🏠
Home ›
📁
Investigations Index ›
[Civil: Unfair Investigation: Aggravated-Punitive-Tort Damages]

Civil: Unfair Investigation: Aggravated-Punitive-Tort Damages

Incremental Damages – Aggravated and Punitive

The cases which have gone to trial have shown a general theme of significant damage awards against the employer when the investigative technique has been proven to have been unfair. These awards, and indeed the suffering inflicted upon apparently innocent persons, could have very easily been avoided by a fair and impartial investigation.

Awards have been made of aggravated damages of $50,000 (Downham plus a further tort of $20,000), $75,000 (Pate v Galway), $85,000 (Joseph); punitive damages of $100,000 (Downham), $75,000 (Elgert), $450,000 (Pate v Galway), $100,000 (Joseph) and $400,000 of combined aggravated and punitive damages and tort. (Boucher v Wal-Mart)

In each instance, a fair and reasoned investigative process would have eliminated or dramatically reduced these awards. These cases point to the importance of such a process, not only as a defensive mechanism against civil lawsuits or human rights complaints but to ensure a healthy and productive work environment.

The corollary to this principle is that the failure to investigate may well cause the abusive conduct to continue and hence cause further emotional distress, such as occurred in the case of City of Calgary v CUPE, as reviewed here.

A more complete review of decided cases can be found in the Case Summary section.