A Toronto couple is suing a number of companies over an accident involving the assist handle of an RV camper.

Katherine Keates and her common-law partner, Avraham Cohen, say that while travelling in the Yukon in 2015, Keates sustained serious injuries from a fall caused by the handle breaking.

The pair are photographers who have travelled the world and worked together on collaborative photo series.

They recently launched the suit over the incident in Yukon Supreme Court.

It lists as defendants:

• Fraser RV GP Ltd., the Ontario-based RV dealer that owned the Ford F350 RV;

• Adventurer LP, the manufacturer of the camper, based in Washington;

• ITC Inc., the manufacturer of the assist handle, based in Michigan; and

• XYZ Contracting, responsible for the maintenance and installation of the assist handle.

According to the lawsuit, on Aug. 19, 2015, Keates was holding onto the assist bar for balance while closing the rear door of the camper.

Without warning, it broke, and she fell to the ground.

She says she sustained serious and permanent impairments of physical and psychological bodily functions from the fall.

Following the accident, Keates was taken to the Dawson City Community Hospital and later to Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital, where she underwent surgery.

The suit claims that she has also been treated with an ongoing program of surgery, rehabilitative care, physiotherapy, message therapy, chiropractic treatment, dental care, prescription drugs, occupational therapy, chronic pain therapy, attendant care and rest.

It adds that she will require further medical care in the foreseeable future.

The couple has incurred expenses from this treatment and for travel, the suit alleges, and has encountered severe pain and suffering from the accident.

Because of her injuries, Keates says, she has been unable to do housekeeping nor home maintenance, and has had to pay someone else for the services.

And she claims she has sustained a loss of earning capacity and her competitive economic advantage in the market place.

Cohen says he has sustained a loss of care, guidance and companionship from his wife’s injuries.

He adds he has been providing housekeeping, caregiving and other services since the accident, for which he should be compensated.

The couple is seeking general, special, punitive and/or exemplary damages, pre-judgment interest, costs and further relief.

And the suit alleges that the accident was caused by the defendants’ negligence and that they breached a duty of care owed to the couple.

This includes for alleged failure to ensure that the assist handle was in working order and properly affixed to the camper, failing to provide adequate warning of the potential dangers of using the handle, and for failing to provide a product reasonably safe for its intended use.

The defendants have yet to respond to the suit, and the claims against them have not been heard in court.