City of Abbotsford not liable for damage caused by tree falling on resident's trampoline: CRT
If a tree falls on your trampoline and you didn't complain to the City of Abbotsford about it beforehand, is the city still liable?
It's not an abstract question of philosophy, but the central question asked and answered in a case recently decided before B.C.'s Civil Resolution Tribunal.
The answer, according to tribunal vice chair Eric Regehr, is no. The city is not liable.
Homeowner John Camarda took the city to the CRT seeking the maximum of $5,000 in compensation for the cost of repairing a fence and replacing a trampoline that were damaged when a tree fell on his property in November 2022.
According to Regehr's decision, which was posted online Tuesday, there was no dispute that the tree fell, nor that it was owned by the city.
Camarda did not specify the legal basis for his claim in his CRT application, but the city submitted – and Regehr agreed – that the two possible grounds for Camarda's claim were negligence and nuisance.
In response to the negligence allegation, Abbotsford invoked a legal concept known as the "policy defence."
"The policy defence essentially says that governments cannot be held liable in negligence for 'core policy decisions' because they do not owe a duty of care to citizens for policy decisions," Regehr's decision reads.
"The reason this principle exists is that governments must make difficult public policy choices, and it is not the court’s (or the CRT’s) job to judge those choices. Instead, voters judge government policy choices through elections."
The city told the tribunal it has a primarily "reactive" tree management policy, which it was applying when it failed to proactively remove the tree that ultimately fell on Camarda's property.
Abbotsford has hundreds of thousands of trees, and it only actively monitors about 13,000 of them, generally because of past incidents or identified risks, neither of which were present in the case of the tree that fell on Camarda's property, according to the decision.
Regehr accepted that the city's decision not to monitor every tree it owns was a core policy decision.
"The policy is based on budgetary constraints, and high-level employees set the budget through a deliberative process," the decision reads.
"This means Abbotsford owed the applicant no duty of care. Abbotsford can only be liable for a policy decision if the policy itself was irrational or made in bad faith. There is no evidence that any of this is the case. There is also no evidence that Abbotsford failed to properly implement the policy in its handling of the tree. I therefore find that Abbotsford is not liable in negligence for the fallen tree."
Similarly, though a party does not have to owe a duty of care in order to be held liable for nuisance, Regehr found there was no basis for the nuisance allegation either.
To prove nuisance, Camarda would have had to show that the city either knew or ought to have known that the tree was likely to fall, according to the decision.
"There is no evidence here that anyone had complained about the tree or that there had been previous trees falling in the area," the decision reads. "So, Abbotsford did not know and had no reason to know that the tree might fall. This means Abbotsford is not liable in nuisance."
Accordingly, the tribunal member dismissed Camarda's claim. Regehr made note, however, that there was nothing stopping Camarda from bringing a new claim against Abbotsford regarding any damage caused by a second tree that fell in November 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Unruly passenger' forces WestJet flight to make emergency landing in B.C.
A WestJet flight heading to Calgary had to make an emergency landing in northern B.C. Monday due to an incident involving an 'unruly passenger,' Mounties say.
'It's his vacation too': Jimmy the baby goat joins 2-week road trip across Canada
After Jimmy the baby goat was shunned by his mother, a New Brunswick man took the kid on a two-week road trip across Canada.
The double-level airplane seat is back. This time, there’s a first-class version
It’s the airplane seat design that launched a thousand memes and kickstarted a media storm. And now the double-level seat is back – only this time, with a twist.
Former South Dakota mayor charged with triple homicide
Three people were shot to death in a small South Dakota town, and a former law officer who once served as the town's mayor is charged in the killings.
New COVID-19 subvariants become the dominant strains in Canada
More than four years after COVID-19 effectively shut down the world, two new variants of COVID-19 have become the dominant strains of the novel coronavirus in Canada.
Debunking the 'anti-sunscreen' movement: Doctors say TikTok trend is dangerous
Dermatologists are sounding the alarm about misinformation from the anti-sunscreen movement, saying not wearing sunscreen can cause cancer and other problems.
Ont. university says professor fired over 'unethical' sexual relationships with students
An associate professor at McMaster University has been fired after its board of governors found that he engaged in 'unethical, inappropriate and in some instances exploitative' sexual relationships with students.
Richard Dreyfuss' comments about women, LGBTQ2S+ people and diversity lead venue to apologize
The actor Richard Dreyfuss showed up in a dress at a 'Jaws'-themed event in Massachusetts, where the blockbuster 1975 movie he starred in was shot, and then proceeded to make demeaning remarks about women, LGBTQ2S+ people and diversity.
Poilievre Conservatives offer to help Trudeau Liberals pass foreign interference bill
Pierre Poilievre's Conservative Party is offering to help Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government pass a piece of legislation aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada.