Listmembers interested in public authority liability in tort will find much of interest in last week’s (Canadian) Federal Court of Appeal decision in Paradis Honey v. Canada, 2015 FCA 89, a case decided on the pleadings after the government moved to strike the statement of claim. I have summarized the decision here.

 

In an obiter section beginning at para. 119, Stratas J.A. casts off the unwieldy Cooper v. Hobart framework in favour of an administrative law approach to public authority liability. Those who have struggled to reconcile the Supreme Court of Canada’s many conflicting pronouncements on foreseeability and proximity will doubtless be intrigued by this new alternative. There is a dissent by Pelletier J.A.. We will see whether the Supreme Court of Canada deigns to grant leave (assuming the government seeks to appeal) and, if so, whether the judges grapple with Stratas J.A.’s proposed new framework.

 

None of this will be news to those who attended our “Compensation and the Common Law” conference in March, 2014. Stratas J.A. was the keynote speaker and his reasons in this case draw more or less directly on his presentation. A collection of the proceedings is forthcoming as a special volume of the Supreme Court Law Review under the editorship of my colleague, Matt Harrington.

 

As an added bonus, the case features litigation by out-of-pocket beekeepers against the state – a veritable honey pot for those who comb the jurisprudence for all the puns they can get their paws on.

 

Best wishes,

 

Paul Daly,

Professeur adjoint,

Faculté de droit, Université de Montréal.

www.administrativelawmatters.com

www.droit.umontreal.ca/professeurs_personnel/corps_professoral/paul.daly.html

514-343-6098