Liability Admissions In Sexual Abuse Claims

Punitive damage awards are commonplace in sexual abuse claims. However, the Ontario Court of Appeal has recently confirmed that a trier of fact cannot award punitive damages against a defendant based solely on that defendant's failure to admit liability in a timely fashion.

In McCabe v. The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation for the Diocese of Toronto (2019 ONCA 213), the majority of the Court of Appeal overturned a jury's award of $15,000.00 for punitive damages against the Diocese of Toronto. The award was based solely on the failure to admit vicarious liability for historical sexual abuse, committed by one of its priest, until the first day of trial.

The Diocese of Toronto had employed Father Alphonse Robert as a Parish Priest. In 1963, Father Robert invited Robert McCabe, who at the time was 11 years old, on a trip to Montreal to visit the Basilica of Notre Dame. During that trip the two spent the night together in a hotel room and Father Robert sexually assaulted Mr. McCabe by fondling him sexually and performing oral sex on him.

Mr. McCabe brought an action for damages against the Diocese of Toronto in December of 2014. By then, Father Robert was deceased.

The Diocese denied vicarious liability for the abuse throughout the litigation, but then admitted liability on the first day of the trial. The trial therefore proceeded as an assessment of damages only. Following the evidence and...