Lewis v. Low, (1984) 2 O.A.C. 218 (CA)

• Judge: Arnup, Blair and Weatherston, JJ.A.
• Court: Court of Appeal (Ontario)
• Case Date: February 17, 1984
• Jurisdiction: Ontario
• Citations: (1984), 2 O.A.C. 218 (CA)

Lewis v. Low (1984), 2 O.A.C. 218 (CA)

MLB headnote and full text

Lewis v. Low

Indexed As: Lewis v. Low

Ontario Court of Appeal

Arnup, Blair and Weatherston, JJ.A.

February 17, 1984.

Summary:

Lewis, an employee of the C.P.R., was injured in a level crossing accident. Lewis claimed the benefits under the Workers' Compensation Act. The benefits were payable by the C.P.R. which commenced a subrogated action against Low (who admitted liability for the accident). An issue arose as to whether the C.P.R. was subrogated (under the Workers' Compensation Act) to the rights of the wife of Lewis against Low (under s. 60 of the Family Law Reform Act). The trial court held that the C.P.R. was not subrogated to such rights of the wife of Lewis. The C.P.R. appealed.

The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

Workers' Compensation - Topic 3565

Subrogation - Degree or extent of subrogation - Ontario - An employer paid benefits to an injured worker under the Workers' Compensation Act - The employer claimed to be subrogated (under the Workers' Compensation Act) to both the rights of the worker and of his dependants; particularly those rights of dependants arising under s. 60 of the Family Law Reform Act - The Ontario Court of Appeal held that the employer was not subrogated to such rights of the dependants of the worker.

Cases Noticed:

Mason v. Peters et al. (1982), 39 O.R.(2d) 27, refd to. [para. 10].

Statutes Noticed:

Family Law Reform Act, R.S.O. 1980, c. 152, sect. 60 [para. 9].

Workers' Compensation Act, R.S.O. 1980, c. 539, sect. 8 [para. 7 & 8].

Counsel:

Michael Ryan, for appellant, Canadian Pacific Limited;

John In Laskin, for respondent (plaintiff).

This appeal was heard by Arnup, Blair and Weatherston, JJ.A., of the Ontario Court of Appeal on December 13 and 14, 1983.

The judgment of the Court of Appeal was delivered by Blair, J.A., and was released on February 17, 1984.