The City of Burnaby is being sued over a manhole cover that a driver says caused a head-on collision on Hastings Street earlier this year.
Curtis Harrison was driving west on Hastings near Ingleton Avenue on Jan. 6, when he was involved in a head-on collision, according to a notice of civil claim filed in New Westminster Supreme Court on Nov. 10.
Harrison alleges the “improper placement” of a manhole cover was to blame.
“The plaintiff did not see the improper placement of a manhole cover, collided into it, which pushed him into oncoming traffic colliding with another vehicle head on,” states the notice of civil claim.
Harrison says he sustained “physical injuries and other loss and damage,” including loss of income, future income and the ability to perform household duties.
He says the city is liable for the damages because it breached a duty of care and was negligent for failing to “properly place” the manhole cover, for causing or permitting the road to remain in a “defective and dangerous condition and a danger and a trap to persons lawfully using the road” and for failing to give Harrison “adequate warning of the dangerous condition of the road.”
Harrison is suing the city for an unspecified sum for loss of income, loss of earning capacity, loss of domestic capacity and the cost of past and future care as well as special damages.
The city has not yet responded to the lawsuit, and none of Harrison’s allegations have been tested in court.
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