Private homeowners don’t generally think about the Occupier’s Liability Act. Although it applies to homeowners, it has mostly been applied to businesses. However the Superior Court of Ontario in an Ottawa case, recently found parents liable for the bad acts of their son. More importantly, because the parent failed to defend themselves in this case, their insurance probably does not protect them.
In Jane Doe v. N(M), 2018 ONSC 6607 the judge determined that the parents had witnessed assaults by the son upon the son’s girlfriend. Because they allowed her to stay sometimes at the home, this created their occupiers liability. The judge went so far as to say ‘they could have called the police.’
Parents or indeed any homeowner is now required to take a vigilant proactive stance under Occupier’s Liability Act if this case is not overturned on appeal which is unlikely because the defendants did not defend the case.
