In North Carolina, ski areas cannot engage in conduct that willfully or negligently contributes to injury. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 99C-2(7). A Federal court has held that in view of statutory duty imposed on ski area operators by North Carolina statute to not engage willfully or negligently in any type of conduct that contributes to or causes injury to another person or his properties, North Carolina law did not permit enforcement of a release in conflict with that duty. Strawbridge v. Sugar Mountain Resort, Inc., 320 F. Supp. 2d 425, 432 (W.D.N.C. 2004), on reconsideration in part, 328 F. Supp. 2d 610 (W.D.N.C. 2004).