The death of a pedestrian on a road construction site has led to a Supreme Court of Canada ruling with potentially wide consequences, for everyone from municipalities to retailers and even homeowners.

The question before the Supreme Court in the 2015 death of 58-year-old Cecile Paquette was whether the City of Greater Sudbury, as owner of a construction project, could be held responsible for violations of provincial safety rules committed by a contractor it hired to do the work. On Friday, the court had a rare 4-4 deadlock and said the decision will now revert to that of the next highest court that heard the case. That decision, of the Ontario Court of Appeal, was to say employers can be held liable for safety violations committed by contractors.

The ruling applies directly only to Ontario, as it was an interpretation of an Ontario law. But similar health and safety laws would be subject to the same principle elsewhere in Canada.

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