Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Ontario Good Roads wants province to prevent road salt claims

Thursday, February 26, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

The Ontario Good Roads Association is working to get the Ontario Municipal Act changed so municipalities are protected from nuisance damage claims due to road salt.

The move comes after the association learned Lambton County’s insurance company, Frank Cowan Company, will not be appealing an Ontario Superior Court decision released Jan. 16 awarding $107,352 in damages to farmers Joseph and Evelyn Steadman for crop losses and depreciated land value. The damages stemmed from the county’s use of road salt for winter road maintenance along a road bordering the Steadmans’ 96-acre cash crop farm near Sarnia. The Steadmans claimed losses from 1998 to 2013.

“The county was found liable in nuisance,” according to the Frank Cowan Company news release. Company officials couldn’t be reached for comment.

The company had the Ontario Superior Court decision reviewed by two separate legal firms to assess if there was the potential for an appeal. “We were advised that the verdict as outlined in Justice (Thomas J.) Carey’s reasons is not appealable. Therefore, Frank Cowan Company will not appeal this decision,” the release says.

David Cribbs, Lambton County clerk and solicitor, says the county has membership in the Ontario Good Roads Association and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and it will be part of the efforts to lobby the province “to make legislative changes so that no other municipality is tagged with a decision as unreasonable as this one.”

The Ontario Good Roads Association’s mandate is to represent the public works interests of municipalities.

Joe Tiernay, Good Roads Association executive director, says currently there is a provision in the Municipal Act dealing with nuisance complaints against municipalities for sewer back up in people’s basements when sanitary sewers get overburdened during storms. “Municipalities have protection under the legislation to prevent being sued for those types of events. We’d be looking for a similar type of protection for what are maintenance activities.”

Municipalities are required by legislation to maintain their roads. Tiernay says under the Municipal Act municipalities “are required to keep their roads in what they call a state of good repair, which means they have to be kept clear in the winter time and potholes have to be repaired and things like that.”

The Good Roads Association is planning to meet with officials from the ministries of transportation and municipal affairs and housing “to determine how best to address this issue,” an association press release says.

Tiernay says the association wants to find out what’s the easiest and most expeditious way to address this. In the meantime, the association is concerned other people could potentially sue their municipality for property damage from road salt.

For the Steadmans, its good news that Lambton County and its insurance company aren’t appealing, says their lawyer Robert B. Gray of Gray Bruce Cimetta Barristers and Solicitors in Sarnia. “It has been a long and uphill battle and they’re very pleased to have the matter brought to a conclusion.”

Gray says the county and its insurance company must pay the $107,352 damages plus $151,648 in costs, which are the Steadmans’ legal fees and disbursements.

Justice Carey’s decision included that remedial action “be taken to hopefully prevent the matter from reoccurring. What type of remedial action should to be taken has yet to be finalized,” he says, adding that may include windbreaks during the winter and improvements to drainage from the roadway onto the Steadmans’ land. BF

Current Issue

December 2024

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

Farm Fresh Ontario is now Agritourism Ontario

Monday, December 2, 2024

Agritourism Ontario (formerly Farm Fresh Ontario—the name change took place on December 2, 2024) is heading into 2025 with a new name and look that is more reflective of what the association does. It is also taking on some big projects thanks to the support of the Ontario Ministry... Read this article online

The case of the mysterious cabbage dump

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

According to an article from www.PelhamToday.ca, someone dumped a load of cabbage on the property of Wilowhead Family Farm in Elora, Ontario. The cabbages were all cut in half—and no, the farm nor its neighbours were expecting a delivery. Checking security cameras, the farm... Read this article online

Drew Spoelstra re-elected OFA president

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Drew Spoelstra has been re-elected to a second one-year term as president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA). Spoelstra is a dairy and crop farmer from Binbrook in the southeast corner of the city of Hamilton, Ontario. He has been on the OFA board as the director,... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2024 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top