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22 text run at (2,2) width 720: "When the Whiten house burned down in Renfrew Ontario, the insurer denied liability, asserting that the Plaintiff"
23 text run at (2,20) width 477: "Daphne Whiten was the cause of the fire herself and had committed arson."
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27 text run at (2,56) width 740: "The insurance company had not only refused to pay, but had received opinions from its adjuster, its expert engineer"
28 text run at (2,74) width 732: "and an investigative agency that the fire was accidental. Its own adjuster had recommended the claim be paid. The"
29 text run at (2,92) width 735: "defendant's counsel, as the court found, had pressured experts to provide opinions supporting an arson defence and"
30 text run at (2,110) width 742: "withheld relevant information from the experts and gave them misleading information to buttress the arson defence."
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34 text run at (2,146) width 645: "After the fire the Plaintiff and her husband, Keith Whiten needed welfare assistance to support them."
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38 text run at (2,182) width 735: "The jury, however, in a 4 week trial, disagreed with the position of the insurance company. It awarded not only the"
39 text run at (2,200) width 747: "policy sum against the insurer, but also was sufficiently annoyed with the conduct of the company to award a further"
40 text run at (2,218) width 241: "punitive damage award of $1 million."
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44 text run at (2,254) width 710: "The company appealed. At the time of the appeal, the company acknowledged that the fire was accidental. The"
45 text run at (2,272) width 712: "Ontario Court of Appeal reversed the jury award and in a 2-1 decision determined that there should be a cap on"
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50 text run at (2,326) width 719: "Lawyers became hard pressed to reconcile this decision with a prior case, Hill vs. Church of Scientology. Hill, a"
51 text run at (2,344) width 732: "Crown Attorney, had sued the Church for libel due to statements made accusing him of breaching a judge's order. "
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53 text run at (2,362) width 729: "succeeded. The jury at trial, aside from awarding compensatory damages, also awarded a punitive damage sum of"
54 text run at (2,380) width 753: "$800,000. The decision was appealed without success to the Ontario Court of Appeal and again to the Supreme Court"
55 text run at (2,398) width 523: "of Canada. The award of punitive damages was sustained at both appellate levels."
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59 text run at (2,434) width 746: "In the Whiten case, the insurance industry is mounting all its ammunition to maintain the notion of a cap on punitive"
60 text run at (2,452) width 735: "damages. It is expected that the Court of Appeal decision will receive a rough ride in the Supreme Court, given the"
61 text run at (2,470) width 199: "Hill decision a few years prior."
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65 text run at (2,506) width 737: "The concept of punitive damages is designed to act as civil penalty imposed on a wrong doer, which has conducted"
66 text run at (2,524) width 747: "itself in a vindictive manner, which offends one's sense of propriety - high handed shocking behaviour. Traditionally"
67 text run at (2,542) width 707: "the financial abilities of the wrong doer are a factor - the deeper the pockets the more substantial the sum to be"
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72 text run at (2,596) width 734: "Canadian courts have been reluctant to embrace the concept - awards such as Hill are rare. It is worthy of note that"
73 text run at (2,614) width 735: "the dissenting reasons of Justice Laskin in Whiten were much in favour of maintaining the trial award - a lucid and"
74 text run at (2,632) width 737: "powerful dissent written by a much respected jurist. Much attention will be given to this decision. Oral argument is"
75 text run at (2,650) width 753: "set for the week of December 11th. A decision will likely be forthcoming in March to June time period. This decision"
76 text run at (2,668) width 537: "will be no doubt a much quoted decision for many years, regardless of the outcome."
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