The Common Law Is Sometimes Not So Common — ONCA Releases Contradictory Decisions On Municipal Liability In Nearly Identical Cases

Canada is a common law jurisdiction. The heart of the common law is that like cases are to be treated alike.

This fundamental principle of the common law is upheld through the use of appellate courts. A judge of a lower court is not required to follow the decision of a judge from the same level. However, lower court judges are bound by the decisions of appellate courts. Where lower courts come to contradictory results, it provides a ripe opportunity for an appellate court to decide which judge got it "right" and how future cases with similar facts are to be decided. In many cases, the appellate courts will hear the contradictory decisions together.1

That is how the system is supposed to work. Unfortunately, the system does not always work perfectly, as the below cases show.

In September, the Court of Appeal for Ontario released Smith v. Safranyos, 2018 ONCA 760 ("Safranyos") and Chiocchio v. Hamilton (City), 2018 ONCA 762 ("Chiocchio"). Both cases had remarkably similar facts with nearly identical issues on appeal. In both cases, an individual had stopped at a stop sign and/or stop line and then proceeded through the intersection, resulting in an accident with another vehicle that had the right of way. In both cases, the vehicle that initially stopped at the stop sign/line did not have a proper sightline of oncoming traffic. However, the issue on appeal in both cases was whether the City of Hamilton had been negligent in painting the stop line too far back (or not at all).

The City of Hamilton argued that the reasonably prudent driver standard applied and that, regardless of road markings, motorists were required to ensure that they had a clear sightline before proceeding into the intersection. In both cases, the City of Hamilton was found negligent at trial.

In Chiocchio, the ONCA accepted the City of Hamilton's argument and granted its appeal, stating at paragraphs 19 and 21:

Ordinary reasonable drivers would not stop their cars in a location where their view of oncoming traffic from one direction would be completely obscured and then proceed into the intersection without stopping again. They would know to come closer to the intersection before stopping initially or before stopping again, in order to have a clear view of traffic from both directions...

there can be no doubt that drivers who stop in a position where their view of one line of oncoming traffic is completely obscured - and do not stop again before entering the intersection -...