Joseph W. Griffiths

The appellant appealed a Superior Court judgment regarding an insurance coverage dispute.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, agreeing with the lower court and the arbitrator that the insurance endorsement in question included a causal element excluding coverage for loss or damage resulting from the ownership, use, or operation of specific machinery.

On the agreed facts, this causation requirement was not met.

Following an appeal with divided success, the court issued a costs endorsement.

No costs were ordered between the appellants and the Crown.

The appellants were ordered to pay costs of $5,000 each to the respondent Diocese of Sault Ste.

Marie and the respondent Jesuit Fathers of Upper Canada.

The appellants, comprising children of residential school attendees and estates of deceased attendees, appealed an order striking their claims against the federal Crown and other defendants.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal in part, reinstating the secondary plaintiffs' claim for breach of fiduciary duty against the federal Crown, finding it was not plain and obvious that the duty did not extend to them despite not being born at the time of the alleged breaches.

However, the Court upheld the striking of the Family Law Act claims, as the Act does not operate retroactively, and the estate claims, which were statute-barred under the Trustee Act.