The city of Montreal has been ordered to pay a north shore man $400 for a blown tire he sustained while driving into the parking lot of a Pierrefonds arena two years ago.
On May 1, 2015, La Plaine resident Gérard Morin was driving with his son to the Sportplexe arena on Pierrefonds Blvd. He blew a tire he had purchased just the day before while driving his 2010 Toyota Corolla over an awkward-looking eight-inch gash on the sidewalk of Pierrefonds Blvd.
To win the case, Morin had to prove the city's negligence. He did so by producing Google Earth photos dating back to 2007 which show the gash had not been repaired for nearly a decade — in fact, the gap had grown wider over time. A Google Street View photo (shown above) from August 2016 shows the crevice has finally been repaired by then.
The city maintains that no other cases of serious car damage had been reported until then.
The city paid $216 to replace the tire, and another $186 to cover fees and for the inconvenience.