SALT LAKE CITY — A group of snowboarders who fought Alta’s ban on snowboarders are appealing a judge’s decision tossing their lawsuit.
In court documents obtained Monday by FOX 13, the group “Wasatch Equality” filed notice that it would appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
Read the filing here:
Wasatch Equality sued Alta and the U.S. Forest Service, alleging that the ski resort’s ban on snowboarders violates their Fourteenth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution. In September, U.S. District Court Judge Dee Benson rejected their lawsuit, saying that it was not what equal protection under the U.S. Constitution intended.
“There are many forums Plaintiffs can resort to in an attempt to accomplish their goal of snowboarding down the Baldy Chutes at Alta,” Benson wrote. “Seeking an injunction from this court is not one of them.”
The Fourteenth Amendment has been cited in cases of race, gender, national origin — and most recently cases for marriage equality. In arguments, lawyers for Wasatch Equality suggested that snowboarders were considered by Alta to be “undesirable.”
Alta insisted it does not discriminate against people — just equipment.
