Much has been written about the luge track at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver where a Geogian luger was killed last week. And The New York Times has a worthy follow-up story in its sports section Friday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/sports/olympics/19luge.html?hp
An article headlined “Luger Warned of Track Before the Games” reports that luger Werner Hoeger lost consciousness and suffered a concussion during a trial run at the Whistler Sliding Centre in November.
That’s the same luger track where Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed last Friday, after slamming his back into a steel pillar.
Hoeger after his Nov. 13 accident repeatedly wrote and e-mailed international luge and Canadian officials, telling them that the track wasn’t safe, according to The Times. Obviously, officials didn’t heed Hoeger’s warning.
The International Luge Federation said Thursday that it will issue a report on the Georgian luger’s death at the end of next month. Changes were made to the luge track after last week’s fatal accident.
For a very detailed account of Hoeger’s back and forth with officials over the dangerous track, read The Times’ piece.
Notice is a major element to any claim for negligence or wrongful death. Looks like the Canadian officials had that.