Does a plaintiff have to prove a breach of fiduciary duty to a third party to recover damages?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from Martin v. Giesbrecht Griffin Funk & Irvine LLP and Lavergne, 2022 ONSC 1684 (CanLII):
In any event, the defendants face a reverse onus on the issue of causation. Where a defendant proves a breach of fiduciary duty, a reverse onus arises for the defendant to disprove causation (Alliance v. Gardiner Roberts, 2020 ONSC 68 at para. 128). The plaintiff only must show “a causal link” between the breaches of fiduciary duty and their damages. The onus then falls on the defendants to prove their hypothetical to break the chain of causation. In so doing, they must do more than raise mere speculation.
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