Veir Guy sued the City of Toronto after she fell and injured herself in a laneway.  She was successful at trial, but the City appealed to the Divisional Court.

Under the Municipal Act, anyone who wants to sue a municipality over an unsafe condition on a sidewalk must give the municipality notice of the unsafe condition within a very short time period.  The trial judge had concluded that the laneway where the accident took place was, to the City’s knowledge, frequented by pedestrians, and therefore should be maintained to the same standard as a sidewalk.  On appeal, the City argued that since the trial judge had in effect found that the laneway was a sidewalk, the strict notice period stipulated by the Municipal Act should apply.

The Divisional Court rejected the idea that the trial judge had found that the laneway was a sidewalk.  The judge had found that the laneway attracted a standard of maintenance similar to that of a sidewalk, which is not the same as finding that it was a sidewalk.  It would be unreasonable to expect a person in Ms. Guy’s position to conclude that a statutory notice period for sidewalks applied to the laneway, and the appeal was dismissed.

City of Toronto v. Veir Guy http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onscdc/doc/2010/2010onsc5220/2010onsc5220.pdf

Richard Hayles, B.A., J.D.

Brief informational summaries about commercial litigation matters in the courts of Ontario and other developments are periodically published on this website. They are intended to be a general comment or general discussion, not legal advice and should not be relied upon as legal advice. Should you require legal advice, please contact info@heydary.com or 416 972 9001.