Who is liable for an injury in the common area of a shopping mall in Ontario?

Liability for an injury in a mall's common area - hallways, food courts, or shared parking areas - usually falls on whoever controls and is responsible for maintaining that specific space under the Occupiers' Liability Act, which in a typical mall is often the landlord or a property management company rather than any individual store, since common areas are normally outside any single tenant's own leased space. That said, more than one party can be found to be an occupier of the same common area if their responsibilities genuinely overlap, such as where a mall separately hires a maintenance or security contractor to handle those spaces.

Determining exactly who was responsible for the specific spot where the injury happened - and what their inspection or maintenance obligations were under the relevant lease or service contract - is usually the key first step in sorting out one of these claims. Because malls involve multiple tenants, a landlord, and often several service contractors all operating in overlapping areas, it is common for more than one party to initially be named until it becomes clear exactly who controlled the relevant part of the property.