William A. Pearce

The respondent was injured when a large block of ice fell onto the highway, forcing him into a ditch.

The provincial Ministry of Transportation and Highways had hired an independent contractor to perform road maintenance, including ice removal.

The trial judge and Court of Appeal found the contractor negligent and held the Ministry jointly liable.

On appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, the Court held that the Ministry owed a non-delegable duty to maintain the highways reasonably and could not escape liability by delegating the work to an independent contractor.

The appellant was injured when his vehicle skidded on black ice on a provincial highway.

He sued the province for negligence in failing to maintain the highway and respond to icy conditions in a timely manner.

The Supreme Court of Canada held that while the province owes a duty of care to users of its highways, the decision to keep the highway maintenance crew on a summer schedule was a policy decision exempt from tort liability.

Furthermore, the appellant failed to prove that the operational delays in dispatching a sand truck were caused by the province's negligence or that they contributed to the accident.

The appeal was dismissed.

The appellant was severely injured and his daughter killed when a boulder fell onto their car on a provincial highway.

He sued the province for negligent highway maintenance.

The trial judge and Court of Appeal dismissed the action, finding the province's system of rock slope inspections was a policy decision immune from tort liability.

The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal, holding that the province owed a duty of care to highway users and that the manner and frequency of inspections were operational decisions, not true policy decisions.

A new trial was ordered to determine if the province met the requisite standard of care.

The Province of British Columbia appealed a decision holding that a statutory trust created by the Social Service Tax Act for collected but unremitted sales tax did not give the Province priority over other creditors under the Bankruptcy Act.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that the statutory trust is not a trust within the meaning of s. 47(a) of the Bankruptcy Act once the funds are commingled and cannot be traced.

Instead, it is merely a Crown claim under s. 107(1)(j) of the Bankruptcy Act, which ranks lower in priority.