In the recent case of Dempsey v. Bagley
(“Dempsey”), Justice C.S. Phillips of the
Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench considered the issue of
vicarious liability of a vehicle lessor for the actions of a driver
of the leased vehicle.
Dempsey involved two actions, both of which arose from
single-vehicle accidents involving Brinks armored vehicles. The
passengers of the Brinks vehicles were injured in the accidents,
and sued the drivers, the drivers’ employer, Brinks Canada
Limited (“Brinks”), and PHH Vehicle Management Services
Inc. (“PHH”), which had leased the vehicles to Brinks.
One of the terms of the lease between PHH and Brinks was that
Brinks would indemnify PHH for any claims relating to the leased
vehicles. It was agreed by the parties that by virtue of the
Traffic Safety Act (“TSA”), both PHH and
Brinks were “owners” of the vehicles.
