CODE OF VIRGINIA

ASSUMPTION OF RISKS (§ 8.01-227.19)

A. A winter sports participant shall be presumed to have known the inherent
risks of the winter sport in which he participates, to have fully appreciated
the nature and extent of such risks, and to have voluntarily exposed himself to
such risks, even if a particular risk was not specifically presented or stated
to the participant by the operator. A passenger who uses a passenger tramway
with the permission of an operator shall be presumed to have known the risks of
winter sports that are applicable to the use of passenger tramways, to have
fully appreciated the nature and extent of such risks, and to have voluntarily
exposed himself to such risks, even if a particular risk was not specifically
presented or stated to the individual by the operator. Such presumption may be
rebutted by the participant or passenger by proving that the participant or
passenger did not know the particular inherent risk of winter sports that
proximately caused the injury or death or damage to property at issue, did not
fully appreciate the nature and extent of such risk, or did not voluntarily
expose himself to such risk.

B. An operator’s negligence is not an inherent risk of winter sports, and
a participant or passenger is not presumed to have accepted the risk of such
negligence and the injuries proximately caused therefrom.

C. In determining if the presumption set forth in subsection A applies in a
particular case, whether a particular circumstance or set of circumstances
constitutes an inherent risk of winter sports shall be a question of law, and
whether the participant or passenger assumed the particular inherent risk of
winter sports shall be a question of fact.

D. Nothing herein shall prevent a participant or passenger from offering
evidence that he did not know the particular inherent risk of winter sports that
proximately caused the injury or death or damage to property at issue, did not
fully appreciate the nature and extent of such risk, or did not voluntarily
expose himself to such risk.

HISTORY: 2012, c. 713.