Humboldt in our Hearts: An upsetting guide to fatality/wrongful death claims in Ontario

The adult son was very close to his mother. They visited when possible and he spoke with her on the phone every other day. He relied on her for guidance and friendship.

The daughter described her mother as “her best friend.” They visited often and her mother helped her a great deal when she went through cancer treatments.

2) $50,000 to his daughter who lived at home while going to university;

3) $25,000 to an estranged son who used to have a very good relationship with his father; and

4) $80,000 to the minor son.

Daughter: The daughter was 16 when she learned of her father’s infection and 18 when he died. They were very close. When his infection became severe and he went into the hospital, she visited him nearly every day. She quit baseball so she could spend more time with him. Once he lost his sight, hearing and ability to speak, she would climb into bed with him so he could reach out and know she was there with him.

Son: The son moved out of the family home when he was 16. He was 19 when he learned of his father’s infection and 21 when he died. He described his relationship with his father as “fairly close.” He moved back into the family home six months before his father died. He was not as emotionally demonstrative as his sister.

$30,000 each for loss of guidance, care and companionship.

Each was also awarded an additional $5,000 based on McDermott v Ramadanovic Estate ((1988), 27 BCLR (2d) 45 (BC SC)), where a 13 year old was awarded $20,000 for “emotional scars” as a result of witnessing both of her parents’ death in a motor vehicle accident. While this degree of shock was not present in this case, Macdonald J held that the father’s death had a substantial emotional impact on the children.

Campbell J refers to this award as “the high end of the conventional range of family law awards” (at para 309).

Her daughter had lived with her when she first immigrated to Canada. After she moved out, they visited and spoke on the phone often. Her son and her other daughter lived in Trinidad and they spoke every few weeks.  Her daughter in Trinidad came to Ontario to visit the deceased on several occasions and once stayed for a couple of years.

$3,000 for each of her other two children who lived in Trinidad.

Lang J provides an overview of the factors to consider the amount to award in an FLA claim (at para 971), which include:

1) the age, mental and physical condition of claimant;

2) whether the deceased lived with the claimant, or the frequency of visits;

3) the intimacy and quality of the claimant’s relationship with the deceased;

4) whether the claimant is emotionally self-sufficient, whether the claimants who are children have married, and whether spouse claimants have re-married; and

5) the joint life expectancy of the claimant and the deceased, or probable length of time the relationship would have continued.

1) Tom, 35, awarded $2000 for deceased father, $4000 for terminally ill mother;

2) Kelly, 32, awarded $2,500 for father, $7,000 for loss of mother’s guidance, care and companionship and $2,500 for loss of her services;

3) Mark, 31, awarded $3500 for father, $7500 for mother; and

4) Kathy, 28, awarded $3,500 for father and $10,000 for mother.

In coming to an assessment of damages, the court considered:

1) the deceased’s age;

2) that she did not live with the FLA claimants;

3) grief is not compensable;

4) the geographical proximity between where the claimants lived and the deceased; and

5) that the FLA claimants who lived in the USA did not give evidence (at para 15).

$10,000 for the son who saw her less frequently.