Raywalt Construction Co. v. Bencic et al., (2005) 386 A.R. 230 (QB)

• Judge: Watson, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta (Canada)
• Case Date: December 29, 2005
• Citations: (2005), 386 A.R. 230 (QB);2005 ABQB 989

Raywalt Constr. Co. v. Bencic (2005), 386 A.R. 230 (QB)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2006] A.R. TBEd. JA.048

Raywalt Construction Co. Ltd. (plaintiff) v. John Riel Bencic, Duane Perera, Timothy Witoshynski, Marc Meunier, Ryan McDonald, Kevin Auclair also known as Kevyn Auclair, John Doe 4 and John Doe 16 (defendants)

(0103-02157; 2005 ABQB 989)

Indexed As: Raywalt Construction Co. v. Bencic et al.

Alberta Court of Queen's Bench

Judicial District of Edmonton

Watson, J.

December 29, 2005.

Summary:

Raywalt Construction sued five individual defendants respecting damage done to a construction site and equipment, where the defendants allegedly tampered with a fuel tank and set fire to the fuel.

The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench allowed the action, holding that the defendants were joint (or concurrent in concert) tortfeasors in the negligent causation of the entirety of the damages of $389,618.20. The court apportioned fault amongst the five defendants. The court rejected a claim by the defendants that Raywalt was contributorily negligent because an employee left a valve open on the fuel tank.

Torts - Topic 6601

Defences - Contributory negligence - General - What constitutes contributory negligence - Raywalt Construction sued five individual defendants respecting damage done to a construction site and equipment, where the defendants allegedly tampered with a fuel tank and set fire to the fuel - The defendants alleged contributory negligence because a Raywalt employee left a valve on the fuel tank open and because of the general insecurity of the construction site - The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench held that Raywalt was not contributorily negligent - The court stated that the presence of the equipment on the open site in the absence of fencing could not realistically be considered to be negligence - Further, the employee's error was too remote from the damages done to Raywalt and the chain of events here would not be reasonably foreseeable to Raywalt - Alternatively, any error by Raywalt's employee, whether it raised the risk or not, should not as a matter of policy be accepted as contributory negligence for the purposes of any reduction of Raywalt's claim against any defendant - See paragraphs 272 to 330.

Torts - Topic 6625

Defences - Contributory negligence - Particular cases - Operation or storage of tools and equipment - [See Torts - Topic 6601 ].

Torts - Topic 7382

Joint and concurrent tortfeasors - Contribution between tortfeasors - Apportionment of fault - General - Raywalt Construction sued five individual defendants, Bencic, Witoshynski, Perera, Meunier and Auclair, respecting damage done to a construction site and equipment, where the defendants allegedly tampered with a fuel tank and set fire to the fuel - The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench held that the defendants Witoshynski, Meunier, Perera and Bencic were joint tortfeasors and apportioned liability amongst them as follows: Bencic -39%; Witoshynski - 24%; Perera - 24%; and Meunier - 12% - The court noted that Auclair did not file a defence and was therefore deemed to have made admissions of liability; however Raywalt made no case against Auclair except for those admissions - The court stated that rather than injure Raywalt's position by dismissing the action against Auclair, the court would also find Auclair liable as a joint tortfeasor, but only for 1% of the damages - See paragraphs 331 to 400.

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Heuston, R.F.V., Salmond on the Law of Torts (12th Ed. 1957), c. 10, p. 888 [para. 371, footnote 158].

Klar, Lewis N., Linden, Allan M., Cherniak, Earl A., and Kryworuk, Peter W., Remedies in Tort (2005) (Looseleaf), vol. 1, c. 26, p. 26-19 [para. 368, footnote 150].

Klar, Lewis N., Tort Law (3rd Ed. 2003), p. 457 [para. 278, footnote 96].

Linden, Allen M., Canadian Tort Law (5th Ed. 1993), p. 525 [para. 287, footnote 103].

Prosser, William L., Handbook of the Law of Torts (4th Ed. 1971), generally [para. 49, footnote 25].

Prosser, William L., Law of Torts (3rd Ed. 1964), generally [para. 345, footnote 129].

Salmond, The Law of Torts (12th Ed. 1957), c. 10, p. 888 [para. 371, footnote 158].

Stapleton, Jane, Lords a'Leaping Evidentiary Gaps (2002), 10 Torts L.J. 276, generally [para. 331, footnote 125].

Waddams, Stephen M., The Law of Damages (2005 Looseleaf Ed.), pp. 15-1 to 15-3 [para. 287, footnote 102]; 15-2, paras. 15.30 to 15.40 [para. 289, footnote 105].

Woods, Thomas, Establishing Causation in Negligence: The House of Lords Speaks Again (2003), 26 Adv. Q. 471, generally [para. 331, footnote 125].

Counsel:

Kenneth B. Haluschak (Bryan & Company LLP), for Raywalt Construction Co. Ltd.;

Jon Rossall (McLennan Ross LLP), for Marc Meunier;

Timothy Stonhouse (Stonhouse & Downie), for Timothy Witoshynski;

Damian Shephard (Chatwin Cox Michalyshyn), for Allstate Insurance Company;

No one appeared for the other defendants.

This action was heard on November 21-24, 2005, by Watson, J., of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial District of Edmonton, who delivered the following decision on December 29, 2005.