With the snow and ice clogging sidewalks across the region, we decided to ask an expert about who is liable should someone slip and fall in front of your house on a snow covered sidewalk.
Chris Richard with Graves and Richard, a personal injury law firm in St. Catharines says homeowners can breathe easy.
He says there is no civil liability that attaches to the homeowner for failing to clear a city sidewalk.
Richard says that applies even if a municipality has a sidewalk clearing bylaw.
He points out what the courts have said, and it has been challenged many times, a city bylaw can not act to transfer civil liability from a municipality to a homeowner.
But while you can't be sued, Richard stresses, if your city or town has a snow clearing bylaw, you can still be charged for the cost of having a municipal crew come and clean your sidewalk.