RP Blog

Take an instance where defence counsel e-mails plaintiff’s counsel with a settlement offer of, say, $200,000 plus costs.  The plaintiff’s lawyer e-mails back to reject the offer and to make a counter-offer. The defendant’s lawyer subsequently obtains surveillance which completely undermines the plaintiff’s case.  The surveillance is sent to theRead More

By Brian Sunohara The Ontario Court of Appeal released an important insurance coverage decision today in Markham (City) v. AIG Insurance Company of Canada, 2020 ONCA 239. The decision addresses a common situation where an insured has its own insurance policy and is also an additional insured on another policy. Read More

By Ankita Abraham, Student-at-Law The court’s decision in Levant v. Gilbert Studios Limited, 2020 ONSC 1528, provides a summary of the test for dismissing an action for delay. The defendant brought a motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s action under rule 24.01(1)(c) of the Rules of Civil Procedure , on theRead More

By Micah Pirk O’Connell, Student-at-Law In Faltas v. Macerollo, 2020 ONSC 1450, the defendants brought a summary judgment motion to dismiss the claims of the plaintiff, Mr. Faltas, and Royal Arts Pharmaceutical Inc., the company he worked for. Facts Mr. Faltas’ Lincoln was stopped in the outside lane of aRead More

By Carol-Anne Wyseman How frequently do jurors conduct their own research of the issues involved in a trial, despite being instructed to not do so? We will never fully know the answer to this. As the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Patterson v. Peladeau, 2020 ONCA 137, shows, improperRead More

By Micah Pirk O’Connell, Student-at-Law The case of The Economical Insurance Group v. Desjardins Insurance, 2020 ONSC 1363, concerned a priority dispute between Economical and Desjardins regarding an elderly couple who suffered catastrophic injuries as pedestrians when they were hit by a motor vehicle. Economical sought to set aside theRead More

The court’s decision in Sora et al v. Emerson Electrical Co. et al, 2020 ONSC 1374, provides a summary of the applicable principles when a plaintiff attempts to substitute a defendant into an action based on misnomer. Justice Corkery referred to a previous decision, which stated as follows: When aRead More

By Andrew Yolles In the interesting decision in Drury v. Cornish, 2020 ONSC 1173, Justice Barnes, writing for the Divisional Court, explored the applicable standard of care for a claim against police in negligent investigation. The plaintiff, Philip Cornish, a criminal defence lawyer, commenced a claim against the OPP andRead More

By Ankita Abraham, Student-at-Law The court’s decision in Lloyd v. Bush, 2020 ONSC 842 dealt with the issue of liability in a collision involving the plaintiff and a defendant truck driver. It was alleged that the municipal defendants, County of Lennox and Addington and the Town of Greater Napanee, wereRead More

By Alon Barda The Licence Appeal Tribunal (“LAT”) recently released the first reconsideration decision applying the Court of Appeal’s decision in Tomec v. Economical Mutual Insurance Company.[1] In Tomec, the applicant applied for and was denied attendant care and housekeeping benefits on the grounds that such benefits are not availableRead More

The court’s decision in Allstate Insurance Company v. Her Majesty the Queen, 2020 ONSC 830, shows that automobile insurers must comply with statutory requirements when cancelling policies, or else there can be costly consequences. In May 2014, Allstate sent the claimant a notice by registered mail that his policy wouldRead More

In Rubner v. Waddington McLean & Co. Limited, 2020 ONSC 692, Justice Myers allowed a successful self-represented plaintiff to recover costs in the amount of $100 per hour. Justice Myers indicated that the plaintiff is entitled to compensation for time that would otherwise have been spent by a lawyer. TheRead More

People who post defamatory statements on the Internet can be found liable for damages even if their identities are not known at the time of the court hearing. In Theralase Technologies Inc. v. Lanter, 2020 ONSC 205, the defendants posted defamatory statements on a website that was aimed at investors. TheRead More

When an automobile insurer accepts priority for a statutory accident benefits claim, it is very difficult to withdraw or resile from that position except in extreme situations, such as when there is bad faith or deliberate misrepresentation. In Pembridge Insurance Company v. The Sovereign General Insurance Company, 2019 ONSC 7291, the injured claimantRead More

The Court of Appeal released an interesting decision yesterday regarding the need to be fully candid in applications for life insurance. In Mohammad v. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, 2020 ONCA 57, the deceased was part of a terrorist group outside of Canada. In 1968, he stormed a civilian aircraft throwingRead More

Should a person accused of sexual abuse be permitted to sit in on the examination for discovery of the alleged victim? This issue was considered in G.S. v. K.C., 2020 ONSC 210. C.H. alleged that he was sexually abused by a family member when he was a minor. This was denied byRead More

Sometimes plaintiffs will only agree to attend defence medical exams if they do not have to sign anything or complete any forms. In Coll v. Robertson, 2020 ONSC 383, Justice Grace held that this is improper. His Honour said that, when plaintiffs attend defence medical exams, they must complete questionnairesRead More

In Karpouzis v. Toronto (City of), 2020 ONSC 143, the plaintiff went skateboarding on a trail in a City of Toronto park in the middle of the night. The trail was dark. The plaintiff was 34 years old at the time. He was a very experienced skateboarder. He fell and sustainedRead More

The court’s decision in Metropolitan Toronto Condominium Corporation No. 933 v. Lyn, 2020 ONSC 196, involved two tenants in a high-rise condominium building in downtown Toronto. They are neighbours. After Kalicharan moved into her unit, Rosenstrom began to experience noise issues, such as extremely loud music and loud television shows comingRead More

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