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In fact, Mr. Gargantiel was gravely injured, with a fractured neck, six broken ribs and two broken vertebrae. It was Oct. 18, and the nights were already cold. Police abandoned their search two hours after the crash, and it was 40 hours later that a train engineer noticed the car in the ditch between the tracks and Highway 148 in Quebec’s Outaouais region.

Mr. Gargantiel was found face down on the ground about 30 metres from his car, dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia and frostbite that would necessitate the amputation of his right foot.

He spent seven months in rehabilitation and still suffers physical and psychological effects, but last week he learned his attempt to sue the province for negligence had suffered another setback. The Quebec Court of Appeal ruled Feb. 9 that because the amputation was related to the car accident, he is not entitled to any compensation beyond what is provided under Quebec’s no-fault insurance regime.

“It’s just so illogical,” Mr. Gargantiel said Monday in an interview from his home in Gatineau, Que. “Six years after the crash, I still can’t actually believe how the SQ reacted.”

Transcripts entered into evidence during the initial trial depict an impatient police force convinced it was dealing with a false alarm. “OnStar called again,” a dispatcher told an officer involved in the search. “Should we file a harassment complaint against them,” the unnamed officer flippantly replied.