Dear Colleagues:

Some of you might be interested in a recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Heaslip Estate v. Mansfield Ski Club Inc. 96 O.R. (3d) 401 (CA) dealing with duty (if only for exam material). From the headnote:

Torts — Negligence — Duty of care — Deceased suffering life-threatening injuries and dying while being transported to hospital by land ambulance — Decision to transport deceased by land ambulance made when Medical Air Transport Centre advised that there would be two-hour wait for air ambulance — Plaintiffs bringing negligence action against Ontario alleging that MATC failed to divert nearby air ambulance carrying patient with non-life-threatening injuries in accordance with its Manual of Operational Policy and Procedure — Motion judge erring in striking out claim on basis that alleged facts failed to give rise to private law duty of care on part of Ontario — Alleged duty of care falling within established category of public authority's negligent failure to act in accordance with established policy where it is reasonably foreseeable that failure to do so will cause physical harm to plaintiff — Duty of care also arguably existing on basis that there was sufficiently close and direct relationship between deceased and Ontario that it was fair to require Ontario to be mindful of deceased's legitimate interests.  

-- 
Jason Neyers
Associate Professor of Law
Faculty of Law
University of Western Ontario
N6A 3K7
(519) 661-2111 x. 88435