SANDPOINT - Another negligence lawsuit has been filed over a snow and ice slide from a condominium on Schweitzer Mountain which seriously injured at least two people last year.

Steven M. Richards, 19, was hit by the snow and ice after it fell two stories from the eaves of The Snowdrift. The debris crushed and fractured Richards' foot in numerous places, leaving him with permanent injuries, according to his Moscow attorney, Tim Gresback.

The slide occurred as a crew was clearing the roof of the 10-unit condo complex on the morning of Jan. 3, 2007. Richards was among a group of housekeepers who had pulled up to the building in a van and began unloading cleaning supplies.

Also injured in the slide was Maria Eugenia Lizarraga Tejada, a 20-year Peruvian woman who was paralyzed from the waist down after she was hit by the debris and partially buried.

Named as defendants in both suits are The Snowdrift owners' association and Hester Tree Service, employees of which were conducting snow-removal operations on the building's roof at the time of the slide.

Both suits allege The Snowdrift was negligent in its maintenance of the roof and Hester Tree Service failed to put up warning signs letting people know on the ground that the clearing operation was under way. The suits further allege that conditions on the roof that day were too dangerous to have people working up there.

Both case files contain the same photograph taken by a Bonner County Sheriff's deputy which appeared to show a mass of snow and ice hanging precariously from another part of the roof which hadn't slid yet.

Counsels for The Snowdrift and Hester Tree Service deny the negligence claims in the Tejada suit and contend the housekeepers, including the unidentified van driver, put themselves at risk when they pulled up to the building, court records show. They also argue their employer, Schweitzer Mountain Resort, is at fault for the mishap.

The defendants' answers to the complaint in the Richards suit are pending.

Both suits seek damages in excess of $10,000.

A 10-day jury trial in Tejada's case is scheduled for March 2009.