Ronald Silverson

The Court upheld findings that the hotel operator failed to take reasonable security steps for guests’ parked cars, and restored trial rulings that the policy’s care, custody or control exclusion did not apply where keys were handed over only for snow-removal purposes.

This appeal addressed prescription periods for a civil liability action against a municipality after a homicide.

The respondents, as indirect victims, sought moral and material damages for the death of a family member and argued that the three-year period in art. 2930 C.C.Q. applied.

The majority held that an action claiming direct and immediate consequences of interference with a person’s physical integrity is based on the obligation to make reparation for bodily injury caused to another.

As a result, the three-year period applied and the municipal six-month limitation did not bar the claim.

The appeal was dismissed.