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Lawyer
injured |
Note - I posted this earlier and then pulled it down after a couple
of lawyers advised me to do so. I have since decided that this sort of
information needs to be seen by riders. This sort of litigiousness will
shut down all outdoor activities if it is not kept in check. Read the
info below and then if you are so inclined, write a polite letter to Mr. Leone
and perhaps cc Mr. Winter who is likely his boss.
The Kolapore Uplands, 5,000 hectares of the Niagara Escarpment a little south
and west of the bottom end of Georgian Bay, is the largest and roughest patch
of semi-wilderness left in southern Ontario. Steep and rugged, what isn't cliff
face or exposed rock is hardwood forest regrown since being clear-cut a century
ago.
It is a dreamscape for the craziest risk-takers, and since the 1970s, the University
of Toronto Outing Club and the Kolapore Uplands Wilderness Ski Trails Committee
have cut 60 kilometres of trails through it that are earnestly posted "Challenging
Ski Trails ” Not For Novice Skiers."
They are volunteer organizations; the trails are maintained by volunteers; anybody
can use them for free. Costs are covered by donations, which totalled $2,600
this year, and the sale of a trail map without which it is easy to blunder into
even greater peril.
Since the volunteers' interest is solely skiing, in seasons when there is no
snow the trails are left to fend for themselves. But in the 1990s the mountain
bike appeared, and with it the mountain bikers who discovered in Kolapore the
hellishly beautiful terrain that makes their testosterone-charged adrenalin
bubble and boil. The best (that is, the worst) of the trails earn the highest
mountain-biking accolade: radical.
Presumably "totally radical'' would be prying open elevator doors at the
CN Tower and biking down the empty shaft.
It's unlikely that the lack of maintenance for cycling is considered a drawback.
Then along came James Leone, 31, a Torontonian who, last Aug. 1, was on a trail
that bikers grade as "easiest" when, according to documents filed
in court, "suddenly and without warning his bicycle came to an abrupt stop"
and he was thrown forward, "striking the ground with sudden and violent
force."
Plunging into a "hole in the ground, the depth, size and location of which
constituted an unusual danger" might sound like something that's all in
a day's (or five minutes') adventure for a mountain biker, except for one thing:
Leone is a lawyer. As one of the country's foremost legal experts explained
to me, the first thing first-year law students learn the first day of civil
procedure is, when you sue, "sue everything in sight."
Leone is suing the outing club, the ski trails committee, the regional trails
network, the local municipality and the province (which owns the land where
he encountered the alleged hole) ” everything but the sky above and the
Earth itself. He wants $1,150,000 in damages for expenses and lost income as
a result of a fractured vertebra he says he suffered, while his co-plaintiff
” his wife, Ashley, who wasn't biking "sustained a loss of guidance,
care and companionship" she might reasonably have expected if he hadn't
run into said hole.
Leone's stated position is that, whether they like it or not, the volunteer
organizations and the province, by permitting the trails to exist on its land,
are responsible for creating "a situation of danger from which the plaintiff,
despite all reasonable efforts and precautions was unable to extricate himself,"
and that they "failed to take reasonable care to protect the plaintiff
from the unusual danger, of which they knew or ought to have known."
Some readers might be inclined to email Mr. Leone and tell him how you feel
about this sort of litigation and the effect it has on those of us who love
to ride our bikes.
If you are so inclined please write a POLITE, THOUGHTFUL LETTER. Abusive correspondance will do nothing for our cause and could possibly encourage more litigation. If you are too upset by this to be polite then please don't write.
From: beardwinter.com
Leone, James V.
jleone@beardwinter.com
Perhaps we should cc Winter Q.C.,
Richard I.R. who is likely a partner and Mr. Winter's boss.
Some info about Mr. Leone
Practising since 2001. Graduated from University of Western Ontario in 1996
(Hons. B. A.) and Queen's University (LL.B.) in 1999 Mr. Leone is part of the
firm's personal injury and insurance litigation group.
Mr. Leone has had several trials in both the Provincial and Superior Courts
of Justice resulting in reported decisions. Mr. Leone has also appeared before
the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Successful cases of note include a claim arising from a boating accident in
the narrows of Georgian Bay near Parry Sound, Ontario (Tuchel v. Gunton). In
addition to persuading the court to find liability 100% on the opposing party,
Mr. Leone successfully defended a $50,000.00 Counterclaim initiated by the Defendants.
Mr. Leone also has experience in Ontario's various Tribunals with notable reported
decisions. Most recently, Mr. Leone successfully brought an Application before
the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT). The case (Kramer
v. Newcastle) arose out of a motor vehicle accident in which issues concerning
the standing of the Plaintiff and, more specifically, his right to sue where
in issue. The key question in the Application was whether or not the claimant
was involved in the accident while in the course of his employment. As a result
of the Application, the Plaintiff's right to sue was denied by the Tribunal
ultimately resulting in the dismissal of a $1,000,000.00 lawsuit against Mr.
Leone's client.
During his final year at Queen's University Law School, Mr. Leone produced a
documentary entitled "Views on Mediation" which focused on non adversarial
litigation techniques. The video is presently part of the curriculum at Queen's
Law School.
Mr. Leone is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Ontario Bar
Association.
