2019-2020 season, which was cancelled.
In addition, just as Bradley paid for the optional, additional fee for ski pass insurance from USIC, many of the plaintiffs in the other class action lawsuits paid optional, additional fees for similar insurance related to the purchase of an “Ikon Pass” from Alterra Mountain Company.
Bradley states that Ikon Pass’s “Ski Pass Preserver” policy was underwritten by Arch Insurance Company (Arch) and administered by Out of Towne, LLC d/b/a Red Sky Travel Insurance (Red Sky). Just like Vail Resorts, Alterra also announced in March 2020 that they would be closing their destination resorts for the remainder of the 2019-2020 season due to COVID-19.
“A vast majority of Destination Resorts are owned either by Vail Resorts or by Alterra, and the claims brought by Alterra’s Ikon Pass holders against insurers Arch and Red Sky mirror the claims brought by Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass holders against insurer USIC,” the skier insurance lawsuit motion maintains.
According to the motion to consolidate, Bradley seeks to enjoin lawsuits against insurance companies who have denied claims from individuals who paid an optional, additional fee for insurance on ski passes before COVID-19.
Bradley states that each of the seven class action lawsuits contain the same set of facts: 1) Plaintiffs all purchased ski pass insurance from the applicable insurance company; 2) each of the insurance companies issued a policy to purchasers of insured ski passes; 3) the policies are enforceable and valid contracts between the applicable insurance company and each plaintiff; 4) the plaintiffs have performed their obligations pursuant to the terms of each insurance policy; 5) each of the plaintiffs have suffered a loss as defined by the terms of the policies; and 6) the insurance companies failed to compensate the plaintiffs for their losses as required by the policies.
In one skier insurance lawsuit, Brian Hunt claims that Vail Resorts Management Co. charges between $67 and $979 for a variety of ski passes in their 34 ski resorts.
Hunt states that he purchased an annual pass for all Vail Resorts from October 2019 to June 2020, or as long as the snow lasted.
Hunt complains that he has not had access to the resorts since the company closed them in March 2020, which basically cut off his annual pass.
He claims that Vail has not issued him a refund but has retained his season pass fee as well as other fees from other pass holders.
In another similar lawsuit, Matt Simpson of Glenwood Springs, Colorado claims that he purchased an “Ikon Base Pass” from Alterra Mountain Company for the 2019-2020 ski season. He states that this pass granted him unlimited/select access to 12 ski resorts, five days of access at each of 19 other ski resorts, and a combined five days of access at six others, all with no blackout dates.
On March 14, 2020, Alterra’s CEO announced that the company would suspend operations at 15 of their North American ski resorts indefinitely, starting Sunday, March 15, 2020. Simpson states that as a result, more than one-third of the usual ski season was lost.
Did you purchase ski insurance through Vail or Alterra? Leave a message in the comments section below.
The plaintiff in the motion to consolidate is represented by Derek H. Potts of The Potts Law Firm LLP.
The Skier Insurance Class Action Lawsuit is In Re: National Ski Pass Insurance Litigation, Case No. 1:20-P-113, in the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.
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3 thoughts onSkiers Insurance COVID-19 Lawsuits Seek MDL Status
Purchased a 20/21 Ikon Base pass with adventure assurance which at Crystal Mountain , WA allowed unlimited midweek days with some blackouts. After deferring my 2020-2021 pass due to Covid I expected that when 21/22 passes came around I could get another Base pass with the same benefits and if inflation had shown a moderate increase in price for first timers I might be responsible for that increase. A few months after deferring, I got an email from Allterra/Crystal telling me that Base Passes were now going to only be good for 5 days at Crystal Mountain. No refunds, no exceptions, not their problem.
Our family purchased 3 IKON Basic Passes for 2019-20 and 1 EPIC Pass. We did purchase on each pass the insurance.
Neither of these companies have offered a refund only a credit toward 20-21 pass
I purchased a full Ikon Pass for the 19-20 season. I purchased the insurance package underwritten by Red Sky and also filed a claim upon the Alterra mountain closures. My claim was denied on the premise that Red Sky does not cover facility closures. I reached out to the CA Department of Insurance to launch an investigation as Red Sky’s policy mentions the coverage of “Quarantine”. In their investigation the DOI relayed that Red Sky stands by their policy stating, “Reason Code 59: Shelter-at-place or Stay home order*. There are no benefits under a travel insurance policy for shelter-in-place or stay-at-home orders issued as they are not quarantines as defined by the CDC. These orders are intended to reduce harm from the spread of coronavirus in a community. Unlike quarantines, there are many exceptions provided under these orders”. This is unacceptable to me as a long standing customer of various multi-pass programs. I paid for a service and did not receive such service due to company’s policies in adherence of government orders during an unforseen pandemic. End of story. Ikon/Alterra is not a charity organization and I did not “donate” nearly $1000.00. Action MUST be taken.