However, those claims that do succeed have resulted in noticeably
larger punitive damage awards in recent years.
Concluding Keays was dismissed, in part, because he hired a lawyer and to avoid accommodating his disability, an Ontario judge granted
him the largest punitive damages award in Canadian employment law history.
Successfully represented financial advisors in claims involving major Wall Street securities firms and obtained millions of dollars in compensatory and, in some cases,
large punitive damage awards on behalf of the clients.
She has extensive experience representing defendants in appeals involving
large punitive damage awards.
The largest punitive damage award in Ontario in the employment context is $ 450,000 in Pate Estate v. Galway - Cavendish and Harvey (Township), 1 a 2013 decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal.
It also provides a precedent (i) for holding the director of the corporate debtor personally liable for oppressive acts, and (ii) for claiming
a large punitive damages award against an evasive judgment debtor.
Not exact matches
Noting that Goico's $ 2.5 million
award includes $ 1.5 million in
punitive damages against Wichita's
largest employer, Brantner writes:
Canadian courts have so far enforced US judgments with
damage awards far
larger than the value of the transaction — though none (so far as I know) with a really astronomical jury - chosen
punitive element.
If the initial complaint or other earlier filings had contained a claim for
punitive damages, or even an allegation that the defendants acted maliciously, willfully, recklessly, wantonly, fraudulently, or in bad faith, the Court would have likely allowed the
punitive damages issue to be heard by the jury, and the plaintiff may have received a
larger award at the conclusion of the case.
Kwinter helped secure the
largest jury
award in the province's history for
punitive damages against an insurer in the 2006 case Pereira v. Hamilton Township Farmers» Mutual Fire Insurance Co., with his clients ordered to receive $ 2.5 million.
This is the highest
award for moral
damages in employment law in the country and one of the
largest amounts for
punitive damages, says Galea's lawyer, Natalie MacDonald.
Despite the magnitude of the $ 750,000.00
award, employers should note that as a
large company, Wal - Mart can be expected to face higher moral and
punitive damages than a smaller company would for the same behaviour.
Indeed, the
largest award in British Columbia for a violation of privacy under the Privacy Act, so far was only $ 35,000 for
punitive damages and $ 15,000 for general
damages: (Malcolm v. Fleming, [2000] Carswell BC 1316, (B.C.S.C.) a case where the defendant, the plaintiff's landlord, installed a video camera in the plaintiff's apartment and recorded her in various stages of undress in her bathroom and bedroom).
Drawing on Whiten v. Pilot Insurance Co., 2002 SCC 18, if an
award of
punitive damages, together with the compensatory
damages awarded, «produces a total sum that is so «inordinately
large» that it exceeds what is «rationally» required to punish the defendant, it will be reduced or set aside on appeal».
We suspect the relatively
large award for aggravated
damages contained a
punitive component.
[62] Putting the test the other way around, «if the
award of
punitive damages when added to compensatory
damages, produces a total sum that is so «inordinately
large» that it exceeds what is «rationally» required to punish the defendant, it will be reduced or set aside on appeal,»: see Whiten, at para. 109.
Limits the amount of
punitive damages recoverable from
large employers (more than 25 employees on a full time permanent basis) to the greater of three times the
award of compensatory
damages or $ 250,000.
Limits the amount of
punitive damages recoverable from all parties except
large employers to the lesser of three times the
award of compensatory
damages or $ 100,000.