Montreal Pays $2.55 Million To Quadriplegic

The City of Montreal cut short a trial by agreeing to a $2.55 million young American became quadriplegic and almost vegetative after a drama went unnoticed in an Anjou pool

SARA CHAMPAGNE La Presse – Initially, the family of the State of New York demanded 55 million because of the insufficient number of lifeguards, under the law governing public baths in Canada.

It was about 19:30 in the evening of July 21, 2005, when Ralph Lundy, 13, was found at the bottom of the municipal pool Verdelles Park in the borough of Anjou. 

The young American visiting his uncle and aunt in the country ran out of oxygen to the brain. 

Today he suffers from irreversible spastic quadriplegia. Clearly, his life expectancy will not exceed 30 years. He became, at age 22, totally dependent on his family and is in a near vegetative state.

Lengthy procedures

After a series of proceedings against the City of Montreal and the company Soroma, responsible for managing the pool management, the family filed in 2007, a further $ 55 million. 

Soroma responded two years later, in 2009, an action against the aunt and uncle of the boy who had custody of the boy at the time of the tragedy. The latter enjoyed liability insurance of two million. Finally, in 2013, after a change of counsel, the family has reassessed its pursuit, and claimed 21 million.

La Press tried unsuccessfully to reach the aunt and uncle of the young man, whose address is always stored in Anjou. As usual in this kind of case, the City of Montreal will not issue a comment.

After lengthy negotiations until 14 October, $11 million Canadian currency will ultimately be paid to the youth and six members of his family. In addition to the $2.55 million of the City, $6 million will come from the insurance coverage of the City of Montreal and Management Sorama, and $2.45 million will come from insurance uncle and aunt of Ralph Lundy.

Copyright LaPress 2014. Originally posted in French and translated by Google Chrome to English.  Text and picture are copyright LaPresse allowed use as Fair Dealing under the Canada Copyright Act, Section “29.2 Fair dealing for the purpose of news reporting does not infringe copyright if the following are mentioned: (a) the source; and (b) if given in the source, the name of the (i) author, in the case of a work…”