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I'm in Ontario. I was at a store yesterday when a sudden…

Hi. I'm in...

Hi. I'm in Ontario. I was at a store yesterday when a sudden gust of wind came up. It blew one of the stores signs, a temporary wooden A-frame type thing, into the parking lot. It struck my car causing some damage to sheet metal and paint. I spoke to the owner. WE are now both talking to our respective insurance companies. My legal question is about their responsibility to ensure their signs are fastened either by being staked to the ground, tied to a cement block, etc. Are they partially responsible because it was not tied down or is this one of those act of god things?

Lawyer's Assistant: Was this discussed with a manager, HR, or an attorney?

The owner witnessed it. I spoke with her briefly. We both agreed to talk with our own insurance companies. She admitted that it was her sign that struck my car.

Lawyer's Assistant: Has anything been filed or reported?

Not yet.

Lawyer's Assistant: Anything else you want the lawyer to know before I connect you?

I offered to provide pictures of the car from a car show Sunday that clearly show it had no damage then. She said she did not need those. That's when she said she agreed it was her sign that caused the damage. She then said they have security cameras so she'll be able to see what happened. When I say she witnessed it I think she meant she saw what we all saw, that is the sign blowing across the front yard into the parking area. I don't know if there are any witnesses to the actual contact between sign and car. I took pictures right after it happened. I sent them those pictures to their business email address last night.

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Answered in 14 minutes by:

8/2/2017

Lawyer: Ulysses101, Lawyer replied 5 years ago

Ulysses101, Lawyer

Category: Canada Law

Satisfied Customers: 6,174

Experience: 11 years experience in Canada family law, plus criminal, civil, and employment

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Hello, thank you for your question.

It's good that you didn't get into any conflict with the owner, and there's no denying what actually happened.

Firstly, the question will be "who owns and responsible for the sign". If it's a sign identifying and advertising the business, and was placed there by the business, then it's clearly the business' sign. But if it was a "men at work" sign put there by a contractor working on the exterior of the business doing some renovations, then it's the contractor's sign. I assume we'll mean the former.

Clearly, the owner has the obligation to ensure that the sign is properly fixed so that it doesn't blow away and cause any damage or harm. Reasonable precautions have to be taken, and a sudden guest isn't an unreasonable or unusual thing. An "act of god" is like a tornado or hurricane, not a gust. This is why you see debates on the classification of weather: a cyclone isn't an "act of god" while a tornado is, for example. These definitions have a huge impact on liability.

So the owner's insurance company should be responsible for the reason restoration or damages to your vehicle, but they will talk to your insurance company about it. This wasn't an auto accident, and I assume that your car was parked at the time. So this incident will fall under your comprehensive damage, theft, fire, etc. clause on your policy, not on the "no fault accident" coverage part.

One of the insurance companies will contact you and the owner, want to see pictures of the damage, determine that you two agree on what happened, and either send your car to a body shop or tell you how much they'll give you towards conducting your own repairs of you have a shop you like to use.

Does that make sense? I'm here if you have question or comment, but specifics about your policy I can't get into here so talk to your agent or broker about that. If I've answered you may I please have a positive service rating? Ratings are how I get credit for helping the site's customers. I'd appreciate it.

Ulysses101, Lawyer

Category: Canada Law

Satisfied Customers: 6,174

Experience: 11 years experience in Canada family law, plus criminal, civil, and employment

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Customer reply replied 5 years ago

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you very much.

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