The City of Ottawa paid out nearly $10 million in personal-injury claims in the first half of 2026, with the largest of those settlements being a $2.98-million award to a pedestrian or cyclist who was struck by an OC Transpo vehicle.
The comprehensive legal services report, which is to be filed at the Nov. 10 finance and corporate services committee, contains a summary of settled personal-injury and property-damage claims, but does not contain specific details of each settlement.
The city’s legal department received 891 new claims in the first six months of 2026, including 163 for personal injury and 728 for property damage.
Of those 891 new claims, 384 (43 per cent) were related to pothole damage, which, according to the report, “tend to be the most common type of claim received by the unit and are heavily influenced by seasonal weather patterns.”
The claims unit also concluded 691 claims during the first two quarters of the year — 148 for personal injury and 543 for property damage — that were either settled or denied.
There were 217 claims settled for less than $100,000 each, which included 50 claims for personal injury at a total cost of $1.09 million, with another $500,000 awarded for 167 property-damage claims.
The report lists 19 personal-injury claims that were each settled for more than $100,000, with 10 of those falling under the public works department and nine under transit services, which administers OC Transpo. Those 19 settlements totaled $8.89 million.
The largest settlement, valued at $2.98 million, went to a pedestrian or cyclist who was struck by an OC Transpo vehicle. The report does not include the date or details of the incident.
Two other claims for pedestrians or cyclists struck by OC Transpo vehicles were settled for $198,838 and $100,194, respectively.
The city also settled another personal-injury claim for $1.3 million involving a collision between an OC Transpo vehicle and another vehicle. There were two other claims involving vehicle collisions that were settled for $169,052 and $149,456.
Three separate personal-injury claims for losses onboard OC Transpo vehicles were settled for a combined total of $409,449.
The legal department settled 10 claims related to public works, with four of those categorized as “slip and fall” claims and two others as “trip and fall” claims.
Those settlements ranged from $102,000 to $640,000.
There was also a $135,148 settlement related to a motor vehicle accident between a city-owned vehicle and another vehicle.
Two other claims under public works were categorized as involving third-party vehicles where road design or engineering was a factor.
One of those settlements was for $1.2 million, and the other was for $420,615.
The figures include all costs borne by the city in finalizing the settlements, such as court costs, legal fees and investigative costs, the report states. Details of specific claims are confidential “in keeping with standard settlement practices.”
The city paid out about $6 million in personal-injury and property-damage claims in the first six months of 2025, according to a similar report last year.
More than $4.65 million went to settlements or awards of over $100,000 for 10 personal-injury claims.
The city’s legal department was served with 55 new statements of claim related to civil lawsuits during the first six months of 2026.
There are 531 outstanding civil proceedings against the city that are being addressed, according to the report filed by City Solicitor Stuart Huxley.
“Of the current open files, the city’s in-house legal staff has carriage of 81 per cent, with 19 per cent of the remaining files referred to external counsel either at the direction of the city’s insurer or due to the scope, nature, specialization or volume of the litigation.”
Huxley said the litigation undertaken by the legal department so far in 2026, which included civil, labour, Ontario Land Tribunal and human rights cases, had outcomes that were “consistent with prior reports and highlight the city’s preference for resolving matters without the expense of full proceedings.”
When the city could not resolve a case through a mutually-agreeable settlement, its rate of success was “very high,” Huxley said, “with favourable decisions or orders” in 25 of 29 cases concluded in the first two quarters of 2026.
“The costs associated with the settlement of 19 claims over $100,000 in the first two quarters reflect the prevailing growth in court awards in personal-injury matters for general damages, future loss of income/competitive advantage and future care costs,” the report states.
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