RP Blog

By Brian Sunohara The court recently released a decision that will be of interest to insurers and counsel handling first party claims. In Kanani v. Economical Insurance, 2019 ONSC 7201, the plaintiffs brought a motion to compel an insurer to produce reserve information in an accident benefits claim. Justice NadeauRead More

Plaintiffs sometimes attempt to rely on similar fact evidence to prove liability. Similar fact evidence is evidence of past misconduct of a defendant for the purpose of inferring that the defendant is liable for the incident in question. Similar fact evidence was addressed in the recent decision of SecurityInChina InternationalRead More

In Riggs Estate v. Intact, 2019 ONSC 6846, the terms of a global settlement of a tort claim and an accident benefits claim were agreed to at a private mediation. The claimant unexpectedly died before executing a release and a Settlement Disclosure Notice with respect to the accident benefits claim. TheseRead More

The trial decision in Onley v. Town of Whitby, 2020 ONSC 20, shows that unfortunate accidents can occur but that no one is liable. The plaintiff was 18 years old and was playing in a soccer game. She sustained an electric shock as she was sitting near a light poleRead More

Section 132 of the Insurance Act permits a plaintiff to commence a direct action against an insurer when an insured is liable for injury or damage and fails to satisfy a judgment, except in relation to motor vehicle liability policies. The plaintiff is subject to the same equities as the insurer would haveRead More

The decision in Loye v. Bowers, 2019 ONSC 7143, involved a jury trial in a personal injury action. Through inadvertence, the plaintiff did not enter his income tax returns into evidence before closing his case. The plaintiff brought a motion to re-open his case. Justice J.R. Turnbull took into account the factors outlined byRead More

When an automobile accident occurs outside of Ontario, in particular, in another province or territory of Canada, or in the United States, a claimant may elect to receive either Ontario-level benefits or benefits under the law of the jurisdiction where the accident occurred as if the person was a residentRead More

In Rooplal v. Fodor, 2019 ONSC 7211, the Divisional Court agreed with the decision of the motion judge, Justice Chiappetta, that the limitation period for claims for uninsured automobile coverage only begins to run when the plaintiff makes a claim for indemnity to the insurer and the insurer fails to satisfyRead More

A decision released by the Court of Appeal yesterday addresses the principles of punitive damages. In Cable Assembly Systems Ltd. v. Barnes, 2019 ONCA 1013, the Court of Appeal noted that punitive damages should only be awarded on an exceptional basis for “malicious, oppressive and high-handed misconduct that offends the court’sRead More

In Galea v. Best Water Limited, 2019 ONSC 7213, the defendant requested production of certain “foundational information” of the plaintiff’s expert, including information on the type of testing performed, raw data, and photographs. The requirement to produce “foundational information” is mandated by rule 53.03(2.1) of the Rules of Civil Procedure.Read More

In Clarke v. Tennant, 2019 ONSC 7222, costs were ordered against one of three defendants at a pre-trial conference. The action arose out of a motor vehicle accident. At a mediation, the defendant, Silcox, was prepared to settle for a significant amount.  However, at the pre-trial conference, Silcox maintained aRead More

In Mundinger v. Ashton, 2019 ONSC 7161, one of the issues addressed was the definition of loss of competitive advantage and its relationship with loss of future income. Justice Charney noted that an award for loss of competitive advantage is expressed as damages in recognition of the fact that aRead More

In Davies v. The Corporation of the Municipality of Clarington et al, 2019 ONSC 6895, Justice Woodley went over the test to set aside a registrar’s order dismissing an appeal for delay. The test is: whether the appellant had an intention to appeal within the time for bringing an appealRead More

In Wellington Condo. Corp. No. 31 v. Silberberg et al, 2019 ONSC 6594, the Silberbergs smoked on their balcony from time to time. The condominium’s rules permitted smoking on balconies. However, the condominium began to receive complaints about smoking from other people living in the building. Due to the complaints, the applicableRead More

Parties to a lawsuit usually have the right to be present at the discoveries of all other parties. However, the court has discretion to order otherwise. In Findlay v. Yagminas, 2019 ONSC 6743, the court outlined the factors to consider in determining whether co-parties should be excluded from each other’s discoveries.Read More

Generally, the first party to serve a sworn affidavit of documents and a notice of examination is entitled to examine the opposing party for discovery before being examined himself or herself. However, the decision in Lambert v. Maracle, 2019 ONSC 7003, shows that, in order to rely on this rule,Read More

A plaintiff has five years to set an action down for trial, or else the action will be dismissed for delay by the registrar. If the action cannot be set down within five years, the parties can consent to a timetable at least 30 days prior to the expiry ofRead More

In Hadzic et al v. Croxford, 2019 ONSC 6839, the Divisional Court considered an appeal by the plaintiff following a jury trial arising from a motor vehicle accident. Prior to trial, the defendant offered to settle for $150,000, net of the deductible, plus costs. The jury awarded $15,000 for generalRead More

Last week, the Court of Appeal released an important decision for rental car companies and their insurers. Section 277(1.1) of the Insurance Act contains a priority scheme for accidents involving rented or leased vehicles. The provision states as follows: (1.1) Despite subsection (1), if an automobile is leased, the followingRead More

The Supreme Court of Canada recently denied leave to appeal in the case of Gendron v. Doug C. Thompson Ltd. (Thompson Fuels).  This brings an end to a lawsuit that determined several important issues. Facts The case arose out of an oil leak. Approximately one week into trial, the plaintiffRead More

The case of Pembridge Insurance Company of Canada v. Chu, 2019 ONCA 904, arose out of a motor vehicle accident. The plaintiff sued Fabrizi alleging that he drove through a red light and caused her injuries. Fabrizi commenced a third party claim against Chu. Fabrizi alleged that Chu drove negligently. FabriziRead More

In Conners v. D’Angelo, 2019 ONCA 905, the plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle driven by an unlicensed driver, without the permission of the owner. The plaintiff was injured in an accident and sued the driver, the owner of the vehicle, and the owner’s liability insurer. On a summaryRead More

In discoveries in personal injury actions, there is sometimes disagreement over how far back a plaintiff’s medical records should be produced. In Imbrogno v. Gonzalez, 2019 ONSC 6404, the court determined that records and information from 17 years prior to the incident in question were relevant. The plaintiff sued overRead More

Defence counsel are not permitted to communicate with a plaintiff’s treating healthcare practitioners, without the plaintiff’s consent. This includes preparing a treating healthcare practitioner for trial. In Roy v. Primmum Insurance Company, 2019 ONSC 6361, which involved an accident benefits trial, the court considered whether defence counsel could prepare the plaintiffs’Read More

By Brian Sunohara In Little v. Floyd Sinton Limited, 2019 ONCA 865, the plaintiff was largely successful in an appeal involving an incident where the plaintiff jumped out of the back of a moving school bus. Background At the time of the incident, the plaintiff was 13 years old andRead More

It is often thought that the limitation period to commence a duty to defend application is two years from an insurer’s refusal to defend. For example, in Zochowski v. Security National Insurance, 2015 ONSC 7881, Justice Belobaba stated that “[t]he law is clear that a clear and unequivocal denial of coverage triggersRead More

The court’s decision in Dainov v. Lee, 2019 ONSC 5993, shows the value of dash cam footage in determining liability for an accident. Based on a dash cam video, Justice Koehnen was satisfied that the defendant driver was not liable for a motor vehicle accident. The video showed that theRead More

In Benson v. Belair Insurance Company Inc., 2019 ONCA 840, the Court of Appeal examined whether two Ontario insurers had to provide statutory accident benefits (“SABS”) in regards to accidents that occurred outside of Ontario involving an ATV and a dirt bike. One accident occurred in British Columbia. The claimantRead More

By Brian Sunohara For many years, the default prejudgment interest (“PJI”) rate in Ontario for non-pecuniary damages in personal injury cases was 5%. When this rate was introduced, market interest rates were actually much higher than 5%. In auto cases, the default 5% PJI rate changed in 2015 to accountRead More

In Doumouras v. Chander, 2019 ONSC 6056, the court outlined the five requirements for a claim for negligent misrepresentation: there must be a duty of care based on a “special relationship” between the representor and the representee; the representation in question must be untrue, inaccurate, or misleading; the representor mustRead More

In Bancroft-Snell v. Visa Canada Corporation, 2019 ONCA 822, a five-member panel of the Court of Appeal confirmed that an individual member of a class action does not have the right to challenge settlement approval orders by way of appeal. The Court of Appeal stated that class members who doRead More

By Brian Sunohara In Paddy-Cannon et al v. Attorney General of Canada et al, 2019 ONSC 5665, the court went over the differences between credibility and reliability. A credible witness may not be a reliable witness. Credibility has to do with a witness’s veracity. Reliability has to do with theRead More