Changes to the Occupiers' Liability Act Now In Force

As of January 29, 2021, Section 6.1 of the Occupier's Liability Act has come into force and effect. Section 6.1 now generally requires a claimant who is claiming damages resulting from a personal injury caused by snow or ice to provide written notice of the claim within 60 days of the injury, otherwise they will not be able to sue for damages later. Formerly, no notice was required and a claimant had up to 2 years from the incident to commence a legal proceeding.  Note that this new requirement only applies to personal injury caused by a slip and fall due to snow or ice.  It does not apply to other types of claims.

In our view, these changes will have a big impact on both the number of slip and fall claims filed against condominium corporations and provide condominium corporations with a better opportunity to collect timely evidence relating to these sorts of claims.

If a condominium corporation is served with a notice of a claim, it should contact its legal counsel immediately as it will likely need to provide the notice to any contractor that provided snow and ice removal services to the condominium corporation. In addition, the condominium corporation should then immediately locate and preserve all its records and information, including surveillance tapes and maintenance logs, concerning the incident.

The full text of the revised Occupiers' Liability Act can be found here.