Difficult to continue to Montreal to have slipped on the sidewalk

PHOTO Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY

Sarah Daoust-Braun

Tuesday, 30 January 2018 19:47

UPDATE
Tuesday, 30 January 2018 19:50

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Montrealers who wish to remain in the City to have been injured following a nasty fall on the ice have little chance of winning their case.

It is difficult to succeed to prove that Montreal was negligent because the City is not liable for damages resulting from an accident for which a person is a victim on the slippery sidewalks, that make the misery of the pedestrians since last week.

“The City wins 90 % of the time. It was not an obligation of result, but of means, therefore it cannot guarantee residents against falls”, explained Stéphane Paquette, a lawyer specialized in litigation and in the field of construction.

He had defended and won the case of a Montreal Jeannine Bissonnette, who had slipped in 1997 on a patch of ice covered in snow and had fractured severely the femur. She had received a compensation of 68 to $ 250. “It took Montreal a little bit by surprise. They are not used to losing,” he remembered.

Stéphane Paquette had interviewed the three foremen responsible for the snow removal crews in Ahuntsic-Cartievielle and had demonstrated that they had focused on fixing the potholes instead of plowing. “It is necessary to prove that Montreal has mismanaged its priorities and would have had to act otherwise”, he mentioned.

A resident of Rivière-des-Prairies has dropped last Thursday on a patch of ice on the sidewalk and fractured severely in the ankle. Nadya Mirarchi intends to continue to Montreal because it alleged that the borough has not applied the abrasive properly.

“This woman has a valid reason, provided that she can demonstrate all of the evidence,” said Jamie Benizri of the firm Legal Logik.

According to him, the video recording of the collapse, captured by a surveillance camera of a nearby residence, and the tweet of the person responsible in the snow removal Jean-François Parenteau, who acknowledged Saturday that a load of the snow should have been declared earlier, are evidence that valid and defensible.

“It is necessary to demonstrate the causal link between the fault and the person who is claiming the damage”, he stressed.

Montrealers injured by the slippery sidewalks can continue to the City of Montreal for an action in damages and interest within a period of three years.