In T.C.O. Agromart Ltd. v. Sutton Farms (Nacona) Ltd., 2026 ONCA 371, the Court of Appeal allowed an appeal finding that the respondent, Sutton Farms (Nacona) Ltd. (“Sutton Farms”), breached its duty under s.3(1) of the Occupier’s Liability Act by failing to warn of the hidden dangers of the bridge, and this breach was the accident’s factual and legal cause.
An employee of the appellant, T.C.O. Agromart Ltd. (“Agromart”), was operating a crop sprayer across a private bridge owned by Sutton Farms. The bridge partially collapsed and the sprayer fell into the river. The trial judge found that the accident was caused by the driver’s negligence rather than the design, maintenance, or upkeep of the bridge.
The Court of Appeal found that the trial judge conflated causation with the standard of care and failed to perform a standard of care analysis. The Court of Appeal added that the accident was reasonably foreseeable and that the failure to warn was both a legal and factual cause of the accident, stating that in this instance, an adequate warning of the unsupported bridge would have affected the driver’s manner of operating the spray as he did.
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