Slipping or tripping and falling can cause a range of injuries, from minor bruises, cuts and sprains to serious and life-threatening ones that affect your mobility, quality of life, emotional and financial well-being and income-earning capacity.

These accidents are one of the leading causes of ER visits and hospitalization across Canada and many of those who suffer catastrophic injuries may even die in hospital. Permanent disability and disfigurement can cause enormous physical, emotional and financial trauma not just for the injured victim, but also for the entire family.

When such accidents happen to elderly persons, it leads to loss of mobility and socialization, with ripple effects on nutrition and enjoyment of life. Pregnant women pose another serious health risk and an accident can affect the health of the unborn child too.

It’s advisable to consult an experienced Brampton personal injury lawyer immediately as you may be entitled to compensation.

Premises Liability

Slip and fall accidents may take place on privately-owned property like residences, corporations or organizations, retail spaces, entertainment facilities etc. They may also occur in publicly-owned government or municipal property.

Property owners have a duty of care under the Ontario Occupier’s Liability Act Sec 3 (1) to ensure that premises under their control have to be maintained in a state of reasonable safety for all legitimate visitors.

The injured victims have a right to seek compensation from the property owner even if they have entrusted maintenance work to any third-party like cleaning services, maintenance contractors etc.

Accidents on Municipal Property

Unlike privately-owned property, there may be slightly different regulations that govern liability in municipality-owned properties. The Ontario Municipal Act has certain stringent regulations regarding the time-frames within which notification of intention to seek compensation can be made. For instance, in all municipalities across Ontario, the Act states that if you’re injured on any municipality-owned property, notification must be sent within 10 days of the accident. If you fail to do so, you could lose your right to file a personal injury suit or it could be summarily dismissed.

• This is unlike the rule for privately-owned properties where victims have a two-year long window.

• Another issue is that municipalities have a different standard of care when it comes to removing snow/ice/water etc on their premises. The aspect of “gross negligence” comes into the picture here, unlike privately-owned properties where standards of reasonableness apply.

• Municipalities are also liable to maintain sidewalks and public areas in a state of good repair. In the case of inordinate pile-ups of snow or ice in winter, the municipalities can take recourse to citing unusual weather conditions etc to avoid liability.

• Unfortunately, standards and safety protocols are set much lower in municipalities that it can be difficult to prove that such standards were not met when a slip and fall accident occurred.

• There are several complex medical, legal and insurance issues involved, along with the latest regulations and municipality rules which vary across the board.

Contact a Brampton personal injury lawyer with specific expertise and experience in handling such cases to enhance your chances of a more successful outcome.