The Vernon and District Funtastic Sports Society has been removed from a lawsuit that was filed over an alleged broken ankle at one of its 2022 slo-pitch tournaments, as the lawsuit instead takes aim at a pair of Enderby organizations which are denying the allegations.
Vernon's Vikki Tronson filed a notice of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court in January 2023, naming Funtastic and the City of Enderby as defendants and claiming they were culpable for her broken ankle.
In that original lawsuit, Tronson said the defendants owed a duty to her to see that she would be "reasonably safe" while at the ball diamonds. She said they didn't meet that standard after she stepped on a base peg that had not been removed from the field "and/or on uneven ground and loose soil, causing her to lose her footing" while she was playing third base in the tournament.
Tronson said she heard a snap and fell to the ground with what she alleged turned out to be a malleolar fracture of the right ankle.
Updated court documents have struck the Funstastic Sports Society from the lawsuit. Instead, the lawsuit now lists the Enderby and District Ball Society and the Enderby and District Recreation Services Association as defendants. The City of Enderby remains a defendant in the updated documents.
The revised lawsuit says the recreation association had contracted with the city to develop, schedule, market and coordinate recreational programming, and along with the Ball Society had entered into a rental agreement whereby the society rented the city-owned ball diamonds for the tournament.
Though the list of defendants has been altered, Tronson's account of the events in the original suit remains unchanged.
The Enderby organizations filed a response to the lawsuit in June and denied that the accident and the injury occurred at all. The defendants also maintain that the premises were "reasonably safe for use in the circumstances and that no part of it represented an unreasonable risk of harm to the plaintiff or other users."
Though they deny the incident took place, the defendants say if it did, it was the result of Tronson's own actions or omissions, including failure to take all necessary measures for her own safety and failing to exercise reasonable caution.
"If the plaintiff did suffer any injury, loss, damage or expense, which is denied, then such injury loss damage or expense was not caused by the Defendants," the court documents state.
Tronson is seeking general and special damages, as well as compensation for loss of past and future income, future care costs, loss of housekeeping capacity, and court costs, among other relief. The Enderby groups oppose all relief sought and seek a dismissal of Tronson's claim along with court costs.
None of the allegations have been proven in court. Trial dates have been set for the case, with a start date of Nov. 17 at the Vernon Law Courts.
