Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

The city should have cleared the ice on a Penticton sidewalk to prevent a retiree's injuries.

That's according to a lawsuit filed by Glen Ronald Hudson against city hall, who said he slipped on an icy sidewalk on Jan. 30, sustaining several injuries.

The retiree said he was walking along the sidewalk parallel to Okanagan Lake when his feet slipped out from under him.

In the fall, the claim says, he sustained spinal fractures, soft tissue strains, abrasions, bruising, exacerbation of spinal arthritis and emotional upset.

Those injuries, Hudson claims, have caused "suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and loss of homemaking capacity."

Hudson said the fall also incurred medical and rehabilitative expenses, and that his family members have had to help him with household chores, nursing and other services. He says these have resulted in "direct economic loss" due to time and effort spent on those duties.

Hudson is seeking reimbursement for damages and expenses incurred from the incident, claiming that the city had an obligation to lay salt, sand or other anti-icing materials on the sidewalk.

In its response, the city denied that it owed Hudson "any duty of care, statutory or otherwise," and that if it did, it denied negligence or breach of that duty.

It also called on Hudson to prove his claims of sustaining injury as a result of slipping on the sidewalk..

The response states that Hudson failed to pay attention and keep lookout for icy sidewalks and take care to ensure his own safety, potentially moving too hurriedly along the sidewalk.

It also claims Hudson failed to take steps to lessen the extent of his injury, whether by not following doctor's orders or by not seeking medical attention quickly enough.