Legal Blog

Punitive Damages

Gennett Lumber Co v. John Doe aka Harvey 2019 Ont SCJ

The plaintiff was defrauded of 168,000 USD by way of a conspiracy among 4 people. The conspiracy involved fraudulent orders for materials, paid for by stolen credit cards. The defendant involved in the civil action was convicted and sentenced to prison. The civil court still granted judgment against him for the amount defrauded plus punitive damages of $100,000. The judge found that the criminal sanction involved only a portion of the defendant’s involvement in the scheme and did not reflect the overall justification for punitive damages flowing from the fraud as a whole. The judge decided that the goals of retribution, deterrence, and denunciation of the organised fraud justified his order for punitive damages. He felt that an award of 50% of the actual damages reflected proportionality.

Written by Jonathan Speigel, the founding partner of Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, leads the litigation and construction practices.