Cover letter for Freedom of Information request re rink and playground injuries Jan 18, 2008

Access and Privacy Office
City of Toronto

We are requesting information under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Please find attached our request (the attached 2 pages) as well as our cheque in the amount of $ 5.00. Here is the context for the information we seek. We sent and received a response to an earlier Freedom of Information Request regarding rink and playground injuries in the City of Toronto. To follow up, we also received information offering the “lay of the land” view of risk management during a very helpful telephone conversation with Jim Kidd, Senior Risk Management Analyst, Insurance & Risk Management, Corporate Finance at the City. We sent you a list of questions dated November 7, 2007. Your letter, dated November 21, 2007 informed us that our request was denied on the basis that the City has no duty to create a record which answers our questions. As your letter suggested, I spoke to Jim Kidd once again on January 18, 2008. I told him that we have revised our request and I explained the reason we want to know the amounts of money the City has paid out for the different injury claims.

As I explained to him we are more than willing to do the research necessary to answer our questions. We are requesting access to the City’s files for each of the claims against the City which involved rink or playground injuries. In particular, we need to see the following documents: a) Statements of Claim b) the City’s Defences, and, where applicable, c) the settlement agreement or other agreement which terminated the court action.

As we have been informed that there are only approximately 10 claims for rink and playground injuries combined, we anticipate that the staff time required to make these files available will be minimal. Please note that we have no interest in the identity of the claimants. The information about rink and playground injuries will be used in writing a booklet on issues concerning liability in parks. The booklet will be widely distributed to and discussed with people who use rinks, parks and playgrounds, City Councilors and people who work for the city.

Belinda Cole, CELOS

Freedom of Information request re rink playground injuries Nov 5, 2007

Please note:

We’ve listed our questions in bold below. To avoid duplication or any unnecessary work, I’ve noted any information we have already received in our earlier inquiries in square brackets below each question.

A. RINK INJURIES:

1) How many claims have been filed against the City for injuries suffered on City rinks?
[Since amalagamation, there have been somewhere between five to ten rink-related injury claims.]

1a) Please list the public court file numbers for each of these claims.

2) How many of these injuries have occurred at outdoor rinks? At indoor rinks?

3) What has been the exact nature of the injuries that have occurred? E.g. fracture, sprain, etc.

[There may have been some fractures involved in these incidents, but no severe injuries on any of ice rinks.]

4) '''What kinds of claims have resulted from each:
- on what grounds have people sued the City (e.g. negligence)?
- for what amounts of money?
- have people sought any remedies other than financial compensation?

[There have been no “big claims” arising out of any of these incidents, e.g. larger than $ 20,000 - $ 30,000.]

5) How many of these claims have been settled out-of-court? 6) For what amount?

[Ballpark estimate of $ 10 – 20,000]

7) How many, if any, of these claims are still in the courts?

8) We understand that none of these claims involved the wearing (or not wearing) of helmets? Please confirm.

B. PLAYGROUND INJURIES

1) Since 2000, how many playground injuries have resulted in claims against the City?

[Very few - similar in frequency to rink related injuries. They have been mostly swing-related accidents which involved trouble with the S hooks.]

1a) Please list the public court file numbers for each of these claims.

2) Where in the playgrounds have these injuries occurred? Have these claims involved pieces of equipment other than swings and a cable stretch?

3) What has been the exact nature of the injuries that have occurred? E.g. fracture, sprain, etc.

[Mostly minor]

4) What kinds of claims have resulted from each?
- on what grounds have people sued the City (e.g. negligence)?
- for what amount of money?
- have people sought any other remedies other than financial compensation?

[1 or 2 claims for nominal amounts]

5) How many claims have been settled out-of-court? 6) For what amount have each of these playground related claims been settled ?

[Aside from those one or two cases above, there has been only one more costly settlement involving a heavy adult who slid across a 10 foot long cable stretch in a playground. The cable got caught on the track and the adult fell down and hurt her back. The equipment was fairly new; issues of inspections and signage came into play. The City ended up settling this for a more substantial sum, estimated at between $10,000 - $100,000.]

7) Are any of these matters still in the courts?

[there are fewer than 5 claims still open and being litigated.]