{"id":9565,"date":"2023-01-11T17:11:57","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T22:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/?p=9565"},"modified":"2023-01-11T17:12:01","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T22:12:01","slug":"fall-from-trailer-roof-at-time-of-being-cleaned-and-inspected-is-an-accident-under-the-sabs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.360mediations.com\/en\/fall-from-trailer-roof-at-time-of-being-cleaned-and-inspected-is-an-accident-under-the-sabs\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall from Trailer Roof at Time of Being Cleaned and Inspected is an \u201cAccident\u201d under the SABS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This recent Statutory Accident Benefit case was hotly contested, likely because a lot of money was on the line when the claimant sustained catastrophic injuries after falling from the roof of a trailer that he was cleaning and inspecting prior to embarking on a trip.\u00a0 The Licence Appeal Tribunal (\u201cLAT\u201d) ruled that this was not an \u201caccident\u201d as defined in the Statutory Accident Benefit Schedule (\u201cSABS\u201d), thereby denying any recovery for the claimant.<\/p>\n

The claimant\u2019s request for a Reconsideration (heard by the same Adjudicator) was dismissed.\u00a0 However, the LAT ruling was overturned on appeal to the Divisional Court, as reflected in this recent decision.<\/p>\n

Why the difference in opinion?\u00a0 The Divisional Court concluded that the LAT adjudicator erred in interpreting the law, in two primary ways.\u00a0 First, the Adjudicator incorrectly imposed a requirement that there be some manner of contact between an injured party and a vehicle (the trailer in this instance).\u00a0 This is plainly wrong.\u00a0 The case law is very well settled that contact with an automobile is not a necessary element for an \u201caccident\u201d to have occurred under the SABS.<\/p>\n

Second, the Adjudicator incorrectly required the claimant to prove that the fall \u201cwas as a result of tripping on some part of the trailer\u201d<\/em> which is not only contrary to the definition of \u201caccident\u201d in the SABS, but is also inconsistent with the decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in Greenhalgh v. Ing Halifax Insurance Co<\/em><\/strong>., 2004 CanLII 21045.<\/p>\n

There are only two tests to satisfy (as defined in Greenhalgh and elsewhere):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Did the incident arise out of the use or operation of an automobile (purpose test)?<\/li>\n
  2. Did such use or operation of an automobile directly cause the impairment (causation test)?\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In this instance, the claimant was in the process of using his vehicle \u2013 he was cleaning and inspecting it.<\/p>\n

    In this instance, the cleaning of the trailer directly caused his impairment \u2013 the injuries were caused when he fell from the rooftop of the trailer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    The trailer didn\u2019t need to \u201ccause\u201d the fall as the Adjudicator required (ie: a jagged edge, or a loose piece of sheet metal, etc).\u00a0 The claimant didn\u2019t need to make contact with the trailer either \u2013 losing footing and stepping over the edge would still a derivative of being on the roof for cleaning and inspection.\u00a0 As stated in Chisholm v Liberty Mutual Group<\/em><\/strong>, 2002 CanLII 45020<\/a> ONCA, \u201can incident<\/em> (ie: lost footing) is not an intervening act if it is a normal incident of the risk created by the \u201cuse or operation\u201d<\/em> \u201c(ie: cleaning the roof).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

    This case is also interesting because the claimant could not explain, due to his brain injury, how or why he fell.\u00a0 But the court considered this inconsequential.\u00a0 He was on the roof to clean and inspect, and fell off: no foul play was alleged.\u00a0 As noted above, if he fell because he tripped on something, or simply stepped over the edge because he failed to properly identify the edge, the result is the same – he was still using the trailer conventionally, and was injured as a result of falling off the trailer during that use.<\/p>\n

    As summarized by the Divisional Court:<\/p>\n

    \u201cthe test only requires that the Adjudicator consider whether \u2026(the Claimant) \u2026 was injured in the course of cleaning and inspecting the roof of the trailer. \u00a0In fact, the Adjudicator found that \u2026 (the Claimant)\u2026 was injured in the course of cleaning and inspecting the roof of the trailer. … (The Claimant’s) … injuries flow directly from that purpose.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    Although not addressed in the decision, I think for illustrative purposes it is important to consider alternatives.\u00a0 For example, and by contrast, if the claimant was using the trailer for a purpose it was not intended \u2013 ie: to build a skating rink on the top, or to start a rooftop garden, then it is unlikely this would be considered an accident because the vehicle wasn\u2019t being used for its intended purpose, but in this instance, trailer owners must occasionally clean and inspect trailer tops \u2013 to inspect for holes (to prevent water damage, to clean ice to prevent damage and ice slabs from breaking off while driving, etc.).\u00a0 To me, this is a very well-known and acceptable risk underwritten by insurance companies: as such, when injuries arise, benefits should flow.<\/p>\n

    Madore v. Intact Insurance Company<\/em><\/strong>, 2023 ONSC 11 (Div. Crt.)<\/p>\n

    https:\/\/www.canlii.org\/en\/on\/onscdc\/doc\/2023\/2023onsc11\/2023onsc11.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This recent Statutory Accident Benefit case was hotly contested, likely because a lot of money was on the line when the claimant sustained catastrophic injuries after falling from the roof of a trailer that he was cleaning and inspecting prior to embarking on a trip.\u00a0 The Licence Appeal Tribunal (\u201cLAT\u201d) ruled that this was not… Continue reading Fall from Trailer Roof at Time of Being Cleaned and Inspected is an \u201cAccident\u201d under the SABS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[160,163],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motor-vehicle-litigation","category-personal-injury","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nFall from Trailer Roof at Time of Being Cleaned and Inspected is an \u201cAccident\u201d under the SABS - 360Mediations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Barring anything unusual, SABS benefits should be available to person falling from trailer rooftop being inspected or cleaned at the time.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.360mediations.com\/en\/fall-from-trailer-roof-at-time-of-being-cleaned-and-inspected-is-an-accident-under-the-sabs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fall from Trailer Roof at Time of Being Cleaned and Inspected is an \u201cAccident\u201d under the SABS - 360Mediations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Barring anything unusual, SABS benefits should be available to person falling from trailer rooftop being inspected or cleaned at the time.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.360mediations.com\/en\/fall-from-trailer-roof-at-time-of-being-cleaned-and-inspected-is-an-accident-under-the-sabs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"360Mediations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-11T22:11:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-11T22:12:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/COURT-DECISIONS-360MEDIATIONS-1x1-1.png?fit=406%2C322&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"406\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"322\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David M. 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