Man awarded $3.28M after snowmobile trek from North Bay to Quebec ends in tragedy
CTV
A man who struck a snow-covered tree stump on a Quebec snowmobile trail has been awarded almost $3.3 million following a lengthy lawsuit.
A man who struck a snow-covered tree stump on a Quebec snowmobile trail has been awarded almost $3.3 million following a lengthy lawsuit.
The case dates to Jan. 27, 2017, when the plaintiff in the case left North Bay with a group of friends for a snowmobile trip all the way to Rouyn-Noranda, Que.
The morning of Jan. 28, the group of five headed out on the trail, planning to head to Duparquet, Que., loop around trails in the area and return to Rouyn-Noranda in the afternoon.
Three of the friends were faster riders, so they split into two groups, with the plaintiff travelling with the other slower rider. The pair were travelling 30-40 km/h when they went up and down a small hill that led into a right-hand turn at the bottom of the hill.
At that point, the plaintiff missed the turn and was thrown from the snow machine, crashing into the trees on the other side of the trail.
“All of a sudden, I noticed that (the plaintiff) jolted up from his seat like as if he was being bucked off,” the other snowmobile driver testified.
“It was obvious that (he) had suddenly hit something and he lost control of his snowmobile. His snowmobile appeared to launch directly through the turn into the trees.”
