Supreme Court of Canada
Proctor v. MacDonald, [1979] 2 S.C.R. 153
Date: 1979-06-21
Everett Proctor (Defendant) Appellant;
and
Flora Mae MacDonald (Plaintiff) Respondent.
1979: June 21.
Present: Laskin C.J. and Martland, Ritchie, Pigeon, Dickson, Beetz, Estey, Pratte and McIntyre JJ.
ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO.
Insurance—Motor vehicles—Contract with extra-provincial insurer—Right of defendant to advantage of benefits in a reduction of damages—The Ontario Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1970, c. 224 as amended, s. 237(2).
APPEAL from a judgment of the Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissing an appeal by the defendant appellant and allowing an appeal by the plaintiff respondent from a judgment of Goodman J. sitting with a jury in an action for damages. Appeal dismissed.
Bert Raphael, Q.C., for the appellant.
D.W. Goudie, Q.C., and Frank D. Powell, Q.C., for the respondent.
The judgment of the Court was delivered orally by
THE CHIEF JUSTICE—We do not need to hear you Mr. Goudie and Mr. Powell. We find no reason to review the jury’s global award in order to speculate on whether it did or did not apply a proper discount rate to the loss of estimated future earnings of the plaintiff. It was conceded that the jury was properly charged in this respect.
The main point argued by counsel for the appellant concerned the right of his client to have the advantage, as a deduction from his liability for damages, of disability benefits to which the plaintiff was entitled under her Manitoba contract with the Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation, as if s. 237(2) of the Ontario Insurance Act applied. Neither the undertaking filed by the Manitoba insurer, taken alone or in association with s. 25 of
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the Ontario Insurance Act, avails the appellant on this point. We do not agree that the disability benefits are deductible from the damages assessed against the appellant.
The appeal is accordingly dismissed with costs.
Appeal dismissed with costs.
Solicitors for the appellant: Raphael, Wheatley, MacPherson & Levitt, Toronto.
Solicitors for the respondent: Thomson, Rogers, Toronto.
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