Man who sued TransLink after he fell at a Port Coquitlam train station awarded $44K

A Metro Vancouver man who sued the region's transit provider over injuries he suffered after tripping at a train station has been awarded nearly $44,000.

Joseph Ramos was walking from the West Coast Express commuter train platform in Port Coquitlam toward a connecting bus on April 24, 2018, when the fall occurred, according to a B.C. Supreme Court decision issued last week.

Summarizing the incident in his decision, Justice Bruce Elwood wrote that Ramos was on his way home from work and the weather was clear and dry.

Ramos' route toward his bus took him through the grass between two paved pedestrian walkways, and he tripped on the lip of a concrete ramp that formed part of the second one, according to the decision.

He fell forward onto the concrete, dislocating his shoulder and suffering what the judge described as "minor, albeit painful, injuries to his right hand, leg and knee."

Ramos sued TransLink, the regional transit provider, arguing that it knew or ought to have known that the raised edge of the ramp was a tripping hazard. The lawsuit sought $75,000 in non-pecuniary damages, according to Elwood's decision.

For its part, TransLink argued that it had fulfilled its duty of care to Ramos by providing the paved walkway, and that Ramos assumed the risk of injury when he stepped onto the grass. The company also argued that Ramos was at least partially at fault for his injuries because he would have noticed the concrete lip if he had been paying closer attention.

On the question of liability, Elwood sided with Ramos.

"It was foreseeable to TransLink that some passengers would leave the pathway and take a more direct path to their bus stops," he wrote.

"The volume of pedestrian traffic disembarking from the trains, the relatively narrow opening in the fence along the train platform and the layout of the bus loop all made it foreseeable that people would fan out once they passed through the opening in the fence, and not all stay on the pathway."

The judge noted that photos taken "on the day of, or very shortly after" Ramos tripped show the height of the grass was uneven along the edge of the ramp.

"TransLink knew or ought to have known of the tripping hazard in this case," Elwood wrote.

"It knew that there was a concrete ramp in the interchange area of the transit station, with an elevation change from the adjacent ground surface. It also knew that grass abutted the concrete ramp and that grass will grow and may obscure the raised edge of the ramp."

Photos taken at other times showed the grass cut to a uniform height, according to the decision.

"TransLink had the ability to abate the hazard by cutting the grass at a uniform height low to the ground to ensure that the raised edge of the concrete ramp was clearly visible to a pedestrian accessing the bus stop," the judge wrote. "TransLink cut the grass in this way following the incident in question. The difference in visibility is noticeable in the photographs."

Elwood rejected TransLink's assertion that Ramos was partly responsible for his injuries.

While Ramos might have been able to see the raised edge on which he tripped if he were looking at his feet, the judge wrote, "one could not reasonably expect Mr. Ramos to be looking at his feet as he walked through a busy transit station."

Elwood stopped short of awarding Ramos the full amount of his claim, however, noting that cases referred to by TransLink's lawyers involved more comparable injuries and had smaller damage awards than those Ramos referenced.

The judge ordered TransLink to pay Ramos $38,000 in non-pecuniary damages, plus $5,822.03 in special damages related to expenses he incurred from dealing with his injuries.

Elwood also ordered TransLink to pay $1,644.29 to the Ministry of Health under the Health Care Costs Recovery Act.