Falls on Properties – Who is an Occupier? – Ottawa Slip and Fall Lawyers Explain
In Ontario, all owners and occupiers of property and premises owe a duty of care to make sure that people using their property are reasonably safe while on the premises or property. The duty of care is defined in section 3(1) of the Occupier’s Liability Act as follows: an occupier of premises owes a duty to take such care as in all the circumstances of the case is reasonable to see that persons entering on the premises, and the property brought on to the premises by those persons are reasonably safe while on the premises.” This section of the Occupier’s Liability Act imposes on occupiers and owners and affirmative duty to make the premises reasonably safe or persons using the property. Owners and occupiers must take reasonable care to protect persons from foreseeable harm.
In some cases, determining who is an occupier is difficult. However, the Occupier’s Liability Act does defined in occupier to include any person who is in physical possession of the premises, has responsibility for and control over the condition of the premises, has responsibility for and control over the activities on the premises or has control over persons allowed to enter the premises. It is possible to have more than one occupier at the same time and more than one owner at the same time. It is also possible to have multiple occupiers and owners of same time. In some cases, the occupier may also be the owner. Occupiers can include owners, managers, supervisors, contractors, superintendents, tenants, subtenants and business owners. While someone who is not an owner or an occupier is likely not to be held responsible, this is not always the case. In some cases, a party who is found not to be an owner or occupier can nevertheless be held responsible based on common law negligence principles. For example, wherein occupier or owner has hired a maintenance company to maintain the property and the property is not properly maintained resulting in a person being injured, while the maintenance company may not necessarily be an occupier nor an owner, they can be held responsible based on common law negligence principles. In many cases, the court will try to apportion liability between responsible persons or corporations. The proportion of liability found against various defendants depends on all of the circumstances of the case.
If you or someone you care about has been injured as a result of the negligence of an occupier or owner of premises or property, our lawyers are experienced in dealing with such cases. Our Ottawa personal injury lawyers focus their law practice entirely on personal injury matters and have handled thousands of premises and property liability cases.
Our lawyers work on a no fee unless your case is settled basis, in law called a contingency fee arrangement. Our accident and injury lawyers represent clients throughout all of Ontario with a particular focus in the greater Ottawa area. Our lawyers offer free consultations.
To learn more about your rights as an injured person, contact us at 613-315-4870.
Ottawa Personal Injury and Accident Lawyers working to obtain fair and reasonable compensation for victims of accidents throughout all of Ontario.