Canadians hurt slipping in snow can now sue city authorities for damages, court rules

FOR Canadians, slipping in the snow is a daily hazard, but now the Supreme Court has ruled they can sue their city when they take a tumble.

The decision was expected to trigger a wave of legal claims from Canadians with twisted ankles and broken wrists.

It followed an incident on Jan 6 2015 when Taryn Joy Marchi, a nurse, hurt her leg while negotiating a snow bank as she was out shopping in Nelson, British Columbia.

In the wake of a snowstorm, city officials had cleared the snow from parking spots in the city centre. They pushed it back to create a long bank that then formed a barrier to getting to the pavement.

Ms Marchi, who was then 28, tried to cross the snowbank in running shoes, but her right foot sank and she was injured.

She sued the city for damages but lost the original case, with a judge declaring her the “author of her own misfortune”.

Ms Marchi appealed and the case reached the Supreme Court where it was closely watched by larger cities including Toronto.

The Supreme Court found in a unanimous 7-0 ruling that the city of Nelson could be found liable for “operational decisions” it made, such as snow clearance. A new trial was ordered in the case of Ms Marchi and the city of Nelson.

Nelson had argued that snow clearance was a “core policy” for municipalities, rather than an operational decision, and therefore it could not be sued over it.

However, the court ruled that the city’s decision to create snowbanks without holes for access to pavements had been an operational one.

It added that the city “owed Ms Marchi a duty of care”.