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ARTICLE · 20 MAY 2016

Insurers Beware: Costs Awards Need NOT Be Proportional To Damage Awards

Miller Thomson
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The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has provided us with two reminders this May that costs awards need not be proportional to damage awards, as exemplified by the cases below.

CanadaInsurance
Teneil MacNeil
Teneil MacNeil
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The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has provided us with two reminders this May that costs awards need not be proportional to damage awards, as exemplified by the cases below.

In Mancini Associates LLP v. Guido et al., 2016 ONSC 2959 (CanLII), the Honourable Justice Diamond granted a damage award to the plaintiff in the amount of $29,413.15, plus pre-judgment interest, in addition to a cost award in the amount of $40,000, being an amount which was disproportionality high. Why? Because, says Justice Emery, upon whose comments Justice Diamond relied:

It ... has been held that proportionality should not automatically serve to reduce the costs to which a plaintiff is entitled simply because of the amount claimed is excessive in relation to the damages awarded. In this regard, I refer to Justice Daley in A & A Steelseal Waterproofing Inc. v. Kalovski, 2010 ONSC 2652 (CanLII) at para. 21 :

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