In Patriarcki v. Carleton Condominium Corporation No. 621, 2014 ONSC 1507, the self-represented plaintiff sued her condominium corporation and the condominium corporation’s contractor alleging that they negligently repaired and replaced a boiler in her condominium unit which exposed her to toxic fumes that made her very sick. The defendants brought a summary judgment motion seeking to dismiss the claims against them.
The Court considered the guidance recently provided in the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Hryniak v. Mauldin, 2014 SCC 7, with respect to summary judgment motion principles before providing its analysis of the case. The issue was whether there was a genuine issue for trial in light of the plaintiff’s alleged failure to present any evidence of liability on the part of the defendants.
Although the plaintiff relied on a number of medical reports which opined that her health problems were caused by gas leaks from the boiler, the Court found that the conclusions in the medical reports were entirely based on the plaintiff’s self-reporting. The Court commented that the plaintiff failed to obtain an air quality analysis of the air in her condominium and failed to present expert evidence to prove that the poor air quality was caused by the improper repair and installation of the boiler in her condominium unit. As a result, the Court was satisfied that the plaintiff was incapable of proving her claims against the defendants and summarily dismissed the action.
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