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Accident occurred even where there was no contact with vehicle
By:
Deutschmann Personal Injury & Disability Law (Lawyers)
| Published 10/20/2012
On the evening of December 26, 2008, an incident took place at the intersection of Parliament Street and Richmond Street in the City of Toronto. As a result of the incident, Mr. Hersi was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital by ambulance where he was diagnosed with a fractured left hip. Mr. Hersi maintains that he suffered the fractured hip when he was knocked to the road by a Greyhound bus that was making a left hand turn from northbound Parliament to westbound Richmond. Mr. Hersi states that he was struck by the bus as he walked northbound across Richmond on the west side of Parliament. He was walking in a marked pedestrian crosswalk. Although the bus driver’s evidence has changed over time, he currently maintains that the bus did not hit Mr. Hersi, or even come close to hitting him. An eye witness to the incident appears to support the bus driver’s account. A police investigation also concluded that the bus did not strike Mr. Hersi.
The question for the purpose of this preliminary issue hearing is whether the use or operation of the bus directly caused Mr. Hersi’s injuries. To some extent, answering this question has involved making determinations of credibility but, to an even greater extent, it has been an exercise in arriving at the only reasonable conclusion available on the evidence.
For the following reasons, the Arbitrator found that, whether Mr. Hersi was actually struck by the bus or not, the use and operation of the bus directly caused his fall and injuries. As a result, the Arbitrator found that he was involved in an “accident.”
You can read the whole decision here.
