Personal Injury Incidents:

Question: What are the main Ontario liability and lawsuit limits if I’m injured operating an automobile, a boat, or other machinery (like farm or construction equipment)?

Answer: ?

Answer: If you’re hurt operating an automobile, vessel, or other machinery in Ontario, White Owl Legal can help you understand which laws apply and whether you can sue for damages beyond Statutory Accident Benefits, since Ontario’s automobile claims are generally limited to serious injuries, while boating incidents and equipment/machinery injuries often follow different rules under negligence principles depending on the circumstances.   For car and truck accidents, your claim may depend on meeting the “serious injury” threshold under the Statutory Accident Benefits framework, and if you qualify you may pursue additional compensation options tied to wrongful operation.   For vessels, the right to claim can be available for a wider range of injuries, subject to the relevant safety and operational requirements under the Canada Shipping Act 2001 and its regulations, and for equipment you may need to focus on negligence-based duties tied to how the machinery was used, maintained, or supervised.   To get clarity on liability risk and your best next steps, contact White Owl Legal at (289) 839-3075 for an initial consultation in Ontario.

Liability Risk Arising From Operation of Vehicles and Vessels Among Other Types of Machinery

Injuries arising from an automobile accident, a boating accident, or by some other type of vehicle or vessel, are addressed somewhat differently and by somewhat different systems of law.  Indeed, the right to sue for injury arising from an automobile accident is specifically limited.

Accidents With Vehicles

In Ontario, when a person is injured in an automobile accident, whereas automobile is defined as including cars, trucks, motorcycles, snowmobiles, and any other vehicle designed for the purpose of transporting persons or property, thus excluding devices such as mobile cranes and other machinery designed to perform a primary function other than transporting persons or property, the injuries must be significantly severe before a lawsuit seeking compensation is permitted by law.

Everyone who drives, or otherwise operates, an automobile on public roadways or public places, meaning places other than your own private property, are required to abide by the rules of the road prescribed within the Highway Traffic Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, and required to carry insurance in accordance to the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.25, among other laws.  When a driver fails to abide by the Highway Traffic Act, among other laws, the driver may be found negligent for failing to drive with the proper degree of care and caution.  If, due to negligence, or worse carelessness or recklessness, a driver causes a vehicle accident resulting in serious injuries, a lawsuit for compensation may arise.

Interestingly, in Ontario, where a statutory insurance system prescribes a no-fault system, the right to sue in tort law, meaning for wrongful operation of an automobile by another driver, is limited to accidents involving serious injuries only.  If injuries arising from the accident fail to qualify as serious enough, then the injury victim may claim compensation under the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule only.  However, if injuries are serious enough, then the injury victim may claim compensation under the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule as well as by suing the driver who caused the accident, and possibly the vehicle owner, among others.

To determine whether injuries are serious enough to sue for compensation beyond the compensation beyond that provided within the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, contact White Owl Legal for assistance.

Accidents With Vessels

Unlike the restriction upon suing for injuries arising from a vehicle accident, where injuries arising from an incident involving a vessel, such as a boat, a canoe, or another waterborne object providing a mode of transportation, motorized or otherwise, the right to sue for compensation is available for relatively minor injuries as well as severe harm including death.

Similar to how the Highway Traffic Act prescribes the rules of the road for operation of automobiles, the Small Vessel Regulations, SOR/2010-91 as a regulation to the Canada Shipping Act 2001, S.C. 2001, Chapter 26, prescribes the rules of the lakes for boats and such.

Interestingly, and unfortunately, in recent years, serious incidents on Ontario waterways have increased significantly and lawsuits arising from the resulting injuries are becoming more common.  The broadly publicized incident involving Linda O'Leary, the wife of celebrity Kevin O'Leary, is just one example.

Accidents With Equipment, among other things

In addition to vehicles and vessels, farm implements, construction machinery, among other things, can be dangerous and cause injuries that lead to litigation that seeks compensation.  Generally, when equipment and machinery is involved in an injury causing accident, unlike vehicles and vessels, the common law relating to negligence applies.