Chiocchio v. City of Hamilton et al.

On December 7, 2016, the Honourable Mr. Justice Skarica released his Reasons for Judgment after a trial before him in Hamilton. This action arose from a tragic motor vehicle accident which resulted in the Plaintiff (our client) being rendered a quadriplegic. The losses and damages suffered by the Plaintiff were considerable. The trial proceeded before Justice Skarica on the issue of liability only. While one of the Defendants admitted some fault for the accident, the main issue was whether the City of Hamilton was liable also. The evidence during the trial established that the intersection in question had a history of accidents and that the City failed to paint the stop line at the intersection despite the recommendation to do so. The visibility at the intersection also became poor the further back that a motorist stopped. In the end, Justice Skarica found the City of Hamilton liable and apportioned fault at 50% against the City and 50% against the Defendant driver. In finding liability against the City, Justice Skarica concluded as follows: "In my opinion, the evidence establishes that the condition of the intersection with the faded stop line posed an unreasonable risk of harm to a reasonable driver. Accordingly, I find on a balance of probabilities that the City of Hamilton failed to keep the intersection at 5th Concession West and Brock Road in a reasonable state of repair." Click here to read the full Judgment on CanLII. (Chiocchio v Ellis, 2016 ONSC 7570 (CanLII)) Peter Cho and Michael Smitiuch were trial counsel for the Plaintiffs.