On December 4, 2018, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its
reasons for decision in the companion appeals Carroll v. McEwen
(Carroll)1 and Cadieux v. Cloutier
(Cadieux).2
Both appeals arose out of motor vehicle accident jury trials.
These decisions provide clarity regarding how trial judges are to
deduct and assign collateral benefit amounts when damages are
awarded in a motor vehicle accident claim. This is welcome
clarification for counsel and insurers involved in these
claims.
There are at least three immediate impacts for insurers and
personal injury lawyers flowing from the decisions in
Carroll and Cadieux:
- The decisions provide clarity
regarding the SAB deduction, trust and assignment sections of the
Insurance Act. They confirm that the decisions in
Bannon and Gilbert are no longer good law given
the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Gurniak v.
Nordquist, 2003 SCC 59, and crucially, the amendments to the
Insurance Act that support a silo approach
