Brown bill would protect outfitters, guides

Hungry Horse News

You're floating down a river on a guided raft trip. That raft hits a rock and flips. Your head hits a rock. You get stitches and have a headache for a week.

Under current Montana law, you might be able to win a lawsuit against the outfitter.

But state Rep. Dee Brown, R-Coram, wants to change that. Brown, who owns Canyon RV and Campground, introduced a bill last week intended to give outfitters more protection from such a case, which could lower insurance costs for outfitters and guides.

The Montana Recreation Responsibility Act says that a person who engages in a sport or recreational activity is responsible for inherent risks in that activity.

So if you fall out of a raft and get hurt, the provider would not necessarily be responsible.

The provider would still be responsible for negligence, such as if the raft guide was drunk or poorly trained.

"People who go on these trips, tours, hikes, whatever it may be, must accept that wild outdoors is just that-wild," Brown said.

Montana already has laws protecting providers for inherent risks associated with skiing, snowmobiling, off-highway vehicles, guest ranching and some other activities.

This bill includes all other commonly understood sporting and recreational activities, such as baseball, basketball, hiking, whitewater rafting and canoeing.

The bill is similar to laws in Alaska and Wyoming.

Randy Gayner, co-owner of Glacier Wilderness Guides and Montana Raft Company, said the release forms people sign don't mean much under current state laws. Outfitters are still getting sued for incidents due to inherent risks, he said.

Glacier Wilderness Guides offers a host of recreational activities, including whitewater rafting and guided hikes in Glacier National Park. This type of law could help their business and ones like it, Brown said.

Gayner said his company was sued after a boat flipped and a woman who got stuck in tree branches died. His insurance company settled the case because they knew the laws in Montana were really hard to beat, he said.

Gayner and other representatives from local recreation businesses urged Brown to introduce the legislation against these types of lawsuits.

"When it's just the force of nature or things that happen, then people shouldn't be able to sue the company," Gayner said.

Brown said the costs for liability insurance are increasing 20 to 30 percent a year, and the new law may lower or stabilize those costs.

Darwon Stoneman, co-owner of Glacier Raft Company, said the new law is essential.

"It's needed badly because we might be in a situation where insurance companies won't be available to us," Stoneman said. "Our insurance companies are going, 'Hey, we don't know if we want to insure you guys.'"

State Sen. Ken Hanson, D-Harlem, recently introduced a similar bill in the Senate.

He introduced that bill after being approached by constituents who were unable to have motorcycle races because they couldn't afford liability insurance, Brown said.

Brown's and Hanson's bills went into committee meetings on Monday. If both bills are passed in both the House and the Senate, they would likely go to a state conference committee that would make one bill.

The main difference between the bills is that Brown's includes government agencies along with private recreational providers and Hanson's does not.

Brown's bill protects agencies such as city recreation departments, universities, Glacier National Park and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

It would also protect non-profit groups such as the YMCA, baseball leagues and camps for physically disabled children.

Bob Jordan, who owns Wild River Adventures and helped write the bill, said small non-profit organizations suffer the most from the threat of lawsuits. He said their budgets can't handle the costs for liability insurance.

Jordan said rafting insurance that cost him $2,000 in 2001 was priced at $20,000 last April.

Jordan testified for the bill Monday. He said the main resistance is coming from trial lawyers who make money prosecuting providers.

There was a similar bill in 2003 that didn't pass. Jordan lobbied for that bill, too.

Jordan said the 2003 bill died because it tried to eliminate acts already in place, including the Skier's Responsibility Act, and create one broad act. Some people in the skiing industry objected because they didn't want to lose the skiing act.

Brown's bill this year does not eliminate any of the previous laws.

So the bill has been tweaked, and Brown said the time is right.

"If the university systems and the governmental agencies come on board with this bill, it will definitely pass," Brown said. "I'm hoping that they will recognize that there is a need, that every mother who sends their kid to skateboard in skateboard park USA has to accept that their kid has some risk down there."