A man gets just $1 for his fence that was destroyed by a town snow plow...

[DGUtley]

A man gets just $1 for his fence that was destroyed by a town snow plow...


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The town is probably responsible for some damage to the damaged fence. However ... it is impossible to put a value on a seriously dilapidated fence,' the judge wrote


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[25]It is appropriate here to mention some of the conduct of the Plaintiff during the trial. As noted earlier, he is not a litigation neophyte. During the trial he referred to the court clerk as “the girl”. I corrected him. A few minutes later, he called the clerk “the girl” again. Throughout the trial, the Plaintiff repeatedly interrupted Mr. Finn, Q.C., and he also interrupted the witnesses and me. He failed to call any reliable evidence as to the cost of labour and materials to repair or replace his fence. When it was explained to him that he had failed to lead any reliable evidence as to quantum, he attempted to change his claim from a claim for damages to one of specific performance.


[26]In short, the Plaintiff has wasted the better part of two days of court docket time, while failing to prove the quantum of his claim. This must be discouraged.


[27]Judgement is entered for the Plaintiff in the nominal amount of one dollar. Given his conduct during the trial, there is no order for costs.




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[Peter1469]

That makes sense. You have to prove damages if you want a money verdict. And pissing of the judge doesn't help your case.

[FindersKeepers]

That fence wasn't built correctly, to begin with. There's evidence of rot, which doesn't happen overnight. Plus, the guy didn't want the money, he wanted the town to come out and fix the fence.

Looks like the same thing happened over a decade ago, but he got some money then. Why--knowing the amount of snow they get there--he didn't move the fence back a few feet at that time is beyond me.

[Cletus]

The fact remains that the town destroyed his fence, which was on his property.

If he values that fence at a million Dollars, it's a million Dollar fence. The guy may be an idiot, but Government needs to be held accountable for its actions and not be given a pass just because the guy whose property they destroyed is a dumb ass.

[Peter1469]

He should rebuild in a way that would damage the snowplow if they are lazy enough to hit it.

[DGUtley]

The fact remains that the town destroyed his fence, which was on his property. If he values that fence at a million Dollars, it's a million Dollar fence. The guy may be an idiot, but Government needs to be held accountable for his actions and not give a pass just because the guy whose property they destroyed is a dumb ass.

You break my pencil, I can't claim it is a $1,000,000 pencil, I have to put on evidence as to its value - or cost of repair. He failed to reasonably do that. Plus, he was a Shiff-Hole in doing so.

[Standing Wolf]

[DGUtley]

They should teach that in law school.

[Cletus]

You break my pencil, I can't claim it is a $1,000,000 pencil, I have to put on evidence as to its value - or cost of repair. He failed to reasonably do that. Plus, he was a Shiff-Hole in doing so.

I can see that if it was a case of a private individual accidentally destroying his fence, but if it is Government acting in wanton disregard of his property rights, they should be punished to the max. Fire the driver, his supervisor and make the town pay through the nose.

Then tar and feather that judge to remind him of the importance of the rights of the individual and the fact that private property ownership is one of the foundations upon which this country was built.

[carolina73]

I got a better idea. Why didn't the town simply send someone out and replace the broken section.

It would have been cheaper for the town, the courts and everyone involved. Sounds like the people at their DPW were the unreasonable and ridiculous ones.

The DPW could have done the normal. Send out a 12 man crew.
Armed with 1 shovel. 1 hammer. 6 nails. 1 board.

6 days later the fence would have been fixed.