Case Comment On Mcallister v. Calgary

In the McAllister v. Calgary (City), 2018 ABQB 480 Madame Justice Kubik of the Court of Queen's Bench found the City of Calgary liable under the Occupiers Liability Act for injuries suffered by the Plaintiff Kyle McAllister when he was assaulted by strangers in the +15 walkway that connects Canyon Meadows C-Train station to the station parkade.

Canyon Meadows C-Train station was built in 2001. It is a center loading platform without any grade level access. Access to the C-Train station is by way of the +15 walkway. At approximately 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, January 1, 2007 the Plaintiff arrived in his car at the parkade to meet someone at the station. He and a friend entered the +15 on their way to the station. There the Plaintiff was, without provocation, assaulted by a number of individuals who were unknown to him. The assault lasted approximately 20 minutes and left the Plaintiff seriously injured. The Plaintiff sued the City claiming it was liable for breaching the statutory duty of care under the Occupiers Liability Act. The trial was held on the issues of liability only.

Justice Kubik decided that the +15 was "premises" of which the City of Calgary was the "occupier" and that the Plaintiff was a "visitor" to those premises. Accordingly the City owed the Plaintiff a duty to take reasonable care to see that he was reasonably safe in using the premises.

Concerning the standard of care and whether it was met by the City, the Court considered evidence that the C-Train station was equipped with 25 video surveillance cameras. The footage from these surveillance cameras was monitored at a central operations control room by video monitoring personnel. The +15 was illuminated by overhead lighting. The entire C-Train system was patrolled by 46 Protective Services officers. At the time, New Year's Eve, a team of 11 officers was patrolling the system. New Year's Eve was a free fare evening and the Court concluded that it was a busy ridership night compared to a typical Sunday. Calgary Transit did not have a written special events policy to deal with occasions of increased ridership. Calgary Transit crime reports indicated the highest rate of criminal activity on the C-Train was typically between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. The main assailant in the assault was known to Calgary Transit's Protective Services officers. Calgary Transit did not have a trespass ban policy in place.

The evidence also showed that the assault was not noticed by the personnel monitoring...