Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog
First and foremost, our thoughts are with the 76 passengers and 4 crew members of Delta Air Lines flight 4819 from Minneapolis to Toronto which crash landed on February 17, 2025 at Pearson International Airport in Mississauga.
Thankfully, nobody died.
There were 18 injuries reported in the crash. We can only imagine that there will be more injuries long after the crash given the trauma of what took place. The thought of ever flying in an airplane again must be daunting for the victims, families, friends along with any others impacted by this accident.
We have never heard of an airplane flipping over and coming to a rest upside down; let alone seen footage of that actually taking place! This is another example of how cameras on phones are quite handy in personal injury cases. In the past, we would only hear that the plane landed upside down. We would have to imagine that happening in our heads, which, is quite difficult to picture. But with cameras on phones which capture the event happening itself, there is no longer any need for anyone to imagine that happening. The picture (video) speaks a thousand words and provides very powerful images of what took place. The same idea (of capturing a picture or a video) applies equally to all different sorts of personal injury cases. Those images don’t have to be as dramatic or jaw dropping as a plane crash landing upside down. It can be as simple as the aftermath of a car crash. Or the damage done to vehicles after a car accident. Or as boring as a patch of ice which had not been maintained by a property owner causing a slip and fall accident.
And on that note, this seems like a good segue to introduce the main topic of this week’s installment of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog. Slip and Falls accidents.
February appears to be the peak of slip and fall season. It’s no surprize because it seems to be one of the coldest months of the year, with a lot of snow fall.
It’s so important in these cases to get photographs.
Photos of then location of the fall.
Photos of the hazard which caused the fall.
Photos of the snow/ice/slush which caused the fall.
Photos of the footwear which you were wearing at the time of the fall.
Photos of the injuries themselves.
All of these things are critically important to building a successful slip and fall case. These photos cannot be taken after the fact. Getting the photos as soon as possible provides the best evidence in terms of the conditions at, or near the time of the accident.
The next critical important thing to remember in winter time slip and fall cases are the notice periods.
If you have slipped and fell on City or Municipal property, like a City sidewalk, you must give written notice to the City within 10 days. That written notice should include the date, time, and location of the slip and fall (like an address); and express your intention to pursue a claim against the City. Failure to give written notice may nullify your claim. The law requires that written notice be provided within that 10 day period from the date of the slip and fall.
If you slip and fall due to ice, or winter conditions on private property, you must give written notice to the private property owner within 60 days from the date of the fall. That written notice must include the date, time and location of the fall. The written notice must be served personally, or by way of registered mail to either (or both) the occupier and/or the winter maintenance contractor. Failure to do so may also nullify the claim.
Failure to know about, or to understand these notice periods is not a reasonable excuse. Unfortunately, these laws have been created in order to prevent claims from advancing through the Court system. The laws are designed to protect Defendants and not the other way around. In fact, the recent amendments to the Occupiers Liability Act which introduced the 60 day written notice period did not exist until December 8, 2020. Before that time, there was no 60 day written notice period. The standard 2 year from the date of the slip and fall is what was used; which is standard across the board for the vast majority of personal injury claims, excluding claims involving minors, or discoverability arguments which you might see in a medical malpractice claim; or more lenient limitation periods such as in sexual assault or historic sexual assault cases.
In any event, giving notice is very important to given that failure to give notice may prevent a case from succeeding even if it would likely be strong on the merits (liability, causation and damages). Insurers and their lawyers would be very pleased to win these sort of cases on legal technicalities.
One final point we would like to address is the concept of then OHIP Subrogated Claim. Most accident victims don’t know about this. When we think of healthcare in Canada, we think that it’s free and that we don’t have to payback our healthcare costs. That’s correct in every facet with the exception of non car accident related personal injury cases in Ontario. The law requires that the accident victim repay OHIP for the healthcare which they have received out of the proceeds of a non car accident related personal injury settlement or Judgment. This is commonly referred to as OHIP’s right to subrogation and is conferred under section 30(1) of the Health Care Act. Many accident victims are unaware of these provisions because they aren’t widely discussed, or thought of. Generally, when cases settle, these OHIP costs are factored in to the settlement. In other situations, the insurer will deal with OHIP directly and work out a payment upon settlement. In many cases, the paying party can work out a deal with OHIP such that a portion of the claim is paid due the complexity of the case, litigation risk, and any other contributory negligence issues in order to satisfy then Ministry’s subrogated claim.
