SAM Magazine—Rutland, Vt., Dec. 1, 2016—What goes up must come down, and if it doesn't, it'll cost you. A Pittsfield, Vt., woman who was stranded in a gondola cabin at Killington for five hours was awarded $750,000 by a Rutland County Civil Court jury on Wednesday.

According to initial reports after the event happened, on Oct. 1, 2011, Nadine Price had hiked to the summit of Killington when she decided to board a gondola cabin at the lift's upper terminal around 3:15 p.m. The lift usually closes at 5 p.m., but on that date, it closed just before 3:30 p.m. because of inclement weather, and the lifties at the top station had already hopped in a cabin to the base. While it's unclear exactly how Price boarded the lift, the local constable told the Rutland Herald he “believed she levered the door open when the car slowed down at the summit landing.” Thinking the line was clear, operators closed the lift.

Nearly five hours later, after a friend of Price reported she hadn't returned from her hike, searchers found Price in a gondola cabin near the summit.

Though she was not physically injured, she sued Killington, saying its negligence had caused her emotional distress. In court on Wednesday, Price's lawyer reminded the jury they had heard Price talk about having frequent nightmares and waking up in a panic since being trapped in the gondola.

In his closing argument, Price's lawyer painted a dramatic picture. “When it turned dark, the despair. Beginning to be aware that you're losing your consciousness, knowing that you have to stay awake, fighting to do that. Getting up and marching in place when you can't even feel your feet, the fight to survive. Imagine if she hadn't been able to scream out when she saw the headlights going by. Imagine if she had been lying there and hadn't been able to fight to keep herself awake. We'd be here for a whole different kind of case,” he said.

Her lawyer asked the jury to consider an award of at least $500,000, but after deliberating for about three and a half hours, the jury made a unanimous decision to award Price $750,000. The jury agreed that Killington had been negligent, but made no finding that the negligence had caused Price emotional distress.

According to reports, Killington's attorney argued that Price did not need medical attention, and Killington had reached out to her. In 2011, a spokeswoman for Killington told the Rutland Herald that an internal investigation found their procedures weren't followed when the lift closed early. “We did conclude that Nadine Price was not at fault and the lift closing procedure was not followed properly,” she said.

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