A snowmobile club‘Abitibi-Témiscamingue has to pay more than $3.3 million to an Ontario snowmobile driver who suffered serious consequences after an accident involving a stump crashing into a club path.
In January 2017, James Stover Clendenning was walking towards Amos on a newly upgraded section of the popular Trans-Québec 93 hiking trail in Abitibi-Témiscamingue when he hit a snow-covered tree stump.
As a result, he lost control of his snowmobile and missed a turn before crashing violently into several trees on the other side of this path maintained by Club de motoreigistes MRC Rouyn-Noranda.
His friend saw him suddenly get up from his seat, “as if he were being thrown out,” according to the verdict. He immediately rushed towards Mr Clendenning, who was unconscious. He then tried to call 911, but had to walk up the hill because he had no cell phone service.
operations and consequences
A doctor driving by at the same time came to the victim’s aid. The Ontario man was transported to a hospital later in the afternoon. He was in the hospital for about three months before he was finally released.
James Stover Clendenning has undergone numerous surgeries including hip and shoulder surgeries. He had plates placed on different ribs. He also required an intubation and suffered from seizures.
The father of five and owner of a large Ontario farm is no longer the same living with the many aftermath of the accident.
Not the same anymore
According to his daughter in court, “He always seems tired and needs a nap. He can’t hold long conversations and often tells the same story to the same people on the same day.”
He is also unable to tend to his Ontario farm, which has been in his family for more than 100 years, spanning four generations.
“I’m more of an elderly parent than a husband,” the 59-year-old repeatedly said during the trial.
For its part, the club had rather argued that the stump was not actually on the trail and that Mr Clendenning accepted the risks involved in snowmobiling. Judge Patrick Buchholz of the Superior Court of Quebec, however, disagreed with this version.
“The club acted negligently in leaving the tree stump in place,” the judge wrote in his ruling earlier this month.
The stump in question was 37 cm high and 11 cm wide, “which is certainly high and thick enough to induce a severe shock when hit by a snowmobile traveling at around 30 to 40 km/h,” we read.
The snowmobile club was ordered to pay James Stover Clendenning nearly $3.3 million in moral damages and lost income, as well as more than $300,000 to his wife and $30,000 to each of their five children.