Norwalk wins lawsuit battle over fall at Vets Park boat ramp

NORWALK, Conn. – A man who was injured while using the boat ramp at Norwalk’s Veterans Park has lost a lawsuit he filed in 2009 against the city.

David Legere slipped on an accumulation of algae and other substances on the submerged ramp, according to court documents. He sought compensation for his injuries, which Deputy Corporation Counsel Jeffry Spahr said was a broken wrist. He attempted to sue the city under the highway defect statute but Judge Kenneth Povodator ruled on Oct. 10 that did not apply.

Spahr did not immediately know the date of Legere’s accident.

The case was narrowly focused on whether the ramp should be considered a highway. The memorandum of decision, attached below, says that the city argued that the ramp was not being maintained by the Department of Public Works but by the Department of Parks and Recreation.

“The term ‘highway’ cannot be stretched to encompass a submerged boat ramp being used for loading or unloading a boat onto a trailer at a boat at a ramp in a public park,” the judgment written by judge Kenneth Povodator reads.

Spahr thinks that’s the end of the matter.

“He would be time barred, I would argue, if he tried to sue under another theory,” Spahr said in an email. “He of course has the right to appeal – I would be surprised if they did however.”

Norwalk lawsuit