TransactionsCassels Brock Wins Trial as Court Rejects Expanded Role for Municipal Building InspectorsPublished: 12/17/2010 In a decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Justice Mark Edwards) released on December 10, 2010, Cassels Brock was successful in obtaining the dismissal of a claim brought against a municipality by a local resident who had originally sought $2,000,000.00 in damages after falling head-first in a home under construction. The plaintiff, a real estate agent, suffered serious head injuries after entering the construction site and attempting to crawl across a ladder to the upper level of a split-level bungalow. Following his recovery, the plaintiff sued the contractor responsible for the construction project - a five-home development that the plaintiff had planned with his wife and brother. The plaintiff also sued the municipality, alleging that its building inspector saw an unsecured ladder on one of his mandatory inspections under the Building Code Act and ought to have shut down the work site as a result of what the plaintiff alleged was an "unsafe condition." The scope of inspections required under the Building Code Act has become a hot button issue for municipalities in recent years following several incidents in which workers have been seriously injured or killed on the job. In this case the plaintiff argued that municipal building inspectors owe a duty of care, arising in part from the Occupational Health and Safety Act, to workers and members of the public who might be endangered while on a construction site. If this argument had been accepted it would have represented a significant expansion of a building inspector's responsibilities which are generally limited to ensuring compliance with the Building Code - a considerable task in itself given the complexities of the Code. In dismissing the claim, Justice Edwards rejected both the factual and legal arguments put forward by the plaintiff. His Honour found that the building inspector was not presented with an unsafe work site at his last inspection prior to the accident (an insulation inspection 9 days before) and, in any event, no duty of care was owed in this situation as the legislature did not intend for municipalities - and by extension, taxpayers - to shoulder the burden of ensuring the safety of private construction sites. Finally, Justice Edwards found that, even if the building inspector had noticed an unsecured ladder and reported it, there is no guarantee the accident would have been prevented and, as such, the inspector's inaction could not be said to have caused the plaintiff's unfortunate tumble. Ted Frankel (Advocacy Group) and Melissa Winch (Municipal, Planning & Environmental Group) of Cassels Brock represented the Corporation of the Town of Georgina. Read the Decision of the Superior Court of Justice - Ontario. |