Assessment of Damages in Sexual Assault Cases

What is a reasonable assessment of damages in a civil case of sexual assault? Is the fact that a perpetrator of sexual assault has not been criminally punished a relevant factor in the decision to award punitive damages?

In Zando v. Ali, 2018 ONCA 680 (CanLII), Ontario’s top court adopted the framework for determining damages in a civil sexual battery or assault cases described in Nova Scotia (Attorney General) v. B.M.G., 2007 NSCA 120 (CanLII), 260 N.S.R. (2d) 257, per Cromwell J.A. (as he then was), and affirmed a lower court’s award of $200,000, made up of general damages of $175,000 and punitive damages of $25,000.

ONCA: No Duty to Mitigate Unless Offer Made After Termination

Where an employer’s restructuring serves a legitimate business interest and is not merely a pretext for terminating an employee, should that employee be obliged, as part of his duty to mitigate, to return to work for the same employer? According to a recent decision from the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Farwell v. Citair, Inc. (General Coach Canada), 2014 ONCA 177, the answer is unclear. What is clear, however, is that in order for an employer to avail itself of the argument that an employee has failed to mitigate his damages by returning to work for the dismissing employer, (see: Evans v. Teamsters Local Union No. 31, 2008 SCC 20 (CanLII), [2008] 1 SCR 661,) the employer must offer the alternate position to the dismissed employee after termination, not before.