No More Sledding.......................................Arion1

4/26/04 - New York Times

GREENWICH, Conn., April 25 - For years, winters in this wealthy town have been scenes out of a Rockwell painting - snow-draped trees, families skating on frozen ponds and children belly-flopping down hill on sleds.

After losing a $6 million lawsuit stemming from a sledding accident, Greenwich officials have begun to see those images as a winter wonderland of civil liability. Stung by a jury verdict this month, Greenwich is considering banning sledding to protect itself from similar lawsuits.

"Not just sledding," said town selectman Peter Crumbine, "but ice-skating and things like that that are done on town property. If we do this, it'll be with a great deal of reluctance."

Whether it's done with reluctance or Grinch-like glee, conversations with Greenwich residents who were out shopping Sunday suggest that the town officials are facing an, um, uphill battle.

Sledding down the hills and ice-skating on frozen streams and reservoirs are Greenwich traditions that would not be given up easily, people here said.

"What are the kids going to do instead - smoke crack?" asked Lori Light, a resident of nearby Weston, as she went from store to store with her two sons. "They outlaw everything here."

Every winter, people pull toboggans through the streets, skate on the marbled ponds and meet friends at the tops of Greenwich's many hills. Mostly families and young children sled and skate, but teenagers like Chelsey Falloon, 17, and Carrie Lovejoy, 18, said they goaded their friends into a trip up the hills.

"It's swamped," Ms. Falloon said.

The notion to ban sledding, first reported in The Greenwich Time, has its roots on the long slopes of Sleigh Hill outside the West Greenwich Civic Center, and in a January 2000 accident that sent a urologist and his son flying through the air.

The urologist, Nicholas Stroumbakis, and his 4-year-old son were going for one last run after a day of sledding when their plastic sled crashed into a foot-deep drainage ditch at the base of the hill, said Dr. Stroumbakis's lawyer, Stewart M. Casper.

Father and son were thrown from the sled, and Dr. Stroumbakis broke his leg in two places, which kept him from work for five months, Mr. Casper said.

The doctor sued for negligence, claiming the town had created a public nuisance by failing to maintain the ditch, and on April 14, the jury agreed, awarding him $6.3 million. The town, which is challenging the award, would have to pay $500,000 of the verdict, said Mr. Crumbine, the selectman. The remainder would be covered by insurance.

So far, there is no formal proposal to ban sledding, and Mr. Crumbine said he did not know whether the issue would emerge at the next meeting of selectmen. "It's just been talk up to this point," he said.

Though $6 million or so may seem like a hefty sum, Mr. Casper said the town should be thankful that it was not a Fortune 500 chief executive who was laid up for five months.

"They're lucky he was only a highly skilled urologist," Mr. Casper said. "A surgeon doesn't make anywhere near what some of these Greenwich residents make."

Show all stories by   Author:  52489 ( Click here )