In an action on the insurance contract, can a plaintiff recover damages for breach of duty of good faith?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from Correia v. Canac Kitchens, 2008 ONCA 506 (CanLII):
In Elliott, Cromwell J.A. noted that in an action on the insurance contract, not only can the insured recover for the loss, but breach of the duty of good faith can sound in punitive damages as recognized in Whiten v. Pilot Insurance Co., supra. Thus, while not all heads of damages may be available in an action on the insurance contract, the availability of a remedy in contract was a significant policy reason not to expand tort liability. As he put it, at para. 84, the contractual remedy "is a substantial, if not always complete, alternative remedy which strongly works against the expanded liability in negligence proposed by the appellants".
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