Tenant, son must pay $820K for Ste. Anne apartment fire caused by lit cigarette

A judge has ordered two people to pay $820,000 in damages for a devastating 2012 apartment fire in Ste. Anne, Man.

In the lawsuit, the numbered company that owns the building argued its tenant Donna Fontaine, her son Anthony Burton and two others acted negligently on March 26, 2012, when they disposed of their cigarettes in a planter filled with peat moss on the apartment balcony.

The peat moss ignited and the fire spread to the entire three-storey, 12-unit apartment building, destroying it. No one was injured.

"The risk of fire starting from the disposal of a lit cigarette is obvious, notorious and serious. The potential for loss is great," Justice Candace Grammond wrote in her decision. 

The night of the fire, Fontaine had her son, her son's partner and her daughter over to her apartment, the court heard. Fontaine also had her two young grandchildren at the apartment.

The adults all smoked on the balcony around 5:30 p.m. and disposed of their cigarettes in the planter. After her guests left, Fontaine got her grandchildren ready for bed and then fell asleep. The peat moss, meanwhile, had been smouldering and burst into flame around 11:30 p.m.

The judge found  Burton bore the bulk of the blame because he simply dropped his lit cigarette into the planter, while the others took some steps to try to extinguish theirs.

"The plaintiff submitted that a smoker who just drops his lit cigarette, as Mr. Burton did in this case, is negligent," Justice Grammond wrote. 

The judge still found Fontaine partially at fault, however, because she provided an inappropriate container to dispose of the cigarette butts.

Fontaine said she thought the planter contained mud, but Grammond wrote in her decision that Fontaine "breached the applicable standard of care by providing to her guests an ashtray comprised of combustible materials, namely peat moss, sheep manure, and plastic."

Burton challenged the findings of fire inspectors, who testified at trial the only likely cause of the fire was the cigarette dropped into the peat moss. Burton argued that the inspectors showed "expectation bias" in their investigation and didn't consider other possible causes of the fire, but Grammond agreed with the inspectors' conclusion.

The court also heard from a chemical and forensic engineer who conducted tests to determine how likely it was that a lit cigarette dropped into peat moss could start a fire. The tests found that under the right conditions, peat moss could smoulder for hours before bursting into flame.

The plaintiff also listed Fontaine's daughter, Jean Comeau, and Burton's partner, Michelle Lang, both of whom were also at Fontaine's apartment smoking on her balcony and disposed of their cigarettes in the planter. Grammond dismissed the claims against Comeau and Lang because there was no evidence that they contributed directly to the cause of the fire.

Grammond ordered Burton to pay 75 per cent of the $820,000 penalty, while Fontaine must pay the remaining 25 per cent.

Ste. Anne is approximately 45 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.