Ottawa taxpayers paid out nearly $10 million to settle legal claims for personal injury and property damage in the first six months of the year, including $3 million to settle a personal injury claim for an OC Transpo vehicle striking a person. A report for the finance and corporate services committee meeting on Nov. 10 shows the city settled 19 claims worth more than $100,000 in the January to June period and 217 claims for under $100,000. The report shows the city paid $2.98 million to settle a personal injury claim against Transit Services for a “city vehicle hitting pedestrian/cyclist.” No details about the settlement are contained in the report. The city paid $1.3 million to settle a personal injury claim against OC Transpo for a motor vehicle collision involving a city vehicle and a private vehicle. Transit Services also paid out claims of $178,272, $125,194 and $105,883 to settle claims for “losses onboard city vehicles.” The city’s lawyers settled a claim against Public Works for a “TP Vehicle-Road design/engineering” at a cost of $1.2 million. Two other claims were settled related to “TP Vehicle-Road design/engineering” at a cost of $300,889 and $420,615 each. The city also settled four claims for “slip and fall”, ranging from $102,680 to $317,761, and two claims for “trip and fall” at a cost of $152,666 and $639,957. The city also settled 167 property damage claims and 50 personal injury claims for under $1000,000 each. The report shows the city spent $1.5 million to settle the 217 claims. Potholes The City of Ottawa received 891 new claims in the first six months of the year, with 40 per cent of the claims related to pothole damage. Staff say there were 384 new claims related to potholes between Jan 1 and June 30, with the report saying pothole claims “tend to be the most common type of claim received” by the Claims Unit. The city received 320 claims for pothole damage in the first six months of 2025.
