The family of a toddler who died after falling from a Toronto high-rise earlier this year has filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the building's owners and management, arguing they should be held accountable for the tragedy.
The building, in the North York area of the city, is where the child, just shy of her second birthday, fell to her death from a 19th-storey window this past May.
According to the lawsuit, the toddler was playing with her parents on Mother's Day when she touched a window in the bedroom and the glass suddenly broke. Her parents could not reach her before she fell through it, and they witnessed her death.
The family is seeking 18 million dollars in damages. The suit is directed against GH Capital Corporation, a property management company, a numbered corporation and two property managers at the building.
It blames them for unsafe windows being installed, alleging they knew the glass was thin and unsafe, failed to properly inspect the windows and did not warn tenants of the danger.
CBC News obtained messages between the family and building management showing the family had complained about the same window the child fell from, saying it needed sealing. Less than a month before the death, they said other windows had broken spontaneously and asked management to replace them, but the family says the glass that was put in was the same type.
The lawsuit also describes what happened after the toddler died, claiming the defendants tried to stop a glass expert brought in by the family from inspecting the window, and that a suggestion was made that the family had something to hide. None of the claims have been proven in court.
The case comes just two weeks after a six-year-old girl in the Rexdale area also died after falling from a bedroom window. Those named in the lawsuit are expected to file their statement of defence within the next month, and the family's lawyer says he is prepared to take the case all the way to trial.