Summary judgment has increasingly become a process used to
litigate wrongful dismissal actions. It can be attractive as it
allows the parties to avoid going through a more costly and
time-consuming trial. However, the efficiency of this process
raises other issues. Because parties can bring a summary judgment
motion early on in the proceedings, a decision may be rendered
prior to the expiry of the reasonable notice period at common law.
This raises the question as to how to deal with the issue of
mitigation.
A recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court, Paquette v. TeraGo Network
Inc., addresses this issue. The case was heard on a
summary judgment motion. The plaintiff, Mr. Paquette, was dismissed
from his employment without cause on November 25, 2014, after
approximately 14 years of service. The motion judge found that the
reasonable notice period at common law was 17 months. The
motion judge also determined that the plaintiff had made reasonable
efforts to
