Every winter clients come to my office because they have fallen on a City sidewalk and hurt themselves. If this has happened to you then you need to immediately contact a lawyer. If you don’t report the fall to the Municipality within 10 days then you might lose all rights. It is extremely important that you don’t miss this 10 day period.
Most Municipalities in Ontario have by-laws requiring property owners whose property adjoins a sidewalk to clear that sidewalk of ice and snow. And if the adjoining property owner does not clear ice and snow then they could be liable for fines and penalties.
Most people assume that since the Municipality requires people to clear ice and snow from the sidewalk in front of their property, then if someone falls on the sidewalk and hurts themselves because the adjoining owner did not clear the ice and snow then the adjoining property owner is responsible for the injuries suffered.
But just stop for a second. How could an adjoining property owner, who does not own the sidewalk, be responsible? The courts in Ontario found long ago that even if the City can penalize an adjoining property owner for failure to clear ice and snow from the sidewalk that does not make them responsible for someone’s injuries if they fall. The reason? They don’t own the land. The City owns the land that the sidewalk is on.
However, you cannot assume that the adjoining landowner would never be responsible. What happens if a store owner puts his products out on the sidewalk and treats the sidewalk like it is an aisle in their store? Then courts have found that the store owner could be liable. Or what happens if a home owner connects all the eaves of their house to a downspout that drains straight onto the sidewalk. These areas will always be icy when other surrounding areas of the sidewalk will be dry. Is the homeowner responsible? Or my favorite, is a case I did many years ago where a homeowner parked their car in their own driveway but the rear end of the car was sticking out over the sidewalk forcing my client to walk around the car over the ramp section of the driveway on the side walk that was slanted and icy. In that case the home owner’s insurance agreed to pay.
Until next time and be well.