Can a municipal corporation be held to be a blanket insurer for every conceivable misfortune that befalls every citizen?

Alberta, Canada


The following excerpt is from Stachniak v. Thorhild (County No. 7), 2001 ABPC 65 (CanLII):

A municipal corporation cannot be held to be a blanket insurer for every conceivable misfortune that befalls every citizen as the world around them changes. As a result, there are at law instances where harm to a person’s property may not be subject to liability on the part of the municipality. In the realm of nuisance actions, it is settled law that if certain effects, of municipal works, or of land-use planning and control are by definition a form of nuisance, but are foreseen and inevitable consequences of the official action, and are also the subject of specific and authorized legal authority, no action in nuisance, or in Rylands v. Fletcher, arises. This defence, referred to as the defence of statutory authority, was not specifically plead, or argued by the Defendant. However, since it is invoked in cases such as the one at bar, I will address it in this judgment.

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