Procedural Regulations as per the Dog Owner’s Liability Act of Toronto

24 Oct Procedural Regulations as per the Dog Owner’s Liability Act of Toronto

When dealing with a personal injury case in the city of Toronto it is incredibly important to be well aware of the procedural provisions which are set forth in the respective legislation. One of the most common cases of personal injury is a dog bite. Recent studies are estimating that in the entire country of Canada over 500,000 dog bites take place every single year. As you can imagine, this creates a huge demand for attorneys to represent the victims as most of the attacks end up with severe physical as well as emotional trauma. The law which governs dog bite cases is called the Dog Owner’s Liability Act and it has full effect in the city of Toronto.

Understanding the details

However, it is important to be well aware of the procedural provisions as well as the material ones. This is the main differentiation in the entire law – material and procedural law. The material law sets forth certain provisions which are giving definitions and are explaining precedents and principles. They are the so called foundation of the legal relationships between different people and different objects. The material laws are those which give us guidance as to how to behave and what rules to follow. They are also the ones which let us know what responsibility we would have to take if we break certain set of rules.

What are procedural regulations?

Procedural regulations on the other hand are narrowly oriented. They set forth provisions and rules which navigate the case once it gets into court. They are the rules which clarify what each party has to do, when to do it and under what circumstances. For instance, the Dog Owner’s Liability act clearly states in article 3, paragraph one under the sub section for Civil Liability that there are cases in which the Occupiers’ Liability act is going to replace the current. These are the cases in which the dog bite has occurred on the premises of the owner and not on public grounds. In this case we are in front of a case which is going to have a lot more in common with the latter act rather than with the former.

However, the entire section IX of the Dog Owners’ Liability Act goes above and beyond in explaining and setting forth clear procedural regulations that would help both the parties and the court to navigate the case itself. Cases have to be brought up in front of the Ontario Court of Justice. Of course this is provided the dog bite has occurred in the city of Toronto. At the same time the claim should be directed towards the owner of the dog which bit the other person or domestic animal.