Tag: Punitive Damages

Appellate Court Upholds Jury Award of $150,000 Punitive Damages Against Employer

· 4 min read

In a recent decision, Eynon v. Simplicity Air Ltd., the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a punitive damages award of $150,000 against an employer for the actions of two of its supervisors after an employee’s workplace injury. The appeal to the Court of Appeal was from a jury award of punitive damages. The respondent employee…

A Cautionary Tale: Appellate Court Upholds Judgment Against Employer for Punitive Damages, Aggravated Damages and “Unusually High” Costs

· 5 min read

In Ruston v. Keddco MFG. (2011) Ltd., 2019 ONCA 125 (CanLII)(Keddco), a unanimous Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld a substantial damages and costs award against an employer that breached its “duty of good faith and fair dealing in the manner of dismissal.” The Keddco decision serves as an important reminder for employers across Canada…

Employer’s Egregious Mistreatment of Disabled Employee Leads to Increase in Damages Award

· 4 min read

In a recent wrongful dismissal case, Strudwick v. Applied Consumer & Clinical Evaluations Inc., the Court of Appeal increased the amount of damages awarded to an employee from $113,782 to $240,000, for what the Court of Appeal described as “a marked departure from any conceivable standard of decent behaviour” in an employer’s treatment of its employee…

Common Law Notice – Can Employers Deduct STD and LTD Payments?

· 3 min read

As demonstrated by the Ontario Superior Court’s recent decision in Diamantopoulos v. KPMG LLP (“KPMG“), the answer to this question is still “it depends.” In determining the issue, courts will look at a number of contextual factors to determine “the intention of the parties” when they entered the employment agreement. In KPMG, the plaintiff commenced a…

Hicks Morley featured in Benefits Canada

Hicks Morley was cited in the May 26, 2014 edition of Benefits Canada in an article entitled “Court reduces award given to bullied employee“. The article references Hicks Morley’s recent FTR Now entitled, “Court of Appeal Reduces $1.45 Million Award to Constructively Dismissed Employee” which reviewed the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision to reduce the…

Significant Punitive Damages Arising from Employee Termination

· 2 min read

In the last several years, there have been some significant punitive damages awards in employment cases, where the court found that an employer acted in a “callous” or “hardball” manner upon termination. This recently happened in Pate Estate v. Galway-Cavendish and Harvey (Township). A trial judge had awarded $550,000 against a Township which had acted…

Ontario Court of Appeal Upholds Malicious Prosecution Finding Against Municipality, Reduces Punitive Damages

· 3 min read

In a cautionary tale for employers, the Court of Appeal for Ontario has upheld a lower court decision which found a Township guilty of malicious prosecution in its actions relating to a dismissed employee. The quantum of punitive damages awarded is also a stark reminder that employee terminations must be conducted in a fair and…

Significant Punitive Damages Awarded by Saskatchewan Court

· 2 min read

In the recent case Branco v. American Home Assurance Company, the Court of Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan ordered $4.5 million in punitive damages against two insurance companies arising from what the court found to be their “cruel and malicious acts” against an injured worker. The case involved a worker who was injured on the job…