The case of Gendron v. Thompson Fuels, related to a home furnace oil tank that developed a leak in December 2008. The leak caused damage to the Gendron’s home and the surrounding environment, including nearby Sturgeon Lake. The City of Kawartha Lakes cleaned up the Lake.
On July 17, 2017 the court released its decision on this matter, (2017 ONSC 4009) granting judgement in favour of Gendron against Thompson Fuels. The court appropriated 60% liability to Gendron and 40% to Thompson Fuels. The parties agreed that, based on the court’s findings, Gendron’s total damages were $2,161,570, and Thompson Fuels’ portion of those costs equalled $901,747 ($864,628 plus $37,119 interest). In that decision the court found that the two remaining defendants, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (“TSSA”) and Les Reservoirs D’Acier De Granby Inc. (“Granby”) were not liable.
The parties were unable to agree on costs and requested that submissions on costs be deferred until the decision on the post-trial motions was released. On March 29, 2018 the Court ordered Thompson Fuels to pay Gendron’s costs on a partial indemnity basis in the amount of $473,000.00 (2018 ONSC 2079). In arriving at this amount, the Court considered the Gendron’s contributory negligence, the costs of various post-trial motions brought by the parties, the reasonableness of Gendron’s bill of costs, and the fact that neither party had beat its offer to settle.
The Court then awarded $150,000 in costs to TSSA as against Gendron and Thompson Fuels, who had cross-claimed against TSSA. The Court further ordered Gendron and Thompson Fuels to contribute $140,000 and $10,000, respectively. The Court also ordered Gendron and Thompson Fuels to pay equal shares of TSSA’s costs of $7,500.00 for the post-trial motions. In deciding to award only partial indemnity costs, the Court found that given TSSA’s limited involvement at trial, it did not require two lawyers to attend at trial. The Court also noted that even though Gendron’s action in negligence against TSSA had failed, the trial Court had found that the TSSA had not been “a model of efficiency or clarity” in its dealings with Gendron.