The city has been found guilty of negligence for not following its own snow clearing bylaws.

The city has been ordered to pay damages to Hamilton resident Kelly Bramer,who slipped and fell on ice on Arkledun Ave. in February 2009 and suffered a concussion. Justice C. Stephen Glithero found the city had not cleared the snow on that stretch for 22 days before the accident.

"In that period of time approximately 15 inches of snow had fallen and had been trampled down by pedestrians without any effort to clean it up using manual cleaning efforts by City staff so as to meet the City's obligation under its own by-law," he wrote in the ruling.

The ruling does not specify how much the city will have to pay to Bramer in damages.

The incident dates back to February 3, 2009. At that time, Bramer walked from the Mountain brow to the downtown law office where she worked in the mortgage enforcement department. On that day in February, fresh snow had fallen over weeks-old compacted snowfall, concealing at patch of ice.

Bramer lost her footing, fell backwards, and hit her head. She suffered a concussion and went through a long period of recovery.

Justice Glithero found that not only had city public works staff failed to perform their snow clearing duties, but that a railing installed along the steep stretch of sidewalk had rusted and was falling over, rendering it unusable.

"I find that, as the plaintiff said, if one reached over to her right to try and grasp this handrail as she descended the slope on the sidewalk, her centre of gravity would have been leaning over so far to the right as to constitute more of a danger than would exist by ignoring the handrail as she did," he wrote.

More to come.



Correction Published: 20150605 - Incorrect information appeared in a Spectator story published May 29 about the city being found liable for injuries to Hamilton resident Kelly Bramer after she fell on an uncleared sidewalk in the winter of 2009. Bramer notified the city of her slip and fall on Arkledun Avenue roughly 37 days after her accident. The Spectator regrets the error.