A Connecticut man won a worker’s compensation claim against Killington Ski Resort following a two-day jury trial this week.
The Rutland civil court jury found that Thomas Kibbie, 56, was entitled to compensation for a number of treatments he had initially been denied by the Vermont Department of Labor.
A call to Killington Ski Resort seeking a comment was not returned Friday.
Kibbie was a mountain ambassador at Killington — a seasoned skier or snowboarder who helps guests find their way on the slopes and provides other services — in 2008. On Jan. 12 of that year, according to court records, he was making a final check of the trails for the day when he fell, crashing hard enough to break his helmet.
Kibbie’s lawyer, Thomas Bixby, said Kibbie has no memory of the crash.
“As far as we know, there were no witnesses,” Bixby said. “Thankfully, he was wearing a helmet.”
Despite that helmet, according to court records, Kibbie suffered a hemorrhage in his right temporal lobe, leaving him with a permanent brain injury. Bixby said Kibbie had a construction business he tended to when he was off the slopes, but that the injury has left him unable to work.
It also left him in need of serious medical care, according to court records. Documents from the case describe ongoing treatment — or a need thereof — for chronic neck pain, headaches, visual problems, trouble sleeping and depression.
Bixby said there was an initial settlement in which the resort agreed to pay for certain treatments on an ongoing basis, but Killington stopped payment in September 2010.
“For the last seven years, he’s been fighting for these benefits,” Bixby said.
A decision from the Department of Labor in February 2016 granted some of the benefits Kibbie sought, but denied others, including cervical injections and a device that treats pain through electrical impulses.
With the jury decision Wednesday, Bixby said all the treatments will be covered. Bixby said he did not know what cost that would amount to.
“They have all the bills because they have the treatment notes,” Bixby said of Killington. “They will go back to the providers. I don’t want to make up a number — it’s significant.”
gordon.dritschilo @rutlandherald.com
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