The plaintiff sustained injuries as a result of a slip and fall incident in the parking lot of the defendant’s store. At trial, the jury found that the defendant took such reasonable care in all the circumstances to see that the plaintiff was reasonably safe while on the premises. The defence led evidence that: there had been a major winter storm; that the snow removal contractor had plowed and salted the parking lot before the incident; and that any attempts to re-attend could have made matters worse and could have created safety concerns due to the presence in the parking lot of pedestrians and other cars. The plaintiff testified three times that she had no idea why she fell and failed to testify at any time that she slipped on any ice. The plaintiff appealed, arguing that there was no evidence that would have supported the jury’s verdict. In dismissing the plaintiff’s appeal and upholding the trial decision, the Court of Appeal noted that the test for setting aside a jury’s verdict is extremely high. It requires a court to conclude that the verdict is “so plainly unreasonable and unjust as to satisfy the Court that no jury reviewing the evidence as a whole and acting judicially could have reached it”. The appellant did not meet this test.
