Wise Young
08-18-2002, 11:12 AM
http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary/story.html?id={1103F774-9DD3-41E0-8493-82BF782609F5}
A judge's folly, overturned
National Post
Saturday, August 17, 2002
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Six-figure personal injury suits rarely make the news. But last year's lower court decision in the case of Linda Hunt was so outrageous it landed on many newspapers' front pages. This week, thankfully, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial.
In 1994, Ms. Hunt, a secretary at Sutton Group Incentive Realty near Toronto, attended a company party at which she drank from an open bar before heading to a neighbouring pub. Sometime after 9:45 p.m. -- during her 40-kilometre drive home -- Ms. Hunt's car skidded out of control and she sideswiped a truck, resulting in an accident that caused her permanent brain injury. Subsequently, Judge Clair Marchand of the Ontario Superior Court found her employer partly liable for the accident, and set damages at roughly $300,000.
What made the decision so maddening was that the employer's actions on the night in question were not only non-negligent; they were exemplary. He reportedly expressed concern, and offered Ms. Hunt a taxi ride home, as did others. It was only after she rebuffed these offers -- and then hit the town for more drinks -- that she drove home drunk and injured herself. The only way the employer might have prevented Ms. Hunt from putting herself at risk was by calling the police or seizing her car keys, a course of action that -- given Ms. Hunt's evidently litigious disposition -- might have led to charges of assault.
The Ontario Court of Appeal's decision to overturn the lower court judgment was based on procedural grounds -- and so Ms. Hunt may yet prevail if there is a new trial. But we have enough confidence in the judiciary to expect that the original judgment will not be duplicated: The principle that people are responsible for the consequences of their own bad decisions has not yet been so eroded that a caring employer should be held responsible for his employee's self-destructive behaviour.
A judge's folly, overturned
National Post
Saturday, August 17, 2002
ADVERTISEMENT
Six-figure personal injury suits rarely make the news. But last year's lower court decision in the case of Linda Hunt was so outrageous it landed on many newspapers' front pages. This week, thankfully, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial.
In 1994, Ms. Hunt, a secretary at Sutton Group Incentive Realty near Toronto, attended a company party at which she drank from an open bar before heading to a neighbouring pub. Sometime after 9:45 p.m. -- during her 40-kilometre drive home -- Ms. Hunt's car skidded out of control and she sideswiped a truck, resulting in an accident that caused her permanent brain injury. Subsequently, Judge Clair Marchand of the Ontario Superior Court found her employer partly liable for the accident, and set damages at roughly $300,000.
What made the decision so maddening was that the employer's actions on the night in question were not only non-negligent; they were exemplary. He reportedly expressed concern, and offered Ms. Hunt a taxi ride home, as did others. It was only after she rebuffed these offers -- and then hit the town for more drinks -- that she drove home drunk and injured herself. The only way the employer might have prevented Ms. Hunt from putting herself at risk was by calling the police or seizing her car keys, a course of action that -- given Ms. Hunt's evidently litigious disposition -- might have led to charges of assault.
The Ontario Court of Appeal's decision to overturn the lower court judgment was based on procedural grounds -- and so Ms. Hunt may yet prevail if there is a new trial. But we have enough confidence in the judiciary to expect that the original judgment will not be duplicated: The principle that people are responsible for the consequences of their own bad decisions has not yet been so eroded that a caring employer should be held responsible for his employee's self-destructive behaviour.