Source: https://www.samislaw.com/category/courts/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 20:13:30+00:00

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A recent case out of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice focuses on the obligation of an insurer under a labour and materials payment bond. What makes the case interesting is that on the face of it, the plaintiff sub contractor ended up in a better position as a result of all of the circumstances surrounding the underlying claim including multiple breaches by the GC. The insurer argued that this was a simple case of mitigation and that the plaintiff had mitigated its losses and was therefore not entitled to recovery under the bond. The court saw it differently.
In Lopes v. Guarantee Company of North America, the plaintiff was a sub-contractor who sued under a surety bond issued to the General Contractor, Gorf Manufacturing. Gorf failed to pay invoices to the plaintiff totaling approximately $250,000. Gorf subsequently abandoned the project entirely. The plaintiff sent Notice of Claim to the insurer for the unpaid invoices in accordance with the bond terms. Concurrently, the project owner sought from the insurer that arrangements be made for completion of the project pursuant to the Performance Bond that had been issued together with the labour and material bond. The insurer retained a new GC who accepted new bids to complete the work pursuant to a Completion Contract.
The plaintiff bid to complete its work with the new GC and was awarded the contract which paid it $550,000 more than what they would have been paid under the original contract prior to the default by Gorf. In other words the abandonment of the project by Gorf resulted in a significant windfall for Lopes. From a commercial perspective, the plaintiff had been put in a better position as a result of Gorf abandoning the project that it would otherwise have been.
The insurer argued the doctrine of mitigation, noting that by entering into the new contract at a premium, the plaintiff had mitigated its damages. The plaintiff took the position that the benefit gained under the successful bid for the Completion Contract was irrelevant to the unpaid invoices breach.
The court noted that the wronged party has a duty to mitigate damages that were ‘consequent to the breach’. In this case the plaintiff’s windfall was not consequent to the breach for which indemnity was sought under the labour and material bond; i.e. unpaid invoices. Rather the windfall was related to the original GC (Gorf) abandoning the project. Therefore, the benefit obtained by Lopes in successfully bidding for the Completion Contract could not be characterized as mitigation of their damages for the unpaid invoices which was the breach that gave rise to the bond claim. This case is unique as the defendant was arguing that the plaintiff was not entitled to damages because it had mitigated its damages. The court did not find that the plaintiff did not mitigate its damages. It simply found that the principle of mitigation did not apply.
This decision is an interesting read and a good refresher on the principles of mitigation. The decision can be found here.
A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal held that the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), specifically sections 7 and 9, undermine section 3 of the Occupiers’ Liability Act (OLA) and, therefore, cannot be used to void a liability waiver.
This case involved appeals from two separate Superior Court decisions inSchnarr v. Blue Mountain Resorts Ltd. and Woodhouse v. Snow Valley. At the heart of this case was whether the OLA or the CPA governed the relationship between the parties. The plaintiffs were pursuing personal injury claims suffered by them while using the premises for its intended purpose – skiing. Both had signed waivers of liability.
The plaintiffs were successful at the Superior Court in arguing that the waivers of liability under section 3 of the OLA were voided by relying on provisions of the CPA. They argued that, as the plaintiffs are consumers and ski resorts are suppliers, the contracts they entered into are consumer agreements and, therefore, controlled by the CPA rather than the OLA. A supplier cannot waive liability for services that are not of “reasonable acceptable quality” pursuant to sections 7 and 9 of the CPA. However, the ski resorts are suppliers under the CPA and also occupiers under the OLA.
As the Superior Court decisions were decisions on motions involving questions of law, the applicable standard of review for the appeals was correctness. The Court of Appeal overturned both lower level decisions, finding that the plaintiffs were bound by their liability waivers. This was so whether the plaintiffs’ claims are in tort under the OLA or contract (breach of warranty) under the CPA.
The CPA and the OLA were found to conflict and be irreconcilable. The OLA permits an occupier to obtain a waiver of liability (especially important to operators of recreational activities) whereas the CPA precludes a supplier from obtaining a waiver of liability. The Court preferred the more specific provision of the OLA over the general provisions in the CPA. The Court found that the OLA was intended to be an “exhaustive scheme” regarding the liability of occupiers to entrants on their premises flowing from the maintenance or care of the premises. The purpose of the OLA would be undermined if the CPA were to take precedence in such circumstances. The Court held that the OLA supersedes the CPA. Therefore, activities occurring on an occupiers’ premises in return for payment are covered by the OLA. The provisions of the CPA do not apply.
The matters were remitted back to the Superior Court to proceed with the OLA as governing the relationship between the parties.
Improperly Accessing Confidential Data Under the Direction of Employer?
What do you do at work that is considered ‘under the direction’ of your employer?
The answers to this question are endless. A more interesting question: what do you have to be doing at work not to be ‘acting under the direction’ of your employer? That question is at the heart of the decision in Oliveira v. Aviva , a Court of Appeal decision released this week. The applicant sought coverage and a defence for claims brought against her by a hospital patient for damages as a result of applicant’s alleged accessing the hospital records of a patient who was not under her care. The crux of the case turned on whether the applicant (defendant in the lawsuit) was an insured under the policy issued by Aviva. The policy would provide coverage if the allegations in the underlying Statement of Claim alleged conduct took place while the applicant was acting under the direction of the named insured but only with respect to liability arising from the operations of the named insured.
Because the policy provided coverage for ‘invasion or violation of privacy’, also referred to as the tort of intrusion upon seclusion (which would include accessing records in an unauthorized manner) the court held that the policy was by definition intended to cover offensive conduct that would presumably not be authorized by the insurer. In that case, how can coverage be denied for conduct that on the face of it would appear to be covered?
Acting under the direction of the employer relates not to control how the work is done or actual oversight at the moment of the incident (in this case when records were improperly accessed) but rather flows from the relationship generally and ‘control’ over incidental features of the of the employment such as directing when and where to work and having the right to terminate the employment.
Whether the alleged misconduct arose out of the operations of the named insured was also in issue. The insurer argued that hospitals operations are to provide care and because the employee was not within the patient’s circle of care, her conduct did not fall within the operations of the hospital. The court rejected this argument, noting that the ‘operations’ of the hospital included creating, collecting and maintaining medical records. The underlying claim against the applicant (defendant) for which coverage was sought related to allegations about the unauthorized access to those medical records.
Ultimately however, in reading the decision, the irresistible inference is that the court accepted that because the policy covered ‘intrusion upon seclusion’, it could only be read to cover the alleged misconduct. As a result to deny coverage for the very conduct that the policy was intended to cover would be perverse. It is also consistent with the underlying interpretive imperative of insurance policies – coverage should be interpreted broadly and exclusions should be interpreted narrowly.
The recent Court of Appeal decision in Alguire v. Manulife provides a helpful primer (and reminder) on the law of rectification, an equitable remedy not often invoked in insurance related litigation. This case involved a GRIP life insurance policy issued by Manulife to the plaintiff in 1982. The face amount of the coverage was $5,000,000. The policy required large premiums payable up front and reduced premiums payable over time and included a guaranteed paid up value that would ensure a pre-determined coverage amount that was guaranteed even in the event of a default by the insured in paying premiums. The guaranteed amount was memorialized in a table of non-forfeiture values that would increase over time. The approved quote for the policy agreed to by the parties included the non-forfeiture table that was based on each $5,000 of the face amount of the coverage. However when the policy was issued the non-forfeiture table was presented based on each $1,000 of the face amount of the coverage. The result was that the paid up value was always 5 times greater than what it was supposed to be and eventually exceeded the face value of the policy by a factor of almost 3. At the time of trial, despite a policy with a face value of $5,000,000 the paid up value which was guaranteed was $13,400,000 instead of $2,680,000. The plaintiff sought a ruling that affirmed the higher paid up value.
The plaintiff attempted to justify his position by testifying that he had specifically requested a policy that would provide ‘inflation protection’. He testified that he reviewed the non-forfeiture table with the (now deceased) broker who expressly represented to him that the non-forfeiture value would eventually exceed the face value of the policy.
At trial, the court held that the parties contracted for a policy with a maximum value of $5,000,000 and the inclusion of the non-forfeiture table that showed a higher amount was clearly an error. As a result the court exercised its discretion to rectify the contract so that is accurately reflected the agreement reached between the parties. The Court of Appeal agreed noting that in order to rectify the contract Manulife was required to lead evidence to establish that the parties had reached a ‘prior agreement whose terms are definite and ascertainable’.
The court was satisfied that it had done so. The court ultimately considered the notion that a policy with non-forfeiture values that exceeded the face value of the policy to be nonsensical. In addition the non-forfeiture tables had no inflation related pattern which undermined the plaintiff’s position that he had bargained for inflation protection.
Plenty. Particularly if you are an insurer attempting to advance a subrogated claim and your insured is in bankruptcy protection proceedings. This was the circumstance faced by the insurer in Douglas v. Ferguson Fuels . What would have otherwise been a garden variety oil spill subrogated action was complicated by ongoing bankruptcy proceedings involving the insureds. By the time the subrogated claim was issued the insured had made an assignment in bankruptcy. By application of s. 71 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the insured’s right of action vested in the trustee once an assignment in bankruptcy was made. The subrogated action was commenced in the name of the insured and the court, applying long standing principles of bankruptcy law held that the claim commenced in the name of the insured was a nullity. Had the claim been brought in the name of the Trustee the insurer would have been entitled to proceed.
There were a number of technical issues argued in relation to the law of misnomer (where the court will substitute the correct party for a party improperly identified) and the distinction between the law of subrogation and assignment. Ultimately the court determined that the naming of the insured personally instead of the Trustee could not properly be characterized as a misnomer. The action was ultimately dismissed. Two of the five judge panel dissented on the basis that the insurer should have the opportunity to argue the misnomer issue before the Superior Court motions judge.
The take away: be mindful of the technical consequences of an assignment in bankruptcy as it pertains to advancing subrogated actions. Although the issue more often arises where a target defendant is in a bankruptcy proceeding (which requires that steps be taken by the subrogating insurer in order to proceed) this case demonstrates that advancing a claim on behalf of a bankrupt insured can be a minefield that requires planning and thoughtful advocacy.
In the Superior Court of Justice matter of Jones v. I.F. Propco Holdings (Ontario) 31 Ltd., the defendant sought an order for production of the plaintiff’s private profile information including profile posts and comments.
The action arose out of an alleged incident in which the plaintiff claims that she was hit in the head by ice that fell from the defendant’s property. The plaintiff was seeking general and special damages arising from the injuries sustained in the incident.
The defendant’s position was that relevant conduct pertaining to the plaintiff’s social, family, leisure, and volunteer activities revealed on the public portion of her Facebook leads to an inference that there is relevant information on the private portion of her Facebook profile.
Justice Leitch cited the case of Knox v. Applebaum and indicated that “There must be evidence that posted photographs are relevant in order to justify an order for production.” Justice Leitch stated that relevant information on the public portion of a Facebook profile does support the inference that relevant information is contained on the private portion of the profile.
Justice Leitch concluded that there was no evidence that the public posts are relevant because the activities depicted in the photographs are not relevant to the extent of the plaintiff’s physical limitations since the incident. Therefore, because the information on the public portion was not relevant, there is no inference that the information on the private portion would be relevant. Since there was no inference that it was relevant, Justice Leitch did not assess the privacy interests of the plaintiff against any probative value obtained from the disclosure of the private portion of the plaintiff’s profile.

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