Can a tortfeasor benefit from the sacrifices made by a plaintiff in obtaining private insurance to provide for lost wages?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Brooks v Habib, 2019 BCSC 1398 (CanLII):

The private insurance exception was expounded upon by Justice Cory, for the majority, in Cunningham v. Wheeler, 1994 CanLII 120 (SCC), [1994] 1 S.C.R. 359 at 401 [Cunningham]: Recovery in tort is dependent on the plaintiff establishing injury and loss resulting from an act of misfeasance or nonfeasance on the part of the defendant, the tortfeasor. I can see no reason why a tortfeasor should benefit from the sacrifices made by a plaintiff in obtaining an insurance policy to provide for lost wages. Tort recovery is based on some wrongdoing. It makes little sense for a wrongdoer to benefit from the private act of forethought and sacrifice of the plaintiff.

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