Municipality held liable for damages caused by its failure to repair a municipal drain outlet.
The applicants sought damages from the Municipality for its failure to maintain and repair a municipal drain outlet, which caused severe erosion to a bluff on their property.
The uncontrolled water flow prevented the applicants from obtaining conservation authority approval for a shoreline revetment to protect their home before a policy change prohibited such structures.
The Drainage Referee found the Municipality liable under section 79 of the Drainage Act for its unreasonable four-year delay in addressing the failed outlet.
The applicants were awarded $125,945.40 for the lost opportunity to construct the revetment, calculated based on a 65% chance of obtaining the permit.
Claims for the cost of relocating the house were dismissed as economically unreasonable.
The Municipality was ordered to initiate a section 78 process to secure a sufficient outlet and to pay the damages and costs out of its general funds pursuant to section 118(2).
ODROntario Court of the Drainage RefereeJun 6, 2018
