Canlii (Supreme Court of Canada) Torts – Liability – Intentional torts – Abuse of children by foster parents – Whether government can be held liable for harm children suffered in foster care – Whether government negligent – Whether government vicariously liable for torts of foster parents – Whether government liable for breach of non-delegable duty – Whether government liable for breach of fiduciary duty.
Limitation of actions – Torts – Intentional torts – Abuse of children by foster parents – Whether government can be held liable for harm children suffered in foster care – Whether tort actions barred by Limitation Act – Limitation Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 266, ss. 3(2), 7(1)(a)(i).
Torts – Damages – Intentional torts – Abuse of children by foster parents – Whether government can be held liable for harm children suffered in foster care – Proper basis for assessing damages for child abuse by parent or foster parent.
The court considered the difficulty of setting down a unifying principle of the idea of a non-delegable duty: ‘It may be that there is no single common law concept of non-delegable duty. Instead, the phrase seems to have been used to describe a number of situations in which special, non-delegable duties arise. If this is correct, then rather than seeking to state the doctrine in terms of a single principle, we should look to the different situations in which such duties have been found – an approach consonant with the traditional methods of the common law. In Lewis (Guardian ad litem of) v. British Columbia, 1997 CanLII 304 (SCC), [1997] 3 S.C.R. 1145, at para. 20, Cory J. suggested that these different situations comprise a ‘spectrum of liability’, and that ‘[w]ithin that spectrum there are a variety of legal obligations which may, depending on the circumstances, lead to a principal’s liability for the negligence of an independent contractor.’
Judges:
McLachlin CJ and Gonthier, Iacobucci, Major, Bastarache, Binnie, Arbour, LeBel and Deschamps JJ
Citations:
[2003] SCC 51, [2003] SCJ No 51, [2003] 2 SCR 403
Links:
Jurisdiction:
Canada
Cited by:
Cited – Woodland v The Swimming Teachers’ Association and Others QBD 17-Oct-2011
The court was asked as to the vicarious or other liability of a school where a pupil suffered injury at a swimming lesson with a non-employee during school time, and in particular whether it had a non-delegable duty to ensure the welfare of children . .
Cited – NA v Nottinghamshire County Council QBD 2-Dec-2014
The claimant said that as a child the defendant had failed in its duty to protect her from her abusive mother and later from foster parents.
Held: Males J, dealt with the issues of liability and limitation, leaving issues concerning causation . .
Cited – Armes v Nottinghamshire County Council SC 18-Oct-2017
The claimant had been abused as a child by foster parents with whom she had been placed by the respondent authority. The court was now asked, the Council not having been negligent, were they in any event liable having a non-delegable duty of care . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Commonwealth, Negligence
Updated: 19 September 2022; Ref: scu.445627
