It took almost three years, but Jocelyne Courval finally proved that the City of Laval’s negligent snow-clearing contributed to her fall three years ago, when she broke her ankle. A judge from the Quebec Superior Court ordered the city to write Courval a cheque for $45,651.54 as of December 6.
The case dates from the morning of February 26, 2009, when Courval fell while rushing for a bus at the intersection of Croissant de Callières and boulevard de la Concorde. Courval claimed that the City of Laval was responsible for the fall.
“It’s easier to prove someone’s negligence in their driveway than to prove that a city is responsible, because a city only has to show that they took reasonable measures to secure people,” said Courval’s lawyer, Mélany Renaud from Tétreault Brière Renaud Markarian. “Considering how bad the sidewalk was that day, it seemed obvious to me that the city was negligent. It wasn’t just a little icy spot that might have been missed. There was no freezing rain. There was nothing unusual happening.”
The evidence showed that the sidewalk on which Courval fell hadn’t been cleared, sanded or salted in the three days prior to the incident. In his judgment, Quebec Superior Court Justice Louis J. Gouin expressed shock that the City of Laval didn’t prioritize sidewalks on de la Concorde for snow-clearing.
He also said that Courval should have stayed on the road, which wasn’t as slippery as the sidewalk. He judged that the two parties shared equal blame for what happened. The amount now due to Courval covers 50% of her losses with interest and indemnity plus her legal and expert costs. Interest accumulates daily.
Laval has 30 days to appeal the judgement, but Renaud hopes they improve snow-clearing efforts on the de la Concorde sidewalks instead.
“Their own witness testified that it’s the most important street in Laval,” she said “That’s the sidewalk where the most people walk every day. It’s in front of a bus stop and next to a McDonald’s. There was at least 132 feet of plain ice, maybe more. The reason that this sidewalk was the way it was on that day is because there is only one supervisor in Laval in this section. They do that on top of overlooking the work that they give to their employees. It is not sufficient. That’s not taking appropriate measures to secure people.”
Note: This article appeared in the Suburban’s North and East version on December 20.
