Movie theater short film -- 7-year-old boy faces lawsuit for minor skiing collision

This video is part of the FacesOfLawsuitAbuse.org awareness campaign and is being shown in movie theaters prior to the featured presentation.

"He's a child. No child should ever be put in the situation he was put in because of a ski accident."

Robb and Susan Swimm
Eagle, Colorado

When a man suddenly turned in front of seven-year-old Scott Swimm on the ski mountain, Scott reacted and prevented a collision. Instead, he passed over the man's skis, and both Scott and the man lost their balance. As Scott stood up and tried to apologize, the man grabbed Scott and threatened to sue him and his whole family.

Months later, the local sheriff came to the Swimms' house to personally serve Scott with papers. "Scott thought he was going to go to jail. He did not understand what was happening," said Scott's mother, Susan. Scott was later deposed by three plaintiffs' lawyers. The night before, he cried himself to sleep. "Scott was intimidated by that," his mother said. "That was a scary, scary thing."

The Swimms' legal ordeal lasted almost a year. Scott's grades suffered, and his teachers called Susan to let her know how differently Scott was behaving at school. Seeing how dramatically the suit was affecting their son, the Swimms "wanted the whole thing to stop... and I wanted Scott to be able to get his little smile back," Susan said.

Since the cost of fighting a lawsuit, no matter its merits, is often more than a settlement, the Swimms' insurance company decided to settle the suit.

Not only did the lawsuit take an emotional toll, it put a dent in the Swimms' income as well. The many hours Robb spent handling the lawsuit took him away from his jobs, which both paid by the hour. At the time, Robb was working as a hotel concierge and scanning tickets on the ski mountain. Susan was attempting to start her own small business.

"My son's age was no concern," Robb said of the lawsuit. "My family's situation was no concern. And I do believe the lawyers used Scott and his age as a pawn to get across a certain fear that 'we're going to hurt your child more if you don't pay us.'"

"What we learned is that it wasn't about justice. And it wasn't about what really happened in the accident... it was all about money."

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Vail
• Colorado
• ski
• skiing
• accident
• collision
• lawyers
• lawsuits
• frivolous
• lawsuit
• abuse
• public
• service
• announcement
• legal
• reform
• iamlawsuitabuse.org
• facesoflawsuitabuse.org
• movie
• theater
• short
• film

[plozking5]

people these days SMFH !

[zeshleman]

That guy is a dick, would have had a friend beat his ass( people like him need a good ass kicking or they'll never learn) the kid is 7 & nobody was injured so the guy should have acted like an adult

[rltlbiz1]

ok im sorry to say this but the kid is 7! the other guy didnt get hurt! if that was my kid oh!! id be hella pissed and do something about this. u cant sue over this.

[fastlee93]

wow that guy just needs to die. or stay the hell off the hills. that kid didn't do one thing wrong. keep skiing little buddy!

[cooldudeakaej118]

i know this is VERY immature and i will get hate for this but... poot in hehehehehehe 1:32

[jonmasters]

Wow. Very powerful stuff.