Chunder_KhatWhat do you mean you "were only presented with the front DINs"?
Was the waiver you signed for all the DINs? The way you wrote this is vague.
Lots of incredibly shitty advice in this thread. The issue is not whether REI was negligent. They clearly were if what you say is correct, and your contributory negligence does not change that. Your problem is proving the DINs were set incorrectly, and then proving that but-for the DINs being set incorrectly you would not have suffered the injury you did.
America is so litigious its insane. He knew how to check his DIN. He knew how to adjust his DIN. The tech gave him a chance to look at his own DIN. He chose not to do any of these things. REI may have fucked up but it's impossible to prove that, and you can't know that that caused the injury. Especially because the heel piece controls forward release, not twist release. You might get a tiny settlement out of it if you're lucky, but it won't be worth your time, and it contributes to a shitty situation that the ski industry has.
This instinct to sue every time something goes wrong is a real problem in skiing. It's why a lot of shops refuse to let you use their screwdrivers, you often need to pay to have your bindings checked just to slightly adjust the DIN, forward pressure or toe height. I probably spent just as much time dealing with liability issues than I did actually working on equipment once I started managing the shop I was at. It's so frustrating to have a customer fill out all their info, take off their boot, adjust the binding, test the binding (usually takes like 5-10 minutes) have them sign for the adjustment, then charge them (40$ at my shop), when all they wanted was to turn the DIN from 8 to 8.5.
One customer will chew you out for not letting them borrow a screw driver to adjust their own bindings, and the next one will insist that it's your fault that they popped out too early when their binding was set by the book. Sometimes people will lie about their physical information (height weight and age) and get salty about their bindings not doing what they wanted. You know how awkward it is to double check someone's weight when they claim to be 145lbs and they clearly weight 180lb+? Or their age when they claim to be 39, but are clearly over 50? The number of times I hear "well I don't want to pop out too easily, but if I crash then they have to. I don't trust the chart so where should I put it?" As if I'm some wizard that can magically know exactly where to set someone's binding just by looking at them. Then someone will bring in a binding that tests poorly, you tell them, and they're mad at you when you tell them that you can't continue to work on their broken binding. Then someone will bring in a touring boot on a binding that doesn't accommodate that sole, and get mad that you won't set up their binding "I've done it like this for years ok I'm not going to sue you!" But if they get hurt they absolutely will. There is no winning.
The point is, there are 3-4 adjustment screws on most alpine bindings. Thats it. If you know how you want your binding set, then its really not that hard to set it yourself, especially if you're an experienced skier. This instinct to have the shop do everything, then sue instead of taking responsibility for your own equipment; it drives up costs, wait times, and infringes on the potential "bro favors" that shops can provide. People are so quick to label shop techs as incompetent but they are completely unwilling to learn how to work on their own equipment. People would rather act like petulant victims, and it gets old. Not to mention, a first year shop tech routinely makes less than a fast food worker, yet they can be individually sued (along with the shop) if they set something wrong.
Legally, I get the whole shop obligation and negligence and blah blah blah. But it does get old spending so much time keeping the lawyers and insurance companies happy, instead of helping the customer.
