A federal judge threw out a $10-million wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the family of a young rock climber killed in a 1999 slide in Yosemite Valley, short-circuiting a legal battle that some climbers feared could threaten a mecca of the sport.
In a largely technical decision, the U.S. District Court judge in Fresno ruled last week that Yosemite National Park officials were acting within their discretionary duties when they didn't post warnings at the base of Glacier Point, site of the rockfall that killed 21-year-old Peter Terbush.
Terbush, a college student from Colorado on his first trip to Yosemite Valley, was on the ground anchoring a climbing partner's belay rope when a huge granite slab broke loose 1,300 feet up and cartwheeled to earth.
As boulders exploded around him, Terbush held tight to the rope, helping save the life of his friend dangling 60 feet up the cliff face. But a fragment struck Terbush in the head, killing him instantly.
Park officials declared Terbush a hero after the tragedy, citing his refusal to flee in the face of danger. His family launched a legal fight after learning of a geologist's theory that a leaking bathroom water system atop Glacier Point artificially lubricated the cliff face, unleashing a flurry of rock slides in the months before the tragedy.
They argued that the park negligently created the rockfall danger, then failed to warn visitors like Terbush.
Park officials argued that rockfalls are an unpredictable part of the natural environment in Yosemite Valley, which was created over eons by glaciers and frequent rockfalls. Litigating the tragedy, they said, was like suing Mother Nature.
"We are to this day saddened by this young man's death," said Kristi Kapetan, the assistant U.S. attorney who defended the park. "We just don't feel it's our fault."
Dugan Barr, attorney for the Terbush family, said he was disappointed but expected to appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
"The thing that's galling about this is it's really clear the park knew about the danger," Barr said, noting that park officials briefly closed off the same area after a slide just weeks before Terbush was killed.
In her 55-page opinion dismissing the case, Magistrate Judge Sandra M. Snyder said Barr failed to provide convincing evidence that park managers sidestepped their discretionary decision-making duties by not posting warnings that might have prevented Terbush's death.
