Townsend v. City of Kitchener

The minor plaintiff was injured from a trip and fall over a raised concrete edge of a buried metal transformer box owned by the defendant Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro. The transformer box was located on a driveway apron road allowance owned by the defendant City of Kitchener. The two defendant homeowners owned the properties adjacent to the road allowance. The homeowners brought a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissals of the claims against them. The homeowners’ only involvement with the apron was driving their vehicles over it, removing ice and snow, and applying salt as needed. Justice Broad held that there was no genuine issue for trial and dismissed the claims against the homeowners. He affirmed that two exceptions exist at common law to the principle that a homeowner is free from liability for injuries arising from failure to maintain municipally owned streets and sidewalks: (1) the “special circumstances” exception; and (2) the “flow exception”. He held that neither of these exceptions applied in this case.