Personal Injury Lawyers in Ottawa
Ottawa is a single-tier municipality, so one clerk receives the 10-day notice. Ottawa winters are long enough that the City's own winter maintenance records are usually the deciding evidence in a slip and fall claim.
The lawyer on your file
Shawn Sidhu, Lawyer
You speak to a lawyer, not an intake desk. The first conversation is free, and if we do not think you have a claim we will tell you that too.
Deadlines that apply to you
These are the dates that end claims. Check them first.
If the injury happened on a municipal road or sidewalk and the claim is that it was not kept in repair, written notice must reach the municipality within 10 days.
Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25, s. 44(10)
In most Ontario claims you have two years from the day you knew, or ought to have known, that you had a claim.
Limitations Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 24, Sched. B, s. 4
Injured in Ottawa
Ottawa is the second largest city in the province and it is nowhere near the rest of this list. It has its own courts, its own transit authority, its own hospital network, and a winter that runs months longer than Toronto's.
That winter is the practical difference. A slip and fall claim in Ottawa is usually decided on the City's own maintenance records: when the route was last cleared, when it was last salted, what the standard was and whether it was met. Those records exist, they are obtainable, and they are the reason the 10-day notice matters so much here. Serve it late and the trail is already colder than the sidewalk.
Photograph the surface before it changes
Ice conditions change within hours. A photograph with a timestamp, taken where you fell, is evidence that cannot be reconstructed afterwards from memory.
Serve the City of Ottawa within 10 days
Ottawa is single-tier, so one clerk receives the notice. Serving it is also what preserves your ability to obtain the City records that decide these claims.
Request the maintenance log
When the route was last cleared, when it was salted, what the standard required and whether it was met. In an Ottawa winter that log usually decides the outcome more than any witness does.
The law is the same across Ontario. Who you serve is not.
Ottawa is a single-tier municipality. The City of Ottawa is the road authority for city streets and sidewalks, so notice under the Municipal Act goes to the City Clerk.
WRITTEN NOTICE GOES TO
- City Clerk, City of Ottawa
If the injury happened on a municipal road or sidewalk and the claim is that it was not kept in repair, written notice must reach the municipality within 10 days.
Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25, s. 44(10)
Superior Court of Justice, Ottawa
161 Elgin Street, Ottawa
An Ottawa tort claim is issued in the Superior Court of Justice at Ottawa.
OC Transpo
OC Transpo, including the O-Train, is a department of the City of Ottawa. An injury on an OC Transpo vehicle or platform is a claim against the municipality. O-Train Line 1 is maintained under contract by a private consortium, which can put a second defendant on a rail file.
The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus
The Civic Campus is the adult trauma centre for eastern Ontario. Paediatric trauma goes to CHEO. A catastrophic file originating anywhere in the region usually has its key records there.
Highway 417, the Queensway, Highway 416
The Queensway carries the bulk of the city's traffic and the 416 connects it south. Both are provincial highways rather than city roads, which changes who is responsible when the road itself is at issue.
What this costs you
We fight for the maximum compensation your claim will carry, and you do not pay a dollar unless we win.
Nothing up front. The consultation is free, we act on contingency, and we advance the costs of building the case so a claim is never held up by money. If we do not recover anything, you do not owe a fee.
- Free consultation, no obligation
- Not a dollar unless we win
- We advance disbursements
- Home and hospital visits across the GTA
Questions we get every week
A great deal. These claims are usually decided on the City's winter maintenance records: when the route was last cleared and salted, what the standard required, and whether it was met. Getting the 10-day notice in is what preserves the ability to obtain those records while they still mean something.
Yes. Ontario is one jurisdiction, the law is identical province-wide, and a file is run on records, evidence and correspondence rather than on proximity. Where an in-person attendance is needed, it is arranged.
Yes. Ottawa has its own Superior Court registry, so the claim is issued in the city where it happened.
Highway 417 is a provincial highway rather than a city road, so the ordinary municipal notice rule is not what applies. The deadlines still run and they are short, so it is worth getting advice rather than assuming.
Personal injury work we do in Ottawa
Car Accidents in Ottawa
After a car accident in Ontario you usually have two separate claims running at the same time: accident benefits from your own insurer regardless of who caused the crash, and a claim against the driver at fault.
Read moreAccident Benefits in Ottawa
Accident benefits are paid by your own auto insurer regardless of who caused the collision.
Read moreSlip and Fall in Ottawa
Slip and fall claims in Ontario carry notice deadlines far shorter than the usual two year limitation period.
Read moreLong-Term Disability in Ottawa
Most long-term disability denials in Ontario are not about whether you are ill.
Read moreCatastrophic Injury in Ottawa
In Ontario, a catastrophic impairment designation raises the combined medical, rehabilitation and attendant care limit from $65,000 to $1,000,000 and removes the time limit.
Read moreTraumatic Brain Injury in Ottawa
A traumatic brain injury can be severe and permanent while every scan comes back normal.
Read moreOther Ontario cities we act in
The limitation period, the statutory deductible and the tort threshold are provincial, so they are identical in every city here. What changes is who must be served inside the 10-day notice window, and that is decided by the city.
The lawyer on your file
A lawyer reads every enquiry. Not a form.
Send us what happened and Shawn Sidhu reads it himself, then replies the same business day. The first conversation is free and there is no obligation.
If we do not think you have a claim, we will tell you that too. You will know where you stand before you decide anything.
Shawn Sidhu, Lawyer
Called to the bar in British Columbia, 2013
University of British Columbia · University of Birmingham
- Free consultation, no obligation
- Not a dollar unless we win
- We come to you at home or in hospital
Your fight becomes ours the day you call us.
Consultations are free and there is no obligation. If we take the case you pay nothing unless we win, and if we think you do not have a claim we will tell you that too.
Start your free case review
Tell us what happened. A lawyer reviews every enquiry, and we reply the same business day.
Thank you. We have your request.
A lawyer is reviewing what you sent and will call you the same business day. There is nothing else you need to do right now.
If you would rather not wait, call us now.
(416) 678-8765Free consultation, and no fee unless we win.