The local hiking club had a fatality a couple decades ago. A husband and wife were "sharing 10 essentials", but became separated in heavy snow. In my opinion it is easier to learn to carry emergency gear that use primitive techniques to make a fire in a white-out blizzard.

There were lawsuits.. I do not know the outcome.

The hiking club had enough political "juice" to get the state volunteer liability laws changed.

You are right. Most of the stories of bad things come from friends of friends with no names and dates attached. Hard to separate the myth from reality.