Whitefish, MT – The family that hosted a German exchange student who died in 2010 after falling into a tree well while skiing at Montana’s Whitefish Mountain Resort has been dismissed from a lawsuit over his death.

In 2013 the family of Niclas Waschle, who was 16 years old in 2010, filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Whitefish Mountain Resort, the foreign student exchange agency World Experience, and host parents Fred and Lynne Vanhorn, of nearby Columbia Falls, Mont. They alleged that all three defendants were negligent for Waschle’s death after falling in a tree well while skiing off trail at Whitefish Mountain Resort on December 29, 2010. Waschle was found upside-down in the tree well by passers-by, who administered CPR until ski patrollers arrived at the scene. He was removed from life support in a nearby hospital three days later, and the cause of death was ruled asphyxiation.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy granted a motion for summary judgment filed by the Vanhorns, ruling that the Waschle family’s claim against the Vanhorns was unlikely to succeed on its merits.

A date has been set for November 30 for a jury trial against the remaining defendants, Whitefish Mountain Resort and World Experience. The plaintiffs contend that Whitefish Mountain Resort failed to fence off the forested area where Waschle was found, and failed to post notices warning patrons of the dangers of tree wells. The plaintiffs further argue that Whitefish had a duty to mitigate or eliminate tree wells, and also contend that World Experience is vicariously liable for the host family’s negligence, an argument likely weakened now that the host family has been dismissed from the lawsuit.

A second tree well death occurred at Whitefish less than two weeks after Waschle’s incident.