Trips and fall cases on City property usually fall within the policy defence line of cases. Bracken v. City of Vancouver et al, 2006 BCSC 136 is one such case. Bracken is a straightforward case but it is interesting for revealing the Vancouver City sidewalk repair policy. The policy distinguishes between trip 1 and 2 defects (less than one inch deviation) which do not require immediate repair and trip 3 defects (greater than one inch deviation) requiring immediate repair.

A fall caused by an unrepaired 1 inch deviation has a much greater chance of attracting liability than a 1/2 inch deviation that resulted in a fall.