Sorry, no, that's not correct. The OLA applies to property for which you are responsible. Specifically, either property you are in physical possession of, or property which you have "responsibility for, and control over, the condition of premises, the activities conducted on those premises and the persons allowed to enter those premises". The municipality would be the entity which has possession and control over the sidewalk, not the property owner adjacent.
Hence the example I gave of someone falling on a sidewalk leading to the front door. That would in all likelihood be on the hotel's private property, not the municipality's.
In a nutshell, the OLA does not apply to municipal sidewalks.
The MGA is the likely governing and relevant statute.
Also, bylaws do not show what a reasonable standard might be. Negligence is a common law tort, not a creature of statute. The bylaw does not have anything to do with a claim in negligence. It is just that -- a bylaw which imposes a duty on a property owner to maintain the sidewalk adjacent to their property. Failing to do so may result in a fine, but in most cases, cannot result in a claim in negligence. That is, barring some unusual circumstances, such as a burst pipe on the hotel property causing water to flow onto the sidewalk and freezing, for example.
|