{"id":79920,"date":"2022-02-02T16:30:19","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T21:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=79920"},"modified":"2022-02-02T16:30:19","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T21:30:19","slug":"fedco-moves-to-reform-citys-joint-and-several-liability-system-for-future-legal-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/fedco-moves-to-reform-citys-joint-and-several-liability-system-for-future-legal-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"FEDCO moves to reform city’s ‘joint and several liability’ system for future legal claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ottawa city councillors have moved to reform joint and several liability, which could have implications for future claims made against the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a meeting of the Finance and Economic Development Committee (FEDCO) on Tuesday morning, a motion was passed to recommend city council replace several and joint liability with a full proportionate liability system. The decision was prompted by a <\/span>call-to-action<\/span><\/a> from the Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO).<\/span><\/p>\n

In their call-to-action, AMO urged municipalities to bring the matter to the table at their next meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs municipal leaders are aware, liability and risks are one major driver of exponentially increasing insurance costs,\u201d says AMO.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019, the AMO <\/span>asserted that joint and several liability<\/span><\/a> has had drastic implications for municipal insurance rates in Ontario, which is ultimately reflected in rising property taxes. <\/span>Several and joint liability<\/span><\/a>, Ottawa\u2019s current claims system, is when multiple parties are held jointly responsible for wrongdoing, and the plaintiff is therefore permitted to seek damages from both parties equally. In the case where one party is unable to pay the full cost of damages, the plaintiff can seek reparations from the other party.<\/span><\/p>\n

Full proportionate liability, on the other hand, allows the plaintiff to pursue damages from multiple parties, but only in proportion to their individual responsibility for the damages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The reformed legislation has been in the works for over a decade, according to a <\/span>2010 report to FEDCO<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the report, the current liability system \u201chas had a major impact on the city\u2019s approach to managing risk and defending litigation as it arises.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The report indicates that, as a consequence of its possession of a \u201clarge number of assets,\u201d Ottawa has faced litigations in areas where the city is marginally involved and has paid \u201cmore than its fair share.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyone can sue the City of Ottawa for personal damages, including injuries or property damage, if it was the result of neglect in maintaining city-operated facilities or services. Some of the <\/span>most common claims<\/span><\/a> made against the city concern potholes, flooding, tree maintenance and improperly parked city vehicles.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2021, <\/span>former city-staffer Stephanie Dobbs<\/span><\/a> sued the city of Ottawa for $325,000 for \u201closs of salary, denial of the opportunity to earn income and loss of earning potential\u201d after participating in the <\/span>Integrity Commission\u2019s investigation into Coun. Rick Chiarelli<\/span><\/a>. Dobbs provided testimony that, while in Chiarelli\u2019s employ, she was sexually harassed by him and was forced to work in a hostile environment, which violated her contract with the city.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the r<\/span>ecommendations made by AMO<\/span><\/a> to FEDCO include putting a cap on legal payouts, and to adopt further measures which would decrease the city\u2019s insurance premiums.<\/span><\/p>\n

Future litigations involving the city could look a lot different, as councillors will meet on Feb. 9 to discuss the recommendations before passing the matter to the attorney general.<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to the CHUO news update below:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ottawa city councillors have moved to reform joint and several liability, which could have implications for future claims made against the city. In a meeting of the Finance and Economic Development Committee (FEDCO) on Tuesday morning, a motion was passed to recommend city council replace several and joint liability with a full proportionate liability system.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":75599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,225],"tags":[12300,12297,9012,11534,4311,12299,11543,12296,12295,1177,12298],"radio":[1290],"origine":[267,269,1571],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79920"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79920"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=79920"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=79920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}