Toronto’s Humber River Hospital Sues Builder for $100M Over Uneven Floors, Safety Risks

Humber River Hospital is suing the consortium behind its construction for $100 million, claiming sloppy design and construction have left large sections of the hospital with uneven, deteriorating floors — and it's now creating serious safety and operational challenges. The lawsuit, filed in Ontario Superior Court, argues that the unlevel flooring is interfering with patient care and staff workflow, making it difficult to move carts, equipment, and even patients without extra precautions.

The Toronto hospital, hailed as North America’s first fully digital facility when it opened in 2015, was built under a 30-year public-private partnership with Plenary Health Care Partnerships. Now, a decade later, hospital officials say rooms are being shut down for maintenance, critical spaces are going offline, and carts have to be blocked with rubber stoppers to keep them from rolling away.

This isn’t the first legal dispute tied to the hospital’s construction. Plenary has also filed lawsuits against contractors and subcontractors for issues including leaky pipes, flooding, and water system failures that date back to the hospital’s first year in operation.

While Plenary hasn’t filed a formal defense in this latest case and declined to comment, Humber River says it’s working to protect the patient experience while trying to resolve the situation. Meanwhile, Ontario’s Ministry of Health is staying quiet, citing ongoing legal proceedings. But for many watching this unfold, the big question is: how does a billion-dollar hospital end up with floors that can’t even lie flat?