In order to understand whether you have a potentially viable occupiers liability claim, it’s important to learn about two things. First is the concept of what’s called duty of care, and second is a concept of standard of care. Basically stated, a duty of care is a legal obligation which requires someone to maintain their property or business in a way so as to prevent foreseeable harm to visitors of that property.
Proving a duty of care is the first step in a negligence claim. In Nova Scotia, it’s fairly easy given that there’s a piece of legislation called the Occupiers Liability Act, which automatically imposes a duty of care on each property owner. The question of standard of care is more complex. In order to successfully win an occupiers liability claim, you have to show that the property owner or its employees failed to adhere to the standard of care. In the context of an occupiers liability claim, this standard requires the property owner to take reasonable care in all of the circumstances to see that a visitor to the property is reasonably safe in using the property. This means having a regular system of inspection and monitoring for possible hazards and then taking appropriate steps to address those hazards when they become known or when they ought to have become known. What amounts to reasonable care is closely dependent on the specific circumstances.
A busy grocery store will have a higher standard of care to inspect for and address hazards midday than, for example, a rural gas station in the middle of the night. Proving a breach of the standard of care can be complex, and it’s highly fact-specific. If you’ve been injured and if you think you have a possible occupiers liability claim, we’d be happy to discuss your situation with you at no cost to you.
