Search And Rescue Service Stopped After Lawsuit

British Columbia's Golden and District Search and Rescue Society has stopped its service due to a lawsuit filed by a skier last month. The lawsuit, filed by Gilles Blackburn, claims the society didn't do enough to save him and his wife after they became lost on Feb. 15. Gilles wife died of hypothermia on their seventh day in the wilderness. The society is concerned about the government's lack of legal support in the incident. Chris Duffy, acting executive director of the PEP, said the province will cover volunteers for liability, but the search-and-rescue societies are a separate legal entity, and therefore responsible for getting their own coverage. "There's a lot of concern over this and a lot of focus on it because it is a first and we want to explore what the gaps and risks are out of this and inform the wider search-and-rescue community to make sure that everyone has the coverages that they need," he said. The moral of the story: Don't get lost in British Columbia.

Comments

the filer of this lawsuit is an idiot

[Anonymous Coward]

After being so foolhardy as to gt his wife killed, he now seeks to dismantle the only people that sought to protect them from themselves? How many more people must die through lack of search and rescue for this idiot to realize his mistakes were his own?

Back-peddling

[spydabyte]

The person suing is only back peddling. He wants a better search and rescue team? Don't sue them you idiot! Donate to them!

Re:Back-peddling

[Fluffeh]

What you described isn't back peddling - that's where you make one statement, then change your mind and make a contradictory statement afterward while making arguments that countered what you originally said.

I do agree perfectly though with what you say, suing them won't help make a better search and rescue team.

Re:Back-peddling

[spydabyte]

back peddling can be used for many things. In bicycling, it's moving backwards (which is how I used it). In conversation, it's "digging a hole" in an argument, usually with a spouse. Someone knew what I meant, which is all that words/terms matter for, capisce?

The judge...

[Nutria]

should toss out the suit and censure the plaintiff's lawyer.

Unfortunately, the real moral:

[cybersquid]

The moral of the story: Don't get lost in British Columbia.

Unfortunately I must disagree. The actual moral is: Don't help someone in British Columbia.

Re:Unfortunately, the real moral:

[calmofthestorm]

No, don't /get paid/ to help someone in British Columbia. Volunteers are covered.

Re:Unfortunately, the real moral:

[Anonymous Coward]

No, don't /get paid/ to help someone in British Columbia. Volunteers are covered.

The search and rescue organization being sued is entirely volunteer. Whether or not volunteers are covered is not clear. This court case might decide that (upon appeal).

ASSHAT NAMES

[Anonymous Coward]

Gilles Blackburn is the asshat who is suing.
Who is his lawyer. His name should be on a billboard.

Feel like i need to post here...

[Anonymous Coward]

You all got this worng, very worng. The couple wrote S.O.S in the snow. Somone saw it and reported it, but the idiot trough it was a hoax because no one was reported missing. It took them 3 reporting of the SOS to finaly start research. by the time they found them, the women have die from hypothermy.
He is right about sueing the idiots who let his wife die in the cold.

Re:Feel like i need to post here...

[jayme0227]

Nah, even if they didn't start immediately, they were a volunteer organization. If nobody wanted to volunteer to go look for them when there really weren't any hard facts indicating that someone was indeed missing, could you blame them? I wouldn't be surprised if there were incidents in the past where a hoax of a similar variety had taken place which had jaded the volunteer society towards helping people when there was no missing persons report.

The fact of the matter stands that he and his wife screwed up and nobody was there to save them from themselves. To sue others because of this is absurd.