David Ertl

The plaintiff, Larry Patterson, was successful in his motion for summary judgment for wrongful dismissal against IBM Canada Limited.

This endorsement addresses the issue of costs.

The plaintiff sought partial indemnity costs.

The defendant had made an offer to settle which the plaintiff failed to beat, but the offer was made only four days before the hearing, falling short of the seven-day requirement under Rule 49.10.

The court exercised its discretion under Rule 49.13, acknowledging the defendant's offer despite its late delivery and the minimal difference from the judgment amount.

The court awarded the plaintiff partial indemnity costs of $16,209.16, less a $2,500 credit to the defendant (comprising a $1,500 credit for the offer to settle and $1,000 for the plaintiff's hearing costs), plus $500 for assessing costs, for a total of $14,209.16.

The damages award was also revised by agreement to $57,427.46 due to a calculation error.

In a wrongful dismissal summary judgment motion, the court determined the reasonable notice period and assessed damages.

The plaintiff, a 67-year-old IT Specialist with 22 years of service, was terminated without cause.

The court fixed reasonable notice at 18 months, including a contingency discount for future earnings.

The plaintiff was awarded employer contributions to his defined contribution pension plan but denied claims for an incentive bonus and supplementary health benefits due to lack of evidence and program subjectivity.

The court also discussed the preferred 'discounted approach' over 'trust and accounting' for future mitigation.

The plaintiff brought a summary judgment motion in a wrongful dismissal action against her former employer, Staples Canada Inc. The plaintiff, terminated without cause after almost five years of employment, sought nine months' compensation in lieu of notice.

The court found that the plaintiff made exemplary efforts to mitigate her damages and determined a reasonable notice period of six months, awarding her $34,171.92.

A former long-term warehouse employee brought a motion for summary judgment seeking damages for wrongful dismissal equivalent to 22 months’ reasonable notice.

The employer argued that summary judgment was inappropriate due to mitigation issues and that the reasonable notice period should be significantly shorter.

The court held that the mitigation issue could be determined on the record and that the employer failed to demonstrate the employee had failed to mitigate.

Applying the Bardal factors, including the employee’s age, long service, and compensation level, the court fixed the reasonable notice period at 22 months.

The court ordered payment of damages using a trust and accounting mechanism for the balance of the notice period to account for potential mitigation income.