Morris County Widow Blames Teen For Husband's Death In Ski Accident, Lawsuit Says

The wife of a Randolph man who was killed earlier this year in an accident on the slopes of the Breckenridge Ski Resort is suing the teen who collided with her husband.

Tracey Sherwood was named as the plaintiff in the lawsuit, as first reported by the Denver Post, in the U.S. District Court in Denver against multiple parties, including the teen involved in the collision, 16-year-old Max Switzer from Waterville Valley, N.H.

The lawsuit also names the teen's mother, Leslie Switzer, the teen's ski coach, Dan Shuffleton of Thornton, N. H., Switzer's competitive skiing team, and the company sponsoring the team, Snowsports Educational Foundation.

Sherwood's deceased husband, 43-year-old John Sherwood of Randolph, a father of two, died after colliding with Max Switzer on an expert trail at the Breckenridge Ski Resort.

The teen collided with Sherwood's husband from behind, according to the lawsuit. According to his LinkedIn page, Sherwood's husband was a director of systems development for Prudential Financial.

According to the lawsuit, Sherwood is requesting compensatory damages of more than $75,000 and litigation costs.

The Denver Post reports that Max Switzer was a part of the competitive skiing team that was preparing for the US Snowboard and Freeskiing Association competition at Copper Mountain.

According to the lawsuit, Switzer was skiing faster than conditions on the slope allowed, slamming into Sherwood's husband and causing injuries that led to the Randolph man's death.

The other parties, including Switzer's coach, contributed to the accident by allowing, through lack of supervision, the teen to be skiing in that manner on the slope that day, the lawsuit says.

Click here to read the full Denver Post article.

Image via Jeff Carlson, flickr, used under Creative Commons.