A Lavalloise has just won a David against Goliath victory against the Quebec Ministry of Transport (MTQ) after having damaged in a pothole repeatedly reported her car bought a few hours earlier.
Brittany Ménard went through an uphill battle to get her due, amassing compelling evidence and representing herself in small claims to get the $449.55 it cost to repair her tire.
But even with a judgment from the Court of Quebec in favor of the motorist, and although Judge Chantale Massé concludes that the MTQ has committed “gross negligence”, the State refuses to pay and asks for a new trial.
“When it happens to us, we don’t know where to start, what to do with it,” the young woman said in an interview.
I hope people will see with my story that it is possible to be compensated even if it is not easy.
Brittany Menard
On March 4, 2022, Brittany Ménard had just taken possession of her new car. A few hours later in Saint-Jérôme, she hit a pothole on Highway 15 at the ramp to Rue de Martigny.
“At the last second, I saw the big hole in front of me, but I didn’t have time to avoid it,” says Mme Menard. “It hit so hard, I knew right away that I had a flat tire,” said the one who had to wait for the tow truck in a ramp where she was brushed by cars.
Angry to see her new Volkswagen damaged, she sent a claim to the MTQ on March 10. The Ministry refused to pay. In its letter, the Ministry maintains that “the deterioration of the pavement is a normal phenomenon in winter and that it can only intervene if the weather conditions allow it”.
The Department also invokes the famous section 30 of the Roads Actwhich provides that it is not liable “for damage caused by the state of the roadway to the tires or the suspension system of a motor vehicle”.
Heavy mistake
The story would have ended there for many. But Brittany Ménard did not deflate. She demanded that the MTQ provide her with reports of this specific pothole. At the time, she didn’t know if there had been. However, the Ministry had received five in the month preceding the accident.
On February 16, 2022, a first motorist warned the Ministry of the presence of a “hole that is forming”, then on the 28th another complained that the “passenger side fell into a large pothole », resulting in damage.
1er March, a driver worries about “dangerous” holes. The next day, another complained of having had the two tires “split” in the same place. Then on March 3, again, the MTQ received another complaint for the same hole with two more flat tires.
On March 4, Brittany Ménard drives in the same place, but despite these five reports, the pothole is still there without any signage to warn of the danger.
Judge Chantale Massé did not fail to note that the MTQ had been warned “five times rather than once”.
“It seems difficult to conceive that the MTQ could not, at any time, lay cold asphalt or, at the very least, install appropriate signage to warn users of the presence of this hole on the pavement,” she notes in her recent decision.
She recalls that the Ministry’s exclusion of liability provided for in section 30 of the Roads Act has limits. The State is liable in the event of intentional fault or gross negligence.
It concludes that in this case, the behavior of the MTQ amounts to gross negligence, “so that the exclusion of liability does not apply”. It orders the Department to reimburse the $449.55 in repair costs for Ms.me Ménard, and his $108 in legal fees.
Brittany Ménard represented herself, had to miss a day of work to go to court. And even today, she is not at the end of her troubles.
She has still not been paid by the MTQ, which has instead filed an appeal for revocation of the judgment.
It is that the lawyer for the Ministry did not appear on the day of the hearing. The MTQ is now asking for a new trial, arguing that he had a good reason for his absence that day.
“If I have to go back to court, I’m going to have to represent myself, take time off again, all for $450… Looks like they’re trying to stretch as much as possible so as not to pay. It’s frustrating. »
Invited to react, the MTQ did not want to comment on the case since it disputes the decision. “This file is, despite the judgment rendered, still considered to be judicialized, since a request for an appeal for revocation has been filed,” said MTQ spokesperson Gilles Payer in an email. “The Ministry therefore cannot comment for this reason. »
Thousands of dollars for potholes
Each year, the MTQ agrees to pay tens of thousands of dollars in compensation for material damage to vehicles. The majority of cases relate to potholes. For the year 2022-2023, which ends on March 31, the MTQ paid compensation in 84 events, and 52 of them concerned potholes. To date this year, the Ministry has paid $125,544 in compensation, including $47,761 for potholes. In 2021-2022, it was a total of $169,927, including $35,494 for potholes.