Golf course says brakes worked fine
Lawyers are teeing up a battle in court over a Penticton man’s claim he was severely injured when the brakes failed on his rented golf cart.
David Turner alleges in a notice of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court that he suffered rib fractures, a punctured lung, facial lacerations and other injuries when he lost control of the cart on May 16, 2020, at Wow Golf Club.
“The plaintiff was utilizing the golf cart while playing the round of golf and as he was driving the cart down a hill, the brakes failed and the golf cart struck an embankment and flipped, ejecting the plaintiff.”
The lawsuit – filed 10 days shy of the two-year anniversary of the incident – does not explain how
Turner knows the brakes failed, but alleges Wow Golf Club was negligent in supplying faulty equipment and not properly instructing Turner on use of the cart.
Turner is seeking unspecified compensation for pain and suffering, loss of income, medical care and more.
In its reply filed last month, Wow Golf Club denies “each and every allegation of fact” in Turner’s claim.
“The defendant says that at all material times they maintained the subject premises and the golf carts with all due care, skill, diligence, in the manner of a prudent occupier of a golf course premises,” states the response.
“In answer to the whole of the claim, the defendant denies that the incident, as that term is described in the claim, occurred, as alleged or at all.”
The reply does, however, contemplate the possibility of a judge concluding the incident did indeed happen as described and, in that case, suggests Turner failed to exercise due diligence and that his injuries were exacerbated by pre-existing medical conditions.
Wow Golf Club is a nine-hole course located on Pine Hills Drive in the Sage Mesa area just north of Penticton. It’s perched above the silt bluffs overlooking Okanagan Lake.