Woman crashes ATV and owner is responsible for damages, court rules

Farmers Forum staff

OTTAWA — A rural Prince Edward County couple and their adult son are liable for the lasting severe brain injury suffered by a young woman who crashed their all-terrain vehicle, according to an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling issued earlier this year. It’s a cautionary tale for farm country, where ATVs are common and often casually used.

The court found that handing control of an ATV to an inexperienced driver qualifies as negligent operation of a vehicle under the Highway Traffic Act, with partial liability also extending back to the ATV owner. The defendants in the lawsuit unsuccessfully claimed that the woman was the author of her own misfortune.

Megan Desrochers was 24 years old on July 29, 2014, when she missed a sharp turn on a gravel road and crashed the ATV she was driving into a tree. According to court documents, the incident occurred after she and her boyfriend, Patrick McGinnis, 28, took the ATV out to fetch his uncle’s pickup truck parked along a road. McGinnis allowed the unlicensed and unhelmeted Desrochers to drive the ATV — owned by his father — back to his parents’ farmhouse while he followed behind in the truck. She never completed the 1.4-km trip. Her boyfriend’s parents, Grant and Catherina McGinnis, were named as co-defendants with Patrick McGinnis in the lawsuit launched by Desrochers and her parents.

The court established that liability exists. More litigation is required to establish financial damages.